“Forgive Us” Family Devotional Guide
Key Verse:
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14)
Key Themes:
- Sin separates man from God and prevents answers to prayer.
- God’s children are sinful and need to repent daily and specifically.
- People who recognize their sin and experience God’s grace will respond with forgiveness to those who sin against them; the willingness to forgive others is the mark of a person who recognizes that he has been forgiven much.
- If we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.
Lesson Summary:
God is able to answer any prayer. But there are some petitions God is unwilling to grant. Sin separates us from God and results in God denying our requests made in prayer. So one of the very important conditions form coming to our heavenly Father in prayer is to have a desire for confession. Confession involves naming specific sins, not just saying, “Forgive me for my sins.”
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to confess our sins daily and to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” The willingness to forgive others is one sign of a person who recognizes that he has been forgiven much. Sinful, repentant people recognize that they are undeserving of mercy and will then show mercy to others.
Family Devotional:
Read: Psalm 38
Questions:
What is the effect of sin on David’s physical condition?
What is the effect of sin on David’s emotional condition?
In what does David place his hope? What does David do?
Read: Psalm 130
Questions:
What is David’s emotional state in this psalm? Why?
What does the writer of this psalm understand about man’s condition before God?
Does Israel deserve forgiveness? On what does he base his hope of forgiveness? See verses 2, 4, & 7
Why would a watchman wait for the morning? How does this picture help us understand how we should wait for God’s answer to our prayer for forgiveness?
What helps the psalmist wait for God’s forgiveness? See verse 5
What can you learn from verse 6?
Pray: Use these psalms to help you pray specifically asking for forgiveness for your sins as well as asking for forgiveness of those who you have also wronged.