A Prayer by Pastor Jack Hayford

Lord God, Creator of all, Maker of my heart ... I bring it to You this morning.

My heart ... which at various times has been lifted in praise to You, rejoices over Your goodness and giving to me.

My heart … which also sometimes cowers in fear before people and problems—when I forget You are bigger than them all—has been stained by mediations unworthy of a child made in Your image. It has been lifted up in pride over attainments accomplished by Your hand alone.

And, Lord, my heart is often hardened as well. I bring my heart to You this day for softening...

… like a child's, softened to forgive quickly, easily, without judgment, prejudice, bitterness, or resentment;

… like a field, softened to receive seeds of Your truth, that the fruit of Your Holy Spirit might be produced through my life;

… like clay, softened, that I might be shaped today more completely into the man or the woman You want me to become.

Forgive my hardness of heart when it results from my own disobedience, neglect, or outright resistance to Your ways.

Deliver me, lest my heart shrink by reason of this dryness and hardening. Flow the rivers of Your life over my heart, and bring it to renewal, O Lord.

And where my heart is hardened simply by the heat of duty, the weariness of work, the attack of enemies, the slings and arrows of the inconsiderate or crude … at those points, give me a vision of Your heart today, Lord. For although I have wounded Your love by my failures, You have never hardened Your heart against me.

So, dear God, let my heart be softened today in the same way as Yours toward any who have done to me as I have to You. Deliver me from all temptation to smallness or hardness of heart, and fill my life this morning with Your will and Your Word.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14).

Through Christ, our Lord, Amen.

An Oft Overlooked Aspect of Forgiveness

We need constant reminding to be forgiving. I'm glad for it. The usual scripture referred to is Matthew 18:21, "Then Peter came to Him and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'" I don't think it ends there. Later in Luke Jesus says, "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent' you shall forgive him'." I hear many people, including pastors and theologians, say we should forgive mass murderers like Timothy McVeigh or terrorists, the pedophile, the rapist; because it is the Christian thing to do. I think it immoral and self-serving to do so. I think that the amoral thinking, the "peace out, man", and forgive unconditionally, is un-Christian. There should be penalty and repentance by the person that sins against you. I'll not forgive a person that keeps hurting someone, or me, because he thinks he has a license to do so because I "have" to forgive him because I'm a Christian. I'll forgive someone if they keep screwing up, but not if they're malicious and think they can get away with it. So I'll happily grant forgiveness, but I must be asked.