“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” –Matthew 6:14-15

This verse is a reminder of the importance of forgiving others, but if we only focus on what God will withhold from us if we do not forgive, we neglect the role our spirit plays in forgiveness. Humility, compassion, and wisdom are necessary in the giving and receiving of forgiveness. The truth that each and every person has sinned and fallen short reminds us that everyone has a substantial debt they cannot pay.

When our spirit is consumed with grudge holding, toxic emotions cripple us. Indignant judgment, poisonous anger, frustration, and bitterness aim to take up permanent residence within. The crushing result is a diminished ability to receive forgiveness. We descend into a tailspin of negative thoughts and emotions. With all our energy focused on the perpetrator, we forget our own debts.

God’s generosity is an invitation to be forgiven and set free. When we forgive others, we experience that freedom once again. Instead of carrying the weight of unrelenting forgiveness, you can know the light, love, and freedom that comes from passing on the forgiveness you have obtained. (Turning Point)

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: “–2 Cor. 9:8

Abundance is characteristic of God! Go forth on a spring morning, and look on the flowers with which He has carpeted the woodlands. Daisies and buttercups, primroses and cowslips in myriads, bear witness to the prodigality of His thought and power–His thought to fashion, His power to produce. But this profuse carpeting of the earth’s nakedness is equalled in the heavens! There, depth opens beyond depth, lighted and inlaid with constellations, and the wonders of the sky answer to those of the earth. How multitudinous is God’s creation!

But what shall we say of His Grace? His Joy is unspeakable, His Peace passeth understanding, His Love is beyond knowledge! Get great thoughts of God, who holds the ocean depths as a drop in the hollow of his hand, and weighs the mountains as grains of dust in His scales. Lie upon that bank of flowers, and consider their multitude; sweep the skies with a telescope and see if you can tell the stars; number the sand-grains upon the shore, and count the shells strewn along the strand; and when you have considered the gifts of His hand, ascend to the wealth of His heart. Study the infinite map of God’s nature; compare it with the need of your little life, and then remember that the Father loves you infinitely, so much so that for your salvation and mine He gave His Only-Begotten Son. He has set His love upon you, and will certainly deliver you! He will set you on high because you have known His Name. All the resources of eternity and infinity are at His disposal, and He can make all grace abound toward you, that always having all sufficiency in all things, you may abound to every good work.

This is a very wonderful text! Count the number of universals in it. All Grace Always! All Sufficiency! All things! God abounding to us that we may abound. The word translated abound might be rendered literally “to flow or pour over.” “My cup runneth over.” Our Lord said: “I am come that they might have life, and have it overflowingly”; “Where sin overflows, grace much more overflows” (Joh 10:10; Rom 5:20).

Give me grace, O Lord, to see the beauty lying at my feet in the commonplaces of life; and to feel that Thou art as near, and that life is as wonderful today, as when men beheld Thee in the days of Thy flesh. AMEN. —FB Meyer

“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”–Philippians 3:12–14

The collapse of the French defenses and the rapid advance of the Nazi armies in May of 1940 left hundreds of thousands of British, Canadian, and French forces in danger of being surrounded and destroyed. A desperate rescue effort was put in place called Operation Dynamo. British officials hoped to save at least 45,000 troops by using naval boats and fishing vessels to ferry them across the English Channel before the Germans arrived. The operation was a huge success, and in the end nearly 350,000 Allied soldiers were rescued. Many in England viewed it as a triumph, but Winston Churchill took to the floor of the House of Commons to point out a painful truth amid the rejoicing. “We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations.”

The direction of the Christian life is meant to be forward, not backward. Though we encounter obstacles and opposition, we must remember that retreat is not an option and that the victory has already been secured for us. “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). We are not to be constantly looking back either in regret for things done or undone, or with desire for what is in the past. Instead we are to be looking to Jesus and striving to accomplish all that we can for Him.-(Daily in the Word)

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” –(Heb. 11:6).

We all need faith for desperate days. The Bible is full of such days. Its record is made up of them, its songs are inspired by them, its prophecy is concerned with them, and its revelation has come through them. The desperate days are the stepping-stones in the path of light. They seem to have been God’s opportunity and man’s school of wisdom.

There is a story of an Old Testament love feast in Psalm 107, and in every story of deliverance the point of desperation gave God His chance. The “wit’s end” of desperation was the beginning of God’s power.

Recall the promise of seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sands of the sea, to a couple as good as dead. Read again the story of the Red Sea and its deliverance, and of Jordan with its ark standing mid-stream. Study once more the prayers of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, when they were sore pressed and knew not what to do. Go over the history of Nehemiah, Daniel, Hosea, and Habakkuk. Stand with awe in the darkness of Gethsemane, and linger by the grave in Joseph’s garden through those terrible days. Call the witnesses of the early Church, and ask the apostles the story of their desperate days.

Desperation is better than despair. Faith did not make our desperate days. Its work is to sustain and solve them. The only alternative to a desperate faith is despair, and faith holds on and prevails.

There is no more heroic example of desperate faith than that of the three Hebrew children. The situation was desperate, but they answered bravely, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” I like that, “but if not !”

I have only space to mention Gethsemane. Ponder deeply its “Nevertheless.” “If it is possible…nevertheless!” Deep darkness had settled upon the soul of our Lord. Trust meant anguish unto blood and darkness to the descent of hell–Nevertheless! Nevertheless!

Now get your hymn book and sing your favorite hymn of desperate faith.
–Rev. S. Chadwick

When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison walls to be,
I do the little I can do
And leave the rest to Thee.
And when there seems no chance, no change,
From grief can set me free,
Hope finds its strength in helplessness,
And calmly waits for Thee.