Let God Pay You Back
And forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
—Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
Any time you are hurt by another person, there is always the feeling that he owes you something. Likewise, when you hurt someone else, you may have a sense that you need to make it up to him or pay him back in some way. Unjust treatment, abuse of any kind, leaves an "unpaid debt" in the spirit realm. Such debts are felt in the mind and the emotions. If revengeful feelings from what others owe you, or from what you owe them, become too heavy or linger in your heart too long, you may even see unhealthy results in your body.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors." (Matthew 6:12). He was speaking about asking God to forgive our sins, and He referred to them as "debts." A debt is something that is owed by one person to another. Jesus said that God will forgive us our debts—release them and let them go, act toward us as if we had never owed Him anything. He also commanded us to behave the same way toward those who are in debt to us. Once again, let me say that this may sound difficult, but it is much more difficult to hate someone and spend your entire life trying to collect a debt that the person can never pay.
The Bible says that God will give us our recompense (See Isaiah 61:7,8). I never paid much attention to that scripture until some years ago while studying in the area of forgiveness and releasing debts. Recompense is a key word for anyone who has been hurt. When the Bible says that God will give us our recompense, it basically means that God Himself will pay us back what is owed us!
