Unforgiveness is disobedience to God’s word. We are to forgive AS we have been forgiven. When we ignore that command, it weighs our hearts down. We become a stumbling block to others. When we finally obey His word, it takes away a burden we didn’t realize we were carrying.

Bitterness is one fruit of unforgiveness. It is poisonous and inedible. An unforgiving heart is tormented. Matthew 18:34. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Buried unforgiveness blocks His grace, and is another reason for unanswered prayer.

Though this was written about Israel, we can make a personal application. Ezekiel 20:37 says, “I will make you pass under the rod…” When we ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts, we come under the life-giving scrutiny of our Shepherd’s rod.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Let this life-skill prayer be woven into the fabric of our lives.

I pondered Psalm 119:149 as I was memorizing it. It says, “Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.” Why did the writer use the word justice in relationship to revive?

I looked up the Hebrew on biblos.com and it gave the Strong’s as judgment, ordinance, or act of deciding a case. I asked one of my pastors to explain. Here are his words, “The Word of God is the standard for His judgment of our lives and obedience to that Word. If justice is on view, His righteous examination of our obedience, as judged according to His word and our further obedience, even if through correction, brings revival and revitalization.”

His explanation took me to Hebrews 12:11. Our trials are divinely orchestrated to bring us into greater conformity to His image. The verse ends with, “…afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

We recently reviewed God’s way of forgiveness. I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any hidden heart-unforgiveness. 

I write for an online devotional ministry once a month. They emailed changes for me to approve. As I sent back my email, the Lord spoke these two words “proud flesh.” Hmm.

Proud flesh is a medical term. It means that tissue grows beyond the wound’s margins. Hyper granulation: tissue protrudes above the skin’s surface. Think of scar tissue which is hard.

Let’s take that into a spiritual application. When we are emotionally wounded, the Lord empowers us through His grace to forgive right then. However when we react in fleshly pride we block His gift. James 4:6 says, “…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Hebrews 3:13 is a great definition for blocked grace. It says, “…hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Offenses will come. Satan’s deceptive suggestions are designed temptations to get revenge, stuff it, use it as gossip, or reject the one who hurt us.

God’s way is to forgive from the heart the moment we are offended. Matthew 18:34-35. Ephesians 4:30, and Colossians 3:13. Jesus paid for those sins against us on the cross.

James 1:2 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” The Lord can and often stops us in our tracks through adversity from Himself or others.

Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” Ask yourself this question: do I hate my flesh? Years ago there was a dear believer. He used the analogy that you starve the goat and feed the sheep, or you feed the sheep and starve the goat. 

We starve our goat-flesh when we feed our spirit man. Galatians 5:16 says that when we walk in the Spirit, we will deny our fleshly lusts. Our spirit man feeds on God’s word. It is His pasture and still waters that our Good Shepherd leads us to daily. 

Ephesians 3:16 Amplified says, “May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the (Holy) Spirit (Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality).”

Proverbs 29:1 says, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Think back to Absalom’s life. There is another account that clearly shows us how the Lord can be our Adversary.

God gave Baalam strict orders to not go with the Moabite king’s men. Yet he did. Numbers 22:22 says, “Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him…”

Have you ever felt hemmed in? Verse 24 says, “…a wall on this side and on that side…” Verse 26 says, “Then the Angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.”

Verse 32 says, “…Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me.” Proverbs 28:18 says, “…he who is perverse will suddenly fall.” Perverse is a great definition of our flesh and pursuing our own way which is insolent pride!

Proverbs 24:10 says, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” I’m reading through 2 Samuel. As I came to the scene with David’s advisor, I thought about God’s role in our adversities.

One consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba is found in 2 Samuel 12:11. It says, “…Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house…”

Absalom “…stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” 2 Samuel 15:6. Though deceit he obtained his father’s place in Hebron. David and his men fled Jerusalem. Ahithophel, David’s advisor, also defected to Absalom.

Verse 31 says, “…And David said, O Lord, I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” Absalom asked a seer named Hushai what to do. 2 Samuel 17:14 says, “…The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel. For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom.”

When adversity comes to us, we need to pause and ask the Lord what its source is.

True prayer always involves our hearts. I have been memorizing Psalm 59:16-17. Those two verses can easily be sung as new songs. They say, “But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy.”

Psalm 146:2 says, “While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Psalm 29:2 says, “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

Psalm 146-150 all end in, “Praise the Lord!” Worship is not an event, it is a lifestyle. At all times, and in every situation, we can lift up our hearts in worship. The Lord is over all things. He is orchestrating every aspect of our lives for our good.

As we worship Him, we enter into His attributes. Partakers of His nature ~ 2 Peter 1:4.

Another avenue for prayer is using God’s word as we petition Him. Paul wrote out the prayers that he was praying for the various churches. I like to use this one when I am praying for folks that are spiritually struggling.

Colossians 1:10-11 says, “That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.”

When there is a need that only the Lord can fill, I like to use Ephesians 3:20. It says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

What is your need? Emotional, physical, or spiritual needs are the Lord’s realm. He knows our hearts. Psalm 139:2, 4 says that He knows our thoughts before we think them, as well as the words on our tongues before we speak them. Though He knows, He wants us to empty them out at His feet. 

Prayer is an expression from our hearts. Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in Him at all times. you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” Hannah is a great example for us as one who poured out her heart.

1 Samuel 1:10 says, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.” Silently she poured out her heart. Verse 13 says, “Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard…” In verse 16 she told Eli the priest, “I…poured out my soul before the Lord.”

Our tear are precious to the Lord. Psalm 56:8 says, “You number my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle; are they not written in your book.” Interesting verse to ponder. Psalm 34:6 says, “This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”

Our cries from desperation are noted by the Lord. Crying out is the language of need, that has no human answers ~ only through Divine Intervention. 

Prayer is a kneeling heart that acknowledges absolute dependence on the Lord. Our reminder comes from John 15:5, “…for without Me you can do nothing.” Prayer is a posture of humility. Here are three quotes from three men who had a lifestyle of prayer.

Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.— D.L. Moody. All things else being equal, our prayers are only as powerful as our lives. In the long pull we only pray as well as we live.—A. W. Tozer. Prayer is God’s plan to supply man’s great and continuous need with God’s great and continuous abundance.— E. M. Bounds.

Samuel addressed the children of Israel after he presented Saul as their king. Then he warned them to not turn aside from following the Lord. 1 Samuel 12:20-21. Verse 23 says, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you…”

1 Thessalonians 5:17 is a command. It says, “Pray without ceasing.” May our hearts remain kneeled before the Lord in absolute dependence.