Since the heart is only known by God, how can we be SURE?

[HeavenlyOne]

Originally Posted by stmatthew

Yes you are, because I am saying something you are not. I am probably just not presenting it clearly enough.

I am looking form Gods eyes on this. Remember God calls those things which be not as though they were. Healing is already accomplished by Gods eye's. We can note Peter stating that "with his stripes you WERE healed". The healing was given by God at the time the stripes were applied, yet we as individually do not get that healing until we by faith accept it as ours. I see forgiveness the same. It is made available for all at the offering of Christs blood upon the mercy seat, meaning God has already done the work. Yet we still have lost with us, because for it to take effect in our lives personally, we must accept the work accomplished by faith.


The other issue is that those that cannot forgive are not free of the deed that was done against them. I have known people that spend their whole lives playing the victim game, and never was able to live, simply because they were unable to forgive what someone did to them, and move on. It never mattered if the offender asked a 1000 times. They became a victim of their own unforgiveness. It allowed bitterness to spring up, and they became critical of anything and everything.


Jesus was very plain when he said :

Luk 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. :

It does not say to "forgive if they ask you, and ye shall be forgiven". The commandment is to simply forgive.

Excellent post. The Lord's Prayer also tells us to pray that God 'forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us', but doesn't state that the trespasser has to ask us first.