WHEN THEY CAME TO THE PLACE CALLED THE SKULL, THERE THEY CRUCIFIED HIM, ALONG WITH THE CRIMINALS—ONE ON HIS RIGHT, THE OTHER ON HIS LEFT. JESUS SAID, ‘FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.’  AND THEY DIVIDED UP HIS CLOTHES BY CASTING LOTS
(Luke 23:33-34).

Has someone offended you, recently, or long ago? Is this offense still lingering in your heart, stabbing you with each heartbeat?

Understand that your offenders do not know the extent of the hurt they caused you when they lashed out at you in anger.  At the time, they were only focused on their own pain and reacting to their own heartache.  He did not get the full scope of the result of his offense.  She did not know what she was doing to your heart.

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING

Know that it is not what your offender said or did to you that is causing all the pain, but what you came to conclude about yourself, over the years.  The father-of-lies is responsible for these negative, destructive beliefs of rejection, abandonment, condemnation, and shame…not your offender.

Understand that when someone offends you, the father-of-lies uses this as an open door to hurl all the past rejection, abandonment, condemnation, and shame at your heart that you perceived through your previous offenders.  You do not just perceive the pain of the present offense, from your present offender, but the pain of a lifetime.  The father-of-lies is responsible for this…not your offender.

Sometimes we make mistakes…and others do, too. To make a mistake means to make a wrong judgment. This happens to all of us, even you and me. Please forgive those who made a mistake, because they did not know what they were doing, at the time. They made a wrong judgment. Maybe you did, too. Forgive yourself.

Is there resentment in your heart because of what a perpetrator said or did to you?

I encourage you to investigate the conclusions that got stuck in your heart “because of what your perpetrator said or did.” Surrender them to the Lord Jesus and ask Him for Truth. When you receive Truth, you will recognize the real perpetrator. Then, you will be able to forgive as Jesus did.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, help me to realize that it is not what my offender said or did to me that caused all the pain in my heart, but what I came to believe about myself in response to what he said or did. May I forgive like You do, Lord Jesus, for my perpetrators did not know what they were doing, but the father-of-lies did.