A Prayer for Forgiveness
For the thing you keep going back over, and for the person you cannot yet forgive.
1 John 1:9 is the promise this prayer rests on: if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Psalm 103:12 gives the distance — as far as the east is from the west.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.
Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!
Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
The prayer
Lord, I have done what I have done and I cannot undo it.
I am not going to soften it or explain it to You. I am bringing it as it was.
Forgive me. Not because I have made up for it, but because You said You would — faithful and just, was the phrase, and I am holding You to it.
Where I need to put something right with a person, give me the courage to do it, and make me willing to do it badly rather than not at all.
And where I have been the one hurt — You know how far I am from being able to let it go. Give me the willingness first. I will get to the rest.
Take this off my back. I have carried it long enough. Amen.
Being forgiven, and feeling it
The two do not arrive together, and Scripture is more interested in the first. 1 John 1:9 makes God’s response a matter of His faithfulness, not your emotional confirmation of it.
Psalm 103:12 is the picture worth keeping: as far as the east is from the west. The psalm reaches for the widest distance it can name rather than a measurable one.
Forgiving someone else
It is not saying the thing was acceptable, and it is not necessarily reconciliation. You may forgive a person and still keep the door locked. Romans 12:18 concedes as much — “as far as it depends on you” — because peace takes two.
If you are not ready, ask for the willingness rather than performing the article. God is not fooled by a performance and has never required one.
Where these words come from
1 John 1:9 and Psalm 103:12 for what you receive. Ephesians 4:32 and Matthew 6:14-15 for what you pass on. Romans 8:1 for the day after: there is now no condemnation.
Praying this for someone specific?
Light a candle for her — and come back to tend it tomorrow.