Catherine Marshall speaks of forgiveness as having two sides that are inseparably joined: the forgiveness each of us needs from God, and the forgiveness we owe to other human beings.

Most of us prefer not to face up to the fact that God’s forgiveness and man’s forgiveness are forever linked.

If you want to know more, read on.

Matthew 6:1-13

Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian gospel.

Inner healing begins with "forgiveness".

Forgiveness is our Lord’s greatest miracle.

Only as each one of us is open to receive this magnificent gift, can our inner self be freed to become the happier, finer person we are meant to be.

Jesus warned us that if we want the Father’s forgiveness, there is only one way to get it. We must start the flow of forgiveness between heaven and earth by forgiving our brother from the heart.

When we hold unforgiveness or malice in our hearts, then we cannot possibly have our hearts open to the love of God. We are the ones who have shut the door...not God.

By our overt action regarding forgiveness, we may be standing between the other person and the Holy Spirit’s work in convicting him and then helping him. By stepping out of the way through releasing somebody from our judgement, we’re not necessarily saying, "He’s right and I’m wrong." Forgiveness means, "He can be as wrong as wrong can be, but I’ll not be the judge." Forgiveness means withholding judgement.

God wants us to experience the release that comes with assurance of forgiveness. The "how" of forgiveness is through knowing how to use our will. We are responsible for our course of action.

God will be responsible for our feeling if we will just hand them over to Him.

Forgiveness is simply the decision of our wills to release a particular person, followed by verbalizing that to God.

It can be a simple prayer like,"Lord, I release_________ from my judgement. Forgive me that I may have bound him and hampered Your work by judging.

Now I step out of the way so that heaven can go into action for_______."

Let’s be clear: Jesus does not make our forgiveness dependent on our willingness to forgive and not judge others. Rather, He forges a link in our thinking between forgiving others and experiencing forgiveness.

No matter how we understand what Jesus said, it is clear that a failure to be forgiving is harmful to our spiritual growth. Moreover, a willingness to extend forgiveness nurtures a deeper personal relationship with our forgiving Lord.