12/27/21 Praying With JESUS: 40 Days Toward Church Revitalization — Day 16

CONFLICT, DISAGREEMENT, RESOLVE… Bill Henard, in his book Can These Bones Live?, says that “One of the primary reasons that a church turns inward comes from present or past conflicts within the congregation,” and that “problems and conflicts occur in all churches of all sizes,” and that “unforgiveness represents the foremost internal conflict most often ignored in the church” (Chapter 8). Unforgiving hearts are usually one of the primary causes of spiritual decline both personally and within the church. That’s why there are so many exhortations in the Bible like these:

•   Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

•   “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you” (Colossians 3:12-13).

PRAY… Father God, I thank you that in Christ You have forgiven me all my sins and reckoned me as righteous through the atonement of Christ. I have gladly received Your forgiveness; make me equally glad to extend the same forgiveness to those who offend, disappoint, or hurt me. Transform my tendency to hold grudges into Christlike mercy toward others. Dissolve all my inner bitterness and unforgiveness in the shed blood of Jesus, and restore to me a clean heart out of which I gladly forgive others. I ask this in Your Son’s Name, Amen.