Good morning!
It is a new week and a new day and I’m so glad you could join me as we continue our journey toward renewing our minds and improving our self-discipline. If you’re just joining me, you can read my article, “Morning and Evening: A New Self Discipline Journey” to learn more about why I am doing this, and how this may benefit you as well.
This week we are going to focus each day on forgiveness. Each day this week I will provide affirmations, scriptures, and daily challenges regarding this topic. Next week will be a new one!
With that said, let’s start our morning together!
BREATHING EXERCISE
Before we begin let us take some deep breaths to calm our mind and prepare us for this mornings discipline.
MUSIC FOR A NEW DAY
I personally like to have some soft music in the background, so if that’s something you like as well below you will find a song you can play for the duration of our time together.
PRAYER For Forgiving Yourself
Now that we’re calm, let us transition to a time of prayer. Over the next few minutes you can pray on your own or feel free to use the following prayer:
God of All Comfort,
We are created to be like You in spiritual personality and moral likeness. I confess that I have done wrong. Thank you for forgiving me for rebelling against you. Give me the ability to cast all my anxiety on You, because You care for me and are so much stronger than me.
God of Mercy and Forgiveness, help me to forgive myself and turn over a new chapter of my life. God, mold me in your image and make me a vessel for Your good work. Build me a new life. I want to walk next to You all the days of my life.
I want less of me and more of You. I want to be undone by who You are. So, Lord, I turn myself over to You. Have Your way in me now.
Amen
Prayer for New Life| Connect US
AFFIRMATIONS for Forgiving Yourself
Here are a few affirmations for this morning that you can put in your pocket and carry with you throughout your day.
As you read through them, repeat each one out loud at least three times before moving to the next. Take your time. Close your eyes and say them to yourself as well. Let these words sink into your heart and mind this morning:
- I forgive myself for what I did.
- I can let go of feelings of guilt and shame.
- I am wiser today than yesterday because I have learned from my mistakes.
- Punishing myself forever is unhelpful to me and others.
SCRIPTURES For Forgiving Yourself
As Christians, our affirmations should be rooted in the strength and power of God who empowers us and strengthens us to face every trial and every day (both good and bad).
Here are some scriptures that further support the affirmations we just spoke to ourselves. Again, repeat each one three times out loud before moving to the next one. Take your time. Maybe try to commit these to memory as well:
- Psalm 103:10-11, “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.”
- Acts 10:43, “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
- Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
- Isaiah 1:18, “‘Come now 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 become like wool.'”
TODAYS CHALLENGE
Our challenge today is this: write in your journal a list of things you need to forgive yourself for, hand them to God, and then strike through them with a red marker.
Sometimes we don’t even know what past sins or mistakes we’re still holding onto. But most times we do if we take just a moment to really think about it. The struggle, however, is in actually facing them. It’s easier, or so we tell ourselves, to carry guilt and shame for what we did in the past than to face it once and for all and give it over to God.
So today, pull out your journal, or a piece of paper, and make a list of the things you still need to forgive yourself for. Take some time, really think it through. Are there past sins or mistakes that you’re refusing to let go of? If so, write them down.
Then, pray through your list asking God to give you the strength to forgive yourself just as he has already forgiven you for these things.
Finally, as a reminder to yourself that the blood of Christ has covered your sins, pull out a red marker and strike through all of the items on your list. Whenever you feel guilt and shame creeping up on you about these things you can pull out this page and be reminded that God has forgiven you already and that the blood of Jesus has stricken your sin out of existence.
Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from Germany Kent, print and broadcast journalist, TV personality, former beauty queen, actress, businesswoman, producer, philanthropist, and author – and she once said:
Perhaps, if you knew then what you know now you would have done it differently. You are a different person today. Forgive yourself, and move on.
Germany Kent
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