Matthew 6:14- 15. If you forgive others their trespasses, your Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then neither your Father will not forgive you. There is not a single scripture in the bible, as far as I'm concerned, that better explains why we must forgive. Easier said than done, right? You better believe it, nonetheless, it must be done. It might help to realize that when you forgive someone you are not saying that they are exempt from punishment, because they still have to answer to God. What you are saying is that you are releasing yourself from the hurt and anger that they caused, therefore, setting yourself free from the negative emotions that will ruin your prayer power.

Now, some people think that because they forgive they are also supposed to forget, in essence, acting like the whole thing never happened and putting themselves right back into the situation only to be hurt again at a later time. This is just not sensible. God never asked us to forget, He simply said forgive. We are supposed to use wisdom in all things, therefore, when someone hurts us, we're supposed to forgive them but we're not supposed to play dumb and walk right back into the same situation, giving that person access to hurt us again.

Look at marriage for example. Let's say partner A commits adultery. Now, whether partner B decides to stay in this marriage or move on obviously depends on the circumstances surrounding the situation. If both partners are willing to make the changes necessary in order to save this marriage, then this could not be counted as going back to the same old situation as before. On the contrary, if no changes are implemented or priorities rearranged, then partner B may be setting him/herself up for more hurt down the line. See the difference?

Something else about forgiveness is that some people think that because they're still angry or hurt inside that they haven't truly forgiven. Again, this is not true. Forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. It is something we choose to do, despite the way we feel. If someone has hurt you, go ahead and confess your forgiveness. Then give your negative feelings over to God and allow Him to heal you. Believe me, it won't take long. And the next time you come across the person who hurt you, be cool don't be rude. Remember, they can't hurt you anymore because you've released yourself from their hold. And what better revenge than to show that person, despite what they did, that you are just as happy now as you were before they did it! Now that's forgiveness. And where there's forgiveness, there's freedom, and where there's freedom, there's power.