A lot of our relationship with God is cause and effect. Not everything, but a lot of what happens or doesn’t happen to us is because we are or we aren’t who we need to be. The major aspect of this study is to help us be who we need to be, so God can do in and through us what He wants to do. As in a lot of other cases, we are being forgiven on the basis of how we have forgiven. All the lack of forgiveness that exists in our heart separates us from a close and intimate relationship with God. That can be very scary if we don’t know about the power of salvation.

1 John 1:9 (NIV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

This Scripture doesn’t say we have to forgive in order to be forgiven. What it does say is that we have to confess our sins.

If we take the two concepts and put them together, we find ourselves confessing our lack of forgiveness and being forgiven for it. If we confess all our sins, not only will that happen, we will be forgiven of all our sins and we will be purified.

Now that we have been forgiven, can we go back to having a lack of forgiveness for those around us; that is where the “want” comes in. If we go right back to a lack of forgiveness because we WANT to, then we need to have God check our heart. The true Christian wants to forgive and will do what it takes to get God’s power to forgive. While it is true that salvation-forgiveness gets us on our way to heaven, it is also true that salvation causes us to become very concerned when we sin.

If we are a Christian, we will not lack a forgiving spirit AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT. We may lack a forgiving spirit; but, we will not feel good about it. We will feel miserable about it because our will is directed toward God (Romans 7:24).