From the time I was a small child, my parents, Mike and Jeanne Dean taught me these biblical principles of forgiveness that have allowed me to walk in freedom through very difficult and dark places. God has victory for the believer in Jesus. There is no hurt too deep, there is no mountain too high that the tiniest bit of faith in Christ cannot command it to be uprooted and thrown into the sea. These truths will help you find freedom in Christ in areas that have seemed stubbornly ensconced in your soul. My prayer is that God’s power and love will envelope you as you read and pray today.
Psalm 13
New King James Version
Trust in the Salvation of the Lord
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Let’s be honest. How many of us have things in our soul we wrestle with that no one knows about? Even the closest of friends may not know every detail of your soul. So many things keep us from full disclosure. Fear of being misunderstood or rejected. Not wanting to gossip or make someone else look bad. Or fear of being hurt again, if we take the mask off that defines us.
Over the years, I have given many people my confidence as they shared with me deep pain and hurt that they couldn’t even tell their very best friends. Whatever your struggle, do not struggle alone. As David said, “How long shall I take counsel in my soul?” In other words, “How long will I be trapped inside myself with all of this sorrow?”
And who are our enemies? Dimitri Dudeman was tortured for Bible smuggling in Romania during the days of the USSR. Yet more painful than the days of torment from merciless soldiers in prison, was the pain of rejection and thoughtless treatment by Christians when he escaped to the United States. Some of our deepest wounds come from “frenemies” in our own families or our own groups of friends or churches. That is the truest and deepest betrayals that happen. And then suddenly, our emotions are our enemies. They fight against us and lie to us and beat us up day after day.
How many times do I hear the age old story from people I am ministering to???
“I was rejected by my father. My mother was controlling…I was forced to be the grown up and take care of myself or my siblings before I was 10.”
These stories are more and more common, like a new trending social media bandwagon.
The rejection from someone we love is a crippling handicap that follows us through our lives. Once that painful soul wound is cut in us, it can begin to heal, only to be re-opened by another blow, another rejection, another painful betrayal.
The only way out is in.
Into the wound with God.
Instead of just having a religion of knowledge and facts and stuff to do and book studies and coffee time with friends and Christian conferences and hip Christian music, God wants to take us back to clear the minefields. He wants to dismantle the painful emotional landmines in our souls. These places may be full of memories of harsh words spoken, judgements made, cold shoulders turned, empty chairs at tables and holidays that echo the old feelings of yesteryear…
“You’re not good enough.”
“You don’t belong.”
“You are lazy.”
“What did I do to deserve this?”
Why God? Why take me back to the land mines?
“Because, we are going to dismantle them one by one.”
“How, God? I have been praying about this for years!”
“You are going back to release. You are going back to forgive. But, I am going back with you. I will walk you through the fear.”
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23
Jesus came down to get into the nitty-gritty, dirty, sinful and unlovable parts of our lives. To quote the old Michael W. Smith song: “Nobody knew his secret ambition was to give his life away.” This was his secret ambition.
We need to allow God into the wounds. We may have tried to suppress the pain and have done a pretty good job of it. But, we can’t understand why we feel depressed on certain days of the year. We can’t understand why we struggle with an addiction like overeating or smoking or even healthy addictions…that seem good on the outside (like work or exercise), but they really are just keeping the dogs at bay.
There is no quick fix or easy answer, but there is someone who can do what all the drugs in the world cannot do. Jesus can go into your pain, into your experiences and heal you.
Giving each offender to The Lord, one by one, will take away the power of the pain, the fear or the anger. Jesus taught us to forgive those who persecute us and those who do evil against us. He said that if we don’t forgive, we will be thrown into the dungeon and chained. And that is exactly what happens. Unforgiveness is a terrible tormentor.
As Jesus hung on the cross he cried out, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Remember that God sent his only Son to take upon himself the punishment for all of our own sins and shortcomings that offend God. When we are hurt, especially when we are betrayed, we feel especially justified in holding onto our grudges. But, remember that God loved us and Jesus died for us, while we were still sinners…while we were still opposed to him. In fact, right now someone may be reading this who has never known how much God loves them in the middle of their rebellion and sin. Someone may be wondering if God can possibly remove the guilt and shame from their lives. The answer is a resounding YES!
(If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and asked him to remove the guilt and sin from your life, that is a great place to start. Jesus was rejected by men. Jesus was abused and betrayed. Jesus still prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” He did this to take all of our sin upon him so we would not be guilty before God. But, we need to confess with our mouths Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead so we will be saved. For it is with our hearts we believe and are justified or made right with God and it is with our mouths that we confess and are saved.)
If you are ready to be rid of some emotional landmines, perhaps ones that you have been praying about for years…let’s use this psalm 13 to guide us through the beginning of letting God dismantle the explosive pain. It may take some time. You may need to come back or print this off to go through this again. It may be a habit you need to develop of taking this to the Lord in prayer, instead of going to old habits that simply numb the pain.
Psalm 13
Save Me, God! Prayer for forgiveness, deliverance and healing.
Step 1: Being Real with God
How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
Lord God, you know the pain inside of my heart. You know what I live with day after day…the anxiety, the pain, the anger, the rejection.
How long will my enemy (the situation with my spouse or _______) be exalted over me?
My heart betrays me even now. I am tired of being held captive by the pain in my life caused by other people. I am tired of being tired and feeling alone in the battle. I have prayed and prayed and sometimes it feels like I am talking to myself. I know you are there, but sometimes my feelings saying the opposite. Give me faith that you can truly set me free from unforgiveness and from the chains of my past.
Step 2: Ask the Holy Spirit to Speak to You and Give you Faith
Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Father, in Jesus name, give me peace and the ability to give all of this to you. Open my eyes of faith. Strengthen my spirit. Come to me by your Holy Spirit with comfort, truth and power. Lead me into the truth of Christ as I pray now for those who have hurt me and injured me.
Step 3: Confessing Forgiveness with God’s Help
Do not let those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. Deliver me, Lord!
Right now, bring to my mind and heart things that I need to deal with before you. Remind me of old pain that I need to give up to you. (Get a piece of paper and make a list of those who come to your mind who have hurt you.)
Father, in Jesus name, I pray for this list of people. Father you know what ___________ did to me. You know how this person:_______ (left me/betrayed me/cheated on me/abandoned me/ignored me…) I felt _____ when this happened. I need to forgive this person, in Jesus name. I forgive them for being a part of the pain I carry around inside of me.
Father, in Jesus name, it is very difficult to pray for these people/this person. I am CHOOSING in FAITH to release this situation to you and forgive _____ in Jesus name! Not by my might, nor by my power, but by YOUR Spirit Oh Lord!
Step 4: Asking Forgiveness for Living in Unforgiveness.
Father, forgive me for living in unforgiveness. Father, release me from the power of what this person did to me, in Jesus name.
Step 5: Spiritual Warfare/Breaking Power of the Pain
I confess my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I thank you Lord to forgive all of my sins and to heal all my diseases. I am not under the power of the sin of my forefathers or the sins of my family, I am in Christ Jesus. I confess the truth of who I am in Jesus Christ. I am forgiven. I forgive. I am loved. I love. I am free from the power of Satan, in Jesus name. Jesus, thank you for taking my punishment and my pain on your own body when you hung on the cross. My sin was buried with you and I was raised up to life with you through your resurrection power!
Father, I have given this person/people to you, so in the name of Jesus, I break Satan’s power over this area of my life. I pray against spirits of pain, unforgiveness, anger, abuse, fear, failure, rejection, betrayal and any other connected to this painful situation, in Jesus name and command them to leave me and my family and never come back.
Step 6: Receiving the bountiful power of the Holy Spirit into place of pain in your life.
I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Lord, your gifts of grace and mercy are truly bountiful to me! You give more than I can ask or imagine. Your love is beyond anything I deserve. You have seen me in my suffering and have delivered me. NOW FILL ME WITH THE POWER OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT, in Jesus name! Teach me, by your Spirit and lead me into the truth of how to interact (or not to) with those who have hurt me in the past. God, I am open and willing to hear from you. You are the God of my heart, my great reward. Please pour your grace and mercy and love into my heart and anoint me with the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for delivering me. In Jesus name! Amen!
IN CLOSING
My prayer for you, who are going through pain, is that you will truly pray this prayer to Jesus and that you will experience the wonderful, intimate, closeness that God wants to have with you as you surrender your life to him. Not everyone will be able to have relationships with the person they are forgiving again. It wouldn’t be safe. Other people may have prayed to forgive someone you are living with and you will need to pray to forgive them several times a day to stay right with God and out of turmoil. The main thing to remember is to not let the sun go down on your anger and not to give the devil a foothold in your life. No matter what has transpired, make sure that YOUR heart is right with God, as you cannot control another person’s heart. If you experienced healing from this truth, please let me know. If you have surrendered your life to Christ, please let me know so I can pray for you. God Bless!
If this blessed you, please share with your friends!
Revealed Ministries 
I clicked the link on Facebook thinking I might grasp a little something that will help me with my situation. What I found was so much deeper than I could have ever expected. It spoke immediately to my heart and situation and this is exactly what I needed and is another small step in my healing. So THANK YOU!! God bless!!
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So thankful it was helpful, Stephanie. God is faithful and can heal any heart. His Word is full of rich principles to guide us towards freedom. Jesus himself is our freedom! Thank you for taking the time to read. Please share with anyone you think this might help.
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Hi Briana, i just had to come back here and say how thankful I am for this blog. Praying the psalms has really really blessed me. It has set a fresh fire in my heart for prayer. I must say it has really improved how I prayed. Again, i thank God for you and may he continue to give you the grace to keep up this good work of faith. AMEN!
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Tanya, thank you! That is an encouragement! It’s good to know God is moving in your heart.
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