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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your daily prayer,

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Speaker 1: where we help you find the words you need to

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Speaker 1: connect to your Father in Heaven. No matter what's happening

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Speaker 1: in your life today, you can trust that God wants

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Speaker 1: to hear from you. Right after the short word from

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Speaker 1: our sponsors, will pray through today's prayer to experience the

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Speaker 1: freedom of forgiveness. A Prayer to Experience the Freedom of Forgiveness,

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Speaker 1: written by Emily Rose Massey, read by Leah Gerard for freedom,

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Speaker 1: Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do

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Speaker 1: not submit again to a yoke of slavery Galatians five

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Speaker 1: to one. Although it was almost a decade ago now,

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Speaker 1: it's still fresh in my mind the day that the

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Speaker 1: man who murdered my father received his official guilty sentence

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Speaker 1: life in prison. He was sentenced to sixty years of

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Speaker 1: his life, not free, but behind bars, given a great

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Speaker 1: opportunity to think about his actions for the rest of

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Speaker 1: his life on this earth. While many of my dad's

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Speaker 1: side of the family still don't fully understand, I chose

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Speaker 1: not to become involved in the pursuit of making sure

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Speaker 1: that this man quote paid for what he had done.

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Speaker 1: There was much commotion and to be quite frank, drama

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Speaker 1: via social media between family members over the course of

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Speaker 1: a few days. It resulted in hateful and bitter comments

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Speaker 1: regarding events in my dad's life that occurred decades ago,

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Speaker 1: my parent's divorce being one of them. My heart was

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Speaker 1: heavy to think that in the midst of such tragedy,

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Speaker 1: people would choose to argue over issues they have no

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Speaker 1: control over anymore and truthfully no business being involved in whatsoever.

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Speaker 1: The tragedy of losing my father actually paled in comparison

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Speaker 1: to the unforgiveness and bitterness that surfaced between my family members.

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Speaker 1: Unforgiveness is bondage. It's a yoke that slowly tightens around

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Speaker 1: our neck and chokes the life out of us. Bitterness

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Speaker 1: is like a cancer that spreads throughout your whole body.

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Speaker 1: It affects you completely and everything and everyone around you.

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Speaker 1: We're given many opportunities every single day to take the

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Speaker 1: bait and become offended, hold grudges, but it's so important

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Speaker 1: that we hold onto Jesus and his powerful word, God's

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Speaker 1: perfect truth. In Galatians five to one, the apostle Paul

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Speaker 1: describes for us the freedom we find in Christ and

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Speaker 1: urges us not to become entangled in sin, saying for freedom,

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Speaker 1: Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do

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Speaker 1: not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Although Paul

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Speaker 1: is not specifically speaking of unforgiveness in this verse, we

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Speaker 1: do know that unforgiveness is a sin that separates us

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Speaker 1: from God. Jesus explains to us at the end of

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Speaker 1: the Lord's prayer. For if you forgive other people when

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Speaker 1: they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

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Speaker 1: But if you do not forgive others their sins, your

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Speaker 1: Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew six fourteen through fifteen.

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Speaker 1: Allowing unforgiveness to hold you captive keeps you from fellowshipping

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Speaker 1: with your heavenly Father. It also keeps you from walking

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Speaker 1: in the total force treat him that Jesus died for

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Speaker 1: us to have. When he was crucified and his blood

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Speaker 1: poured out to accomplish God's ultimate salvation plan for the world,

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Speaker 1: our sins were thrown as far as the east is

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Speaker 1: from the west. As it says in Psalm one three twelve,

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Speaker 1: we no longer had to be slaves to sin. We

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Speaker 1: were made free when we stand before God in prayer,

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Speaker 1: and eventually, at the end of this life here on earth,

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Speaker 1: he sees what Jesus has done. He sees his son's

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Speaker 1: precious blood and the price that Jesus paid with his

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Speaker 1: very life just so that you and I could have

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Speaker 1: a relationship with our Heavenly Father through Christ. So why

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Speaker 1: would we deliberately choose bondage by allowing unforgiveness and bitterness

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Speaker 1: to plague our hearts and hinder fellowship with God and

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Speaker 1: the love of others. I don't know who you may

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Speaker 1: need to forgim. I don't know how deep the pain goes,

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Speaker 1: how big or small the offense may be. I don't

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Speaker 1: know how long you've carried that burden with you. But

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Speaker 1: I do know that you need to forgive. And you

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Speaker 1: don't have to do it in your own strength. God

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Speaker 1: has given you the Holy Spirit to help you, to

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Speaker 1: heal you, to change your heart. You're given the choice

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Speaker 1: to make the move. He must choose to forgive. Don't wait,

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Speaker 1: do it today, do it right now. You will experience

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Speaker 1: such great freedom, the freedom that Jesus so passionately laid

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Speaker 1: down his life for you to have. Let's pray, Heavenly

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Speaker 1: Father I come to you today first and foremost with

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Speaker 1: a grateful heart, that you would lavish your mercy and

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Speaker 1: love upon me, someone who has sinned against you, Holy

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Speaker 1: and righteous Creator, God, thank you for sending your son Jesus,

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Speaker 1: who stood in my place to dio death that I deserved,

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Speaker 1: so that I could be forgiven, justified, and restored back

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Speaker 1: to you to now be called your child. If I'm

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Speaker 1: holding on too and forgiveness against someone who's hurt me

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Speaker 1: or gravely sinned against me, I repent and forgive that

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Speaker 1: person immediately. I have no right to harbor unforgiveness against anyone.

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Speaker 1: And as your child, you call me to forgive others.

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Speaker 1: Because I've been forgiven by you, I choose to obey you,

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Speaker 1: no matter how difficult it may be for me. I

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Speaker 1: trust that your spirit will empower me to forgive and

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Speaker 1: love others as you have forgiven and loved me. Help

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Speaker 1: me heal from the wounds that may have been afflicted

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Speaker 1: by others. I pray for their heart that they would

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Speaker 1: walk in repentance and walk in forgiveness and no entrust

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Speaker 1: you as I do in Jesus' name. Amen, Your daily

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Speaker 1: prayer is a production of life. Audio and Salem Media.

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Speaker 1: your favorite podcast app. By following your daily prayer and

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Speaker 1: your nightly prayer, you can be sure that your day

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Speaker 1: begins and ends centered on the Word of God and

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