Forgiveness Over The Holidays

Encouraging prayer God offers an open invitation for his people to talk with him at any time about anything urgent prayer. Dr. James Banks fall through the best-selling and many other books on prayer provides weekly biblical insight help you learn to love and valve day James were to talk about it. The holiday what a great topic.

A lot of folks we struggle with this time.

Here you do it Thanksgiving. I saw a meeting going around which the save yourself money at Christmas. Talk politics at Thanksgiving this matter so much because of politics but just because of being a human. You know, some arrive at this time. Here all the memories come flooding in.

And some of them may not be so good for some people, but that also brings up an important topic when it comes to forgiving, sometimes genuine wrongs are done to others and simply because we choose to forgive should mean that we put ourselves at risk, especially when there's been any number or kind of abuses that's true because sometimes abusers will even use this season to take advantage of the goodwill of others and this is where I believe prayer becomes so important yet again. I was wondering around that will let let's make it practical. But let's say you're going to be up at family gatherings where a person has been intentionally hurtful in the past and when you walk into that situation with a Purple Heart, you know you're never alone. Praying helps remind us that that we are loved and valued. No matter what others may think or say done and so you can enter into those difficult situations with with a new strength when you pray, Praying also helps us, think before we speak out that I would ever will and it's hard to do this sometimes in the moment, you know, especially when all of those old thoughts and fears and emotions come flooding in the suit as you see another person you can be and likely David put it in Psalm 5516, he said. As for me I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me the most difficult social situations really causes us to be more dependent in prayer wisdom that we need to navigate those waters again. Let's talk about family gathering where you know you find yourself face-to-face about brother or sister, and suddenly you're reverting back to your childhood you back to old ways of handling things in and you know I'm not supposed to do that and that's where again I think we really have to call on the name of the Lord will need us in those places, but we have to remember to do it. We have to lean into him something he really help me forget.

If I have an older sister manager minutes out and you know she was always felt very condescending towards me and just this week as I was think about that.

He kind of gave me this insight apparently came from John Piper that when you think your superior to others. It's hard to forgive.

And for some reason I've always put myself in that over my sister and it really is very insightful you Robbie. I think about what you said from the cross, when he said, forgive them father for they do not know what they are doing and what it comes to matters of the heart like this often. We really don't know what were doing.

We need the Holy Spirit to rule and overrule in our hearts and minds and sometimes we see things that aren't there enough sometimes we would been hurt by individuals who didn't even know were hurting us in end-user again waters that would that we can only really navigate with with Jesus present so we have to practice his presence in the moment that I had a great example of this the other day I was writing down the highway was on the road and in Arkansas with couple when we were doing that prodigal's conference and I was a rainy day and somebody pulls there fully onto the highway on this rainy day and they had to put on the brakes and every once in a while you have to do that because it was a short entry area and the person behind them.

They didn't have to slam on the brakes.

They weren't skating anything that was just impatient and so they laid on their horn and immediately I heard this person who was driving the person the backseat just the kindest voice say bless you, and you could tell that they they really meant it. You know what I thought about Jesus words about blessing. Those who curse and it was a reminder of that beautiful presence of God in our hearts and minds that can really change everything in a moment while down like that soft answer turns away wrath is beautiful right now about to Corrie 10 boom story you know years ago when she had encountered a man where she was at a speaking engagement and this was a man who was a prison guard and that he was at robins Brook where she and her sister were were interned in where her sister actually died, and as soon as she saw this man all of those emotions and and that that hatred for him just came flooding in.

And he put his hand out to her and he said to think Fräulein that he has taken our sins away and now become a believer and so so he's standing there with his hand out and that just made matters worse for her because she was so angry reliving all of this and in her heart and moment, and so she prayed Lord Jesus, I can't forgive him I need you to forgive him through me because this is now my my brother in Christ, Lord, help me to forgive him and so you know, really almost on faith. She starts to put out her hand and as he took her hand. She was filled with a love for this man that she could not explain an end there. Again you see the importance of prayer in the moment, in the presence of Jesus to be able to get us through even the most difficult encounters just as you know, as we head into the holidays. I just want to encourage our listeners to know that to know he's faithful to know that he will give you strength as you believe he will help you in every moment. It matters to us.

Thank you James hear more from Pastor James by visiting the website James Banks.org or by visiting these church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray