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Freedom from Spiritual Debt
"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there remember
that your brother has something against you;
Leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way;
first be reconciled to your brother,
and then come and offer your gift."
Matthew 5:23-24
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence; and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors your ways; and sinners shall be converted to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation:
and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth your praise.
For you desire not sacrifice; else would I give it: you delight not in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Do good in your good pleasure to Zion: build your walls of Jerusalem.
Then shall you be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering:
then shall they offer bullocks upon your altar.”
A Psalm of David, Psalms 51: 10-19
What is spiritual debt?
Spiritual debt is what I call holding on to hurts from yourself or another. Getting out of spiritual debt is both a process of forgiveness and of repentance.
If you are in spiritual debt, you are too dirty to be presented to God the Father. That is the whole point of Jesus's righteousness being appointed to us, through His blood. It is a free gift, but we must choose to accept and receive it. His gift will never be forced upon you.
And you can take as much time as you want, to accept His gift. However, there are consequences for letting unforgiveness take root in your heart. I will get into that in a later book in this series.
We want to be out of debt all the time, 24/7. So, once we are in debt (e.g., offended) we should want to purge ourselves of that sin.
How do I purge myself of sin?
Start with writing down every single person that you can remember from your earliest memory until today that has hurt you or wronged you in someway that you remember. Write down who it was and what they did, if you have to forgive them.
Now comes the part where you forgive them. I made a simple prayer I call a The HummingBird Prayer that is a combination of the HonoPono prayer and Jesus' own words in Matthew 5:44. For each person for each hurt, we can say The Hummingbird Prayer. And it goes like this:
_____________
I apologize for my offense
Forgive me
_____________
I forgive you everything
I love you
I bless you
I release you
___________
Father, forgive us both
In Jesus' mighty name, Amen.
It is not only are you forgiving the person but you are also asking for forgiveness because you need forgiveness because you have held on to this hurt all of these years and if you have any a sense in your heart against any of your brothers you need to make that right before you can come to God. God won’t even be able to fully answer our prayers until we are able to get right with Him via HIS GRACE and Jesus paying the price for our sins, and we taking responsiblity for that sin and taking HIS grace once we forgive and repent. We need to forgive; we need to love our enemies and we need to ask for forgiveness.
Forgiving Yourself
OK now this is some thing that even less realize... you need to forgive yourself, for all of the hurt caused to others or yourself. If you’re a parent or a child, you should be pretty easy to start out with the relationship that you had with your parents or grandparents or caregivers. And if you’re a parent you can start with a relationship you have with your kids
And all the times that you said something or did something to them that wasn’t right or wasn’t fair or wasn’t kind or wasn’t done out of a place of love where you heard that person even unintentionally. OK now write that down.
We’re going to use the same Hummingbird prayer - but for yourself. "I apologize for the wrong that I did. I forgive you, [insert your name], for all of those things that you said, and did to hurt others or yourself. I love you. I bless you. I release you. I THANK you."
What if you can't remember all the things you need to forgive? Well, David wrote psalms about that very thing. Building 429 incorporated into a spunky tune. Pray this while you sing along.
“Search me O God
And know my every thought
Discern my every way
And speak into my soul
Point out to me my wrongs
Convict me until
I follow down the path
That leads me to your will”
"Grace That Is Greater" by Building 429
Jesus asks us to give up our old lives and follow him. What does that really mean? It is literally what he says, you may go through times of isolation, feuding with your family, persecution, spiritual battles as you become refined. But anything worth having, like eternal life with Our Creator who loves you so very much, takes sacrifice.
“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—
yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple…
In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”
Luke 14:25-33
Walking the Walk:
Walking with Christ ~ Freedom for Spiritual Debt
Think about what moved you in this section. Or perhaps something you learned or want to know more about. What are some practical things you can ask God for in your prayers to Him?
Possible things to pray for (in case you need ideas!).
- Revelation of any Spiritual Debt you are carrying
- Guidance on what to pray for
- Strength, courage, and faith to stay on my knees, in faith, knowing that freedome from spiritual debt will break, even when it feels like God is not listening
- Wisdom to ask God to take gentle care of me, as he will do nothing unless we ask
Note of caution: don’t pray for these opportunities all at once. Going slow is recommended, especially if you are healing from a hurt. In this case, ask God to take it slow with the opportunities, so you can ramp up to the one he created you to be, in such a time as this.
Next Chapter: Forgiving in Haste and Obedience
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