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 welcome to the crosswalk devotional we're so glad to have you listening I'm Lynette kiddo and today's topic is how to get forgiveness this Christmas will be right back after a brief message from our sponsor
 how to give forgiveness this Christmas written and read by Lynette Kittle if you forgive other people when they sinned against you your heavenly father will also forgive you Matthew 6:14 they both scriptures when many Christians like to skip right over not wanting to address what the words are instructing them to do they don't even want to consider how their willingness to forgive in their own lies is related to the Forgiveness they receive from God
 do that is considered one of the greatest gift we can give to others and most importantly to ourselves instead of rushing over ignoring or withholding our forgiveness to those we don't believe deserve it let us ask God to examine our hearts and reveal areas where we need to forgive 2nd Corinthians 13:5 explains how an examining are so we discover whether we are the Christians we think we are examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith test yourselves do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in new unless of course you fail the test
 many of us believe we deserve God's forgiveness but not with others not so much the truth is none of us deserve his forgiveness and there is no way we could possibly ever earn it or purchase it ourselves
 none of us can attain God's forgiveness on our own it's God's gift to us to Jesus Ephesians 1:7 explains how in him we have Redemption through his blood the Forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace Ephesians 2:8 explains we are saved by grace for it is by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourself it is the gift of God even though we freely receive God's Gift of forgiveness we often feel justified in holding onto unforgiveness towards others but being unwilling to forgive reveals whether or not our hearts have truly been transformed and created as New Creations in Christ therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old has gone the newest here 2nd Corinthians 5:17
 being unforgiving is a red flashing warning concerning our hearts true condition checking to see if we Harbor unforgiveness is a valid test of our faith to see if we have truly receive God's forgiveness in our own lives if we fail this test it indicates we haven't truly let his forgiveness of our sins change of heart because if it did we would be able to forgive others when Mary anointed Jesus feet with perfume Simon the Pharisee didn't understand her actions so Jesus uses a parable to explain it to him Luke 741 through 43
 two people add money to certain money lender OneNote him five hundred denarii and the other 50 neither of them had the money to pay him back so he forgave the debts of both which of them will love him more
 Simon replied I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven you have judge correctly Jesus said Luke 747 reviews the key to forgiveness there before I tell you her many sins have been forgiven has her great love has shown but whoever has been forgiven little loves Little Love is the key to forgiveness recognizing God's forgiveness in our own lives releases his love into our hearts as 1st John 4:8 explains whoever does not love does not know God because God is love
 Jesus is our example of offering forgiveness to those who sinned against US based on our love for God Jesus said father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing Luke 23:34
 offering forgiveness to others is a mark of real faith in Jesus Christ because forgiving others reveals our hearts transformed condition
 if we are unforgiving it exposes the heart it hasn't truly receive God's forgiveness as scripture points out our willingness or lack of it to forgive others is a test an indicator of whether or not our faith is genuine intersecting faith in life are you willing this Christmas to give the gift of forgiveness if not are you willing to ask God to help you truly receive his forgiveness so that you are able to forgive others for their reading what does the Bible say about forgiveness
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