I got a revelation of this simple scripture just recently..  as I heard a sermon on it.. You know when something you have heard many times before suddenly seems to leap out and you understand it like you never had before!!

Matthew 18:21-222
Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 
“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

I realised Jesus is saying here.. HE the LORD forgives US over and over and over and over... seventy times seven.. WOW!

So many times I have read it from first person point of view.. you know.. sigh.. forgive and forgive and forgive the same person for what they keep doing to me.. but WOW Jesus forgives ME that much and that is why He says this.. How much have I been forgiven because so often I am doing the wrong thing over and over!!

We could never be quick to come before God because of our own shortcomings, especially since we know the truth already and should know better.. Yet Jesus is saying.. I do forgive you the same as I am asking You to do!! The joy that this message brings is life changing and is the very same reason we want to do the same!!

Another thing that struck me about forgiveness is the forgetting part..

God says.. Hebrews 10:16-17

 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”  then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

How healing and freeing is it to us.. to know God doesn't keep score against us!!

It is so easy in hard times to remind others of all thier sins, and pull them all out because we are suffering..  YET.. when we realise that when we come to God about anything that we have done.. He doesn't think.. oh no.. here comes Sharon AGAIN.. But that He is pleased to see us and doesn't even think about the last time.. and His mercy is new each and every time we are there!! WOW!!

We are asked to forgive because God has forgiven us.. and God thankfully does not only forgive us... but forgets what we have done and what we keep doing..

Mark 3:28
I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them.

Romans 4:7
"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered."

Ephesians 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace!!

Isn't that the greatest news!! You and I can stand totally new and clean before God.. as if we have never sinned!! But also.. we can be set free from continued hurt if we too can forgive and not only forgive but forget.. I do truly see that this goes forth and our reactions to hurts suffered can help others find that healing presence too which is peace and joy and hope for the future..

Thank You LORD!!

((Just recently I suffered a few days over hurts done to me that have been occurring for awhile.. Most were probably not even realised by those who had done them.. But they hurt never the less.. and as I fought with what had happened.. I was sad, anxious and overwhelmed.. It was going over and over in my mind.. But when I thought about all that God has done for me.. I realised.. wether these things that happened were ever realised or not by others involved.. by thinking about them.. talking about them with my husband etc.. It was not helping at all.. it was indeed hindering me and causing more hurt..  I lay them out to God.. I am so glad He knows.. and it is not just me being weeird and over the top.. I asked God to forgive me and those involved for what happened.. Me for taking these things to mind over and over and for not letting them go to Him and forgiving the others for all that had hurt me.. Then I proceeded to put it out of mind knowing God was able to help me heal.. Yes for a bit.. I was tempted to think about it.. try to work out what I would do re future because it had happened.. but I refused those thoughts and decided to just take things as it comes in the future and not hold anything in my heart from the past.. because I was going to forget about it.. And as the day wore on.. my peace returned!! You know I still have peace over these things.. and know that if I meet with the same again.. I am going to react differently!! Halleujah.. This same lesson can be applied to many circumstances and people in my life.. because if I do the same for anything or anybody that troubles me I can be released from losing my peace.. and God is able to give me His grace which is sufficient!!  )

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He has done this through the death on the cross of his own human body, and now as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before him with nothing left against you – nothing left that he could even chide you for; the only condition is that you fully believe the Truth, standing in it steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, convinced of the Good News that Jesus died for you, and never shifting from trusting him to save you. This is the wonderful news that came to each of you and is now spreading all over the world. And I, Paul, have the joy
of telling it to others."
Col. 1:22, 23 TLB