Self Forgiveness

Contents for this forgiveness article

• Does God Forgive?
• Self Forgiveness Exercises With A Friend
• Child's Prayer for Forgiveness

Does God Forgive, Or Not?

If you are aware of a mistake you have made and especially if you have caused harm to someone, it can be hard to forgive yourself.

It may be easier instead to think of self-forgiveness as the act of receiving forgiveness from God.

The nature of God is such that forgiveness is guaranteed.

As the sun shines, so God forgives.

One image of self condemnation is to see yourself as having shut yourself away in a dark place - trying to keep yourself from God's love and perhaps from anyone else's. 

An image of self-forgiveness is to see yourself walking out into the sunshine of God's forgiveness.

It is we who resist believing that we can be forgiven. God always forgives.

“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
(Jeremiah 31:34, KJV e-sword)

The only requirement to receive forgiveness is to be sorry and to say a prayer for forgiveness.

The following is from amongst so many profound and powerful forgiveness quotes in A Course In Miracles:

“God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary.”
(W-41.1, A Course In Miracles)

“God does not forgive because He has never condemned.”
Powerful words.

We need forgiveness because we believe we have done something wrong. God does not need to forgive because he created us perfect.

Whatever we believe about ourselves and the world, God knows these are just illusions.

Beyond the body, our reality and our innocence remain in Him.

My spiritual journey is one where I aim to move more and more towards defining myself by the beauty God sees in me instead of by the way I see myself or the way the world sees me.

I am willing to take His word for what I am: what we all are.

Click through for a prose poem which conveys that in God's eyes, you beautiful and innocent.

If you are saying 'I can't forgive myself for what I did' perhaps you are right.

Instead, try raising your faith and belief in a God who is bigger than you and able to forgive you.

Throughout this spiritual website you will find articles to raise your faith in a God of love, peace and forgiveness.

Self Forgiveness Exercises With A Friend

You may feel guilty about something you don't even think is bad, yet you feel really bad about it. If this is the case for you, stop and consider if you have a good friend who might help you with the following self forgiveness exercise.

You may need to repeat this little forgiveness exercise many times so you keep hearing the words: 'I forgive you.'

We can be rather stubborn about forgiving ourselves. :-) An example in my own life is that I feel guilt and shame for living with illness.
I know, logically, that illness is not my fault. But it is powerful for me to hear the words...
"I forgive you for being ill."

A Child’s Forgiveness Prayer

As a child I prayed the following prayer for forgiveness every night:

The simplicity of this child's forgiveness prayer has appealed to me in some dark times.

If you are looking for Christian resources for a child,  you may also want to read a wonderful poem about Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.
This poem is a rhyming poem which makes it suitable as a children's Bible poem.

---

Other articles on this spiritual website relevant to self-forgiveness:

• Move here for a full list of articles on forgiveness on this website.
• My spiritual poems on forgiveness speak of God's unfailing ability to forgive.
• Forgiveness is one of many spiritual practices which allow you to apply a practical spirituality to your day to day life. Among other spiritual practices you might want to learn to spend time in silence each day.
• Click on the link below for a Prayer for Self Forgiveness.