PAID IN FULL

Chapter Four  – “PAID IN FULL”

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

(Using the Lord’s Prayer, phrase by phrase, as a model for expanding your prayer life)

Father, I pray that You will forgive us of our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Thank You, that we are able to be forgiven of our sins, as we are forgiving toward those who sin against us. I am thankful that the debt of my sins has been paid in full by what Jesus made possible for us on the Cross of Calvary. For “You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness” (Neh. 9:17). “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19)

Lord God, I praise You for the pardon of our sins that “as far as the east is from the west, so far have You removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12).

I am grateful, Lord, that you are “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. . . . You have not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities” as we really deserve. “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is Your mercy toward those who fear You” (Ps. 103:8,10-11).

Confession Through Supplication

Lord, I want to get my heart and house in order today. How wonderful to know that “if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Lord, I know that You want me to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,” to let my requests be made known to You (Phil. 4:6).

So, I ask You, God, to look into my heart. Lord, I confess and ask forgiveness of the sin(s) that I have committed since I last prayed to You. I am aware that if I regard iniquity in my heart that You will not hear me (Ps. 66:18). I do not want to regard iniquity in my heart and in my life, so I ask You to expose sin(s) in my life now that I am not aware of so that I may confess it/them to You, Lord. I want to say and feel the same way about my sins that You do, Lord. I want to keep my sin list short.

Cancellation Through Salvation

Lord, I am thankful for the cancellation of my sins obtained by the salvation provided by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5:9). Thank You, Lord, that as our sins and iniquities separated us from You so that You hid Your face from us (Isa. 59:2), Your hand is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor Your ear heavy that it cannot hear (Isa. 59:1), because You made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of You, O God, in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

As on (Date) , I publicly acknowledged that I had confessed with my mouth the Lord Jesus, believing in my heart, God, that You raised Him from the dead, I was saved (Rom. 10:9) because of that profession of faith in Christ, and my sins were cancelled through salvation, pardoned, and paid in full. With my heart I believed unto righteousness, and with my mouth I made a confession unto salvation (Rom. 10:10).

Lord, You have revealed to us through Your Word that when we repent, we shall receive the forgiveness of sins and the refreshing presence of Your presence through the Holy Spirit, Who leads us to live for Jesus. I am thankful for these words that you spoke through Peter: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ” (Acts 3:19). I also thank you for these other words the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to say when he preached on the Day of Pentecost: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Thank You, that as we repent (confession), we receive the remission (cancellation) of our sins and the refreshing, renewing, reviving presence of the Holy Spirit.

I acknowledge Your words, Father, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land” (Isa. 1:18-19). I am thankful for the cancellation of my sins through Jesus, whereby, I can eat the good of the land. I pray, Lord, that You will use me to keep others from refusing and rebelling, so that they will not be devoured by the doom of eternity in hell. 

Concession Through Submission

Father, You have said that we are forgiven of our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lord, I resolve to forgive those who have sinned against me, and I resolve to follow the words of our Lord Jesus, Who said to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

I release critical, evil eyes, and condemning, unbridled, sparking tongues to You, Father. I do so conceding my rights to deal with them directly, only doing so when there is no alternative, but in submission to Your Word and Your will, I seek to forgive and forget the wrongs of others toward me.
Father, I seek to follow Your Word which says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” (James 4:7-12).

So, Lord, I resolve to forgive anyone who wrongs me today. I realize, Lord, that You use those who sin against us to teach us how to forgive. I realize that there are those who are always critically watching (referred to as the “enemy” in the O.T.), so I make a willful decision to respond with love and forgiveness toward those who offend me. And as I forgive those who offend or wrong me, Lord, I release them into Your hands.

Father, I always strive to have a conscience without offense toward You and my fellow man (Acts 24:16). I seek always to tell the truth in Christ, not to lie, with my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 9:1). My goal in striving to be a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22) is to have such a good and clear conscience that when I may be defamed by evildoers, what they criticize me for would actually be reviling my good conduct in Christ to their shame (1 Peter 3:16). May I suffer, if it is Your will, Lord God, for doing good than for doing evil (1 Peter 3:17).

Lord, I pray that if someone is critical of me, then, in essence, they are critical of You, Lord, because I am living, abiding, acting, and reacting in Your will and purpose for my life. Father, thank You for this passage of Scripture that we can personalize for our lives when we undergo undue criticism. We continue to stand on this promise from Your Word that is also for us today:

“Whoever assembles against me/us shall fall for Your sake (Isa. 54:15). No weapon that is formed against me/us shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against me/us in judgment You shall condemn, for this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and our righteousness is from You (Isa. 54:17).”

Father, You have revealed in Your Word a special word to us when we are wrongly accused and slandered by an individual or group with whom we once walked with in sweet fellowship. In such situations, we can identify with what the Psalmist David was saying when he wrote: “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng” (Ps. 55:12-14).

Father, You have revealed that we should wait silently on You, for our expectation (hope, deliverance, vindication) is from You. Psalm 62, especially verses 1-2, 5-8, and 11-12 are Your Word(s) for us in such situations. Also, You have confirmed what You will do to those who falsely accused us: “The mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped” (Ps. 63:11). In such situations, we are to give ourselves to prayer (Ps. 109:5). I submit to Your way of dealing with such individuals and situations.

Consecration Through Sanctification

Father, I thank You for the holy consecration I have received and remain within through the sanctification process that began when I got saved and that is continuous in my life. Through the atoning death and resurrection of Christ, I know that “by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). With the Holy Spirit as a witness, how wonderfully encouraging these words are:

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, then He adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:16-25). Glory!

Father, as the Word says, “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter (see 2 Tim. 2:16-20), he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). Lord, I want to remove those things from my life that hinder me from being a vessel of honor for You, God, so that I will remain in a state of unbroken fellowship with You, Lord.

Father, I give myself to prayer. Now therefore, I pray, Lord, please pardon my sin (which I confessed to You), and return again with me, that I may worship You, Lord (1 Sam. 15:25). As I pray, I commit to obey what You desire for me to do and how You commanded us to live. I do behold Your Word that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). I strive to not commit willful and presumptuous sins (Heb. 10:26; Ps. 19:13).

Lord, I want to live in obedience to Your Word “for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23). Lord, I strive to live so that it cannot be said of me, and I pray that You will use me to keep these words from being said of others: “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you” (1 Sam. 15:23). Lord, please use my ministry to turn others from these words: “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Sam. 15:24); because, Lord, Your Word for such individuals is “I will not return with You, for you have rejected the Word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you” (1 Sam. 15:26). May we rescue the perishing as You have rescued us through our repentance (Luke 13:3; John 3:16).

I am thankful, Lord, for this song that I am able and privileged to sing:

He paid a debt He did not owe;
I owed a debt I could not pay;
I needed someone to wash my sins away;
And now I sing a brand new song, amazing grace all day long;
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.

Thank You, Father, that the debt of my sins has been paid in full. I thank You, Lord, for the full pardon I have received for the penalty of my sins because You are a God of grace and mercy (Heb. 9:22; 1 John 1:7; Eph. 1:7; Rom. 5:9; 1 Peter 2:24).