Many people want greater faith for prosperity, healing, blessings, and so forth, and yet these same people don’t have faith to forgive.
One day the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith so that they could forgive. Jesus said that offenses — bad mouthing, gossip, injustice, and betrayal — would come. Then He told his disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

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.” In response, the apostles said, “Increase our faith.” (Luke 17:1-5)

Why did they ask Him to increase their faith? They were saying that it’s not easy to forgive, please give us more faith. But nobody needs more faith to forgive — faith is action, we just need to do it.

Here are some examples of ways we can act out our forgiveness:
* Pray for yourself. Grudges and hatred are sins against God.
* Pray for the person who hurt you.
* Apologize to the person who hurt you even if you feel they are more at fault. Apologize for whatever you might have done wrong.
* If the person you have bad feeling towards has passed away, apologize to God… and obviously there is no need to pray for him/her.
* Forget the offense.
* Examine your heart to make sure your forgiveness is genuine, that there is no seed of resentment that could grow in the future.

Are all these steps necessary? Yes. That’s why the disciple asked for more faith. Remember, grudges and un-forgiveness hurt you more than they hurt the other person, and they even have the power to rob us of our salvation. Forgiveness is so important that Jesus made sure to forgive His killers while He was hanging on the cross. He forgave so that he would not lose His communion with the Father. Forgive today, and immediately receive the forgiveness of God.

May the God of the Bible Bless you.

Bishop Bira Fonseca