Learning to Forgive from the Bottom of Your Heart

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him,
O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt,
because thou desiredst me: 
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant,
even as I had pity on thee? 
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors,
till he should pay all that was due unto him. 
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you,
if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. Matthew 18:32-35 KJV

Surface forgiveness is like surface love
Superficial, and not what God is looking for
He wants full-fledged forgiveness from the bottom of our hearts

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
Your own heart may trick you into thinking you can’t forgive
or that you have forgiven when you haven’t done so
from the bottom of your heart
How do you know?
How can you test your heart?

Jesus will be our first example
This is when the disciples were trying to protect Jesus:
And one of them smote the servant of the high priest,
and cut off his right ear.
And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. 
And He touched his ear, and healed him. Luke 22:50-51
Jesus extended mercy to His enemy

Extending prayers and wanting what is best for them is one litmus test
This is one of the hardest things we can practice and accomplish
It takes surrendering to the Lord, a lot, often, repeatedly
It takes a lot of humility before the Lord and much trust
We have to trust the situation into His hands
We will do well to be humble and not take our feelings into account,
bur rather letting God take care of things the way He sees best

Paul is another great example of forgiveness
The jail guards had beaten Paul and Silas for casting out a demon
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:
and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken:
and immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one’s bands were loosed. 
And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep,
and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword,
and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying,
Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Acts 16:25-28 KJV
The jailer got saved

No matter what people do to us, our main focus should be on Jesus
and our work for Him and how we can benefit His kingdom,
even when we are wronged
The Lord will do what He pleases with the situation
and trusting Him is best
Whenever we focus on ourselves,
we are not pleasing God and we are asking for sin to enter in
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Neither give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27

Extending love and forgiveness toward those who have wronged us
will benefit God’s Kingdom, help clean out dross and pride in our hearts
and help us to be molded into the creatures Jesus wants us to be,
the ones we cannot even recognize when we are letting our emotions rage
The reading of the word, filling your time with prayer and petitioning God
to help you to overcome the inability to forgive from the bottom of your heart
With God, all things are possible

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them,
With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26 KJV