I had just finished speaking at a church service and was praying for people. The Holy Spirit spoke to me to pray for this man, so I called him up. The very first words out of my mouth were, "God knows that you are seeking after Him with all your heart." My mind went through all of the things this man had done as God continued to encourage him through me. Afterward, I was speaking to God about this man. I started out with, "How could you say those things to that man. Don't you know what he has done?" (Like God didn't know.) This man had been in adultery, caused a marriage to break up and married the woman he had an affair with. After I had expressed to God how I felt about the situation, He spoke to me. "Do you know a mans heart?" No. "How do you know this man hasn't changed?" I don't. "So you have no idea whether he has repented for what he has done?" No. "When I look at him, I see a man with a pure heart. You should do the same." Okay.
Isaiah 43:25 says: "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." If God forgives and forgets, we need to do the same. When we are walking in love toward other people, we don't remember their past sins or the mistakes that they have made. We don't keep reminding them of how they offended us, or hurt us or how they have let us down. The Amplified Bible says it this way in 1 Peter 4:8, "Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]. " We are to be like our Father in heaven and forgive like He forgives.
When God forgives, He doesn't remember our sins anymore. He does this because He is love. Now I don't know about you, but I am glad that when I ask for forgiveness, He doesn't even remember what I did. Before Him my heart is pure. Forgiveness is part of walking in love. If God forgives us because He loves us, we need to do the same and not hold peoples sins against them.
I have heard people say, "I don't know if I can forgive them." If God has put His love in our hearts, He has already given us the love to forgive and forget. That is why Christians have no excuse for failing to forgive. If you make the excuses that you haven't seen any change in a person, you haven't forgiven them. If you hold a grudge against a person because of what they have done, you haven't forgive them. If you don't trust a person, you haven't forgive them. Remember, we have no excuse not to forgive. "Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ." Ephesians 4:32 NCV
Do You Know A Mans Heart?