Repurposed Faith Quiet Time ChallengeSample

"FREEDOM OF FORGIVENESS" I remember learning the importance of glancing over my shoulder to check my blind spot as I learned to drive. How valuable that training has been over the years, saving me from many fender benders. Whenever I see a car in my blind spot, it always surprises and startles me. Blind spots show up sometimes in our relationships with other people, and they affect our time with God too. We get hurt, defensive, and angry, and pretty soon we have a full-blown case of bitterness. Unless we pause and humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, asking Him to show us our own part in the misunderstanding, we may very well crash and get hurt. Sometimes we have to establish healthy boundaries and may need to remove ourselves from blatant abusive situations. Forgiving someone is not removing responsibility from the other person’s actions. It is releasing them to God so that we can be emotionally free and at peace to grow closer to God. It has been said that one of the keys to soften a person’s hurting and closed heart is to be able to forgive. There may be some pretty good reasons we find it so hard to forgive. Today’s challenge: • Ask if you are keeping a record of someone’s else’s wrongs (I Corinthians 13:5 NASB). Pray and ask God to give you the kind of love that will lead you to forgive that person or persons so there is nothing hindering your quiet time with God. • We claim we can forgive, but we cannot forget. I have heard it said to “Remember it forgiven.” When we think about the offense, we can remind ourselves that we have taken it to the Cross. • Meditate on this question: o We can’t forgive ourselves, so we can’t forgive others. According to today’s verse, whose job is it to forgive us?