Prayer and forgiveness

My family is a boating family. David had a boat as a young man and he taught us to fish, ski , snorkel and just enjoy a day out in the ocean. We now share a boat with his brothers, but often we all daydream if we had a boat what would we name it? That is always fun hearing and reading the names of so many boats...we have seen names like "Just for Fun", "Splash", "Sea Legs" and the name we have thought for our boat is "4-given" Yes we have four children but the implication is that we have been forgiven. There is such peace, joy and rest in fully understanding that forgiveness has been granted to us through Christ.

Bryan Chapell talks about forgiveness and prayer:
"Jesus teaches us to pray 'Forgive our sins'. These three words open the door to the vast storehouse of heavens mercy. To give us the right to utter these words, Jesus gave His life. He shed His life to pay the penalty for the sin of all who trust in Him. Now, whoever asks for pardon in His name receives God's mercy forever...Jesus' willingness to teach these words as a regular patterns for our prayers greatly encourages us, because we know that we will not exhaust His mercy."
Forgiveness marks the character of a Christian. As a Christian when you fail to forgive someone else you set yourself up as a higher court than God. For God infinitely forgives. If you hold back forgiveness, that’s idolatry for you’re worshipping yourself as if you were God. You’ve usurped His place. In Ephesians 4:32 it says that we are to forgive one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us. None of us have endured what Christ has endured and He forgave us all. He set the pattern and the example so Christians are to forgive because Christ has set up that pattern and we are to follow Him.
When we forgive we get rid of guilt and guilt can destroy a person. Unforgiveness also hinders prayers...why? Because it is sin. Where there is an unforgiving spirit there is sin. And where there is sin there is also chastening. And every son that the Lord loves He scourges and chastens, Hebrews 12 says.

But the most important reason we are to forgive is because we are forgiven. When we think of all the hundreds of offenses we stand guilty of before God, how little we are asked to forgive in comparison. Yet it is often not easy to forgive. We have been deeply hurt. Can I suggest a couple of steps we can take to express forgiveness and live in the peace that it brings. First...forgiveness is a decision. Even more, we are commanded to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. So it must be a choice. We have to say "I forgive you". And every time that resentment and hurt rises up in us, we have to say again "I have forgiven". So we need to remind ourselves, that we have forgiven.
Second, don't let emotions lead. What I mean by that, our heart can take over what our mind tells us. If we know we have forgiven, we have to tell our heart also. That means we stop our emotions from digging up all those old feelings. We "take very thought captive under the authority of Christ" We say to ourselves "I have forgiven because I have been forgiven for greater things".
So we make a conscious choice to forgive and every time afterwards, when those hurt feeling rise up again, we remember we have forgiven and let go.
And third we take our emotions and mind to the cross and pray that God would cause us to forget the pain. We can make a conscious choice to forgive but God is the one who will help us forget. So we move to the cross. Scripture tells us "as far as the East is from the West" He has forgiven us and will not remember our offenses anymore. I find it so comforting as we look at the Old Testament against the New. In the Old Testament we see godly men and women depicted in the fullness of their lives. They sin, make wrong decisions. We see Abraham and his lies. We see Lot and his lure towards worldliness, Jacob and his deceit and so many others. God did not spare to show us their rebellious nature. Yet when we move to the New Testament their sins are not replayed for us. They are now depicted in the full grace and forgiveness of the Cross. That is the way we are seen after the cross. Sins forgiven and recalled no more.
God can do that for us. As we choose to forgive He will cause us to remember no more. This does take time, as we discipline our thoughts taking them directly to the cross.
Mr. Chapell tells us :
"Jesus teaches us to approach our heavenly Father with the humility to ask 'Lord, let me not only know your forgiveness but radiate it' "

Is there someone, as you have been reading this, God has placed in your mind? Do you need to extend forgiveness? Have you ever made the choice to forgive? Or do you need to take that thought captive under the authority of Christ?
Today could be the day to life in peace and joy and guilt-free.