This may not be an encouraging title for a Valentine’s Day post, but unfortunately, this is a common query people use to come to the blog. Love is made to be lasting, and while your love may still be on, at times the person of your affection stops returning your love. How can we move on? Here is a prayer to remove someone form your heart.
Prayers to Forgive Yourself
1. Prayer for Self-Forgiveness
Dear Lord, I come to you with a heavy heart, burdened by my own mistakes and shortcomings. I ask for your forgiveness for the times when I have let myself down. Help me to release the guilt and shame that I carry, and to see myself with the same love and compassion that you show me. Amen.
2. Prayer for Healing
Heavenly Father, I ask for your healing touch on my wounded soul. Help me to let go of the past and to embrace a future filled with hope and joy. May your grace wash over me, filling me with the peace that surpasses all understanding. Amen.
3. Prayer for Strength
Lord, give me the strength to forgive myself for my mistakes. Help me to see myself as you see me – as a beloved child of God, worthy of love and forgiveness. Grant me the courage to let go of the past and to move forward with confidence in your grace. Amen.
4. Prayer for Acceptance
Dear God, help me to accept myself as I am, flaws and all. Teach me to show myself the same grace and compassion that you show me every day. Help me to let go of the need for perfection and to embrace my imperfections as part of my journey towards wholeness. Amen.
5. Prayer for Renewal
Lord, I come to you seeking renewal and restoration. Help me to release the weight of my mistakes and to walk in the freedom of your forgiveness. Renew my spirit and fill me with your peace, knowing that I am forgiven and loved unconditionally. Amen.
6. Prayer for Liberation
Heavenly Father, I ask for liberation from the chains of self-condemnation and guilt. Help me to see myself through your eyes – as a redeemed and forgiven child of God. Grant me the freedom to let go of the past and to embrace a future filled with hope and possibility. Amen.
One Bible verse that is relevant to self-forgiveness is 1 John 1:9, which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This verse reminds us of God’s unfailing love and forgiveness towards us, encouraging us to seek forgiveness and move forward in grace.
You Were Created for Love
We were created for love, and for some, that is a wonderful encouragement. It gives you hope for a satisfying and lasting love with another. For others, the idea of love is filled with a painful mixture of a few happy moments and powerfully hurtful ones. While the other person has seemingly moved on, you are stuck with some strange connection to this person who has caused you so much pain. You only hope is the cry, “God, please remove them from my heart.”
God Wants to Speak to You
Listen to God’s prayer for you to remove someone from your heart. That person was never supposed to fill your needs for love. I am the One who created you for love so that I may be the One who would satisfy your longings. Come to Me. My arms are open to receive you. Lay your head on My chest and pour out your heart. Tears open you up for the healing. Cry for the disappointment and loss, but not for despair for I give you hope. Freedom is coming. My love is on you, with you, and for you.
How Do I Remove Someone From My Heart?
Freedom is found similarly to forgiveness. Here are some simple steps to help you find your freedom.
- Confess how you have placed too much of your heart on the other person. Confess how you have trusted them over God.
- Thank God for His forgiveness. It is already there for you. Receive it through giving thanks.
- Forgive the other person for all the pain you felt from them. Forgive yourself for giving so much of yourself to them.
- Renounce any ties that bind you to that person.
- Daily proclaim that you are free to receive love again, and you will trust God to show you appropriate places to find love.
You may need some time to reprogram your heart to realize this freedom, but the constant reminder of the proclamations will open you up to what God has given. May this Valentine’s Day be the start of your freedom to love again.
Dr. Robert D. Enright PhD has put years of study into forgiveness and his book, Forgiveness is a Choice, has simplified his findings to allow the readers to find freedom. Check it out to help remove someone from your heart.
Prayer to Leave the Past Behind So the Past No Longer Defines You
Are you looking for an answer of how to move on from your past and leave the past behind to it no longer defines you? I have been. I’ve been trying to reconcile my past with how God sees me, and what God thinks of me. This past Sunday he showed me the answer to my past.
My Overwhelming Experience During Worship
There are times when worship causes someone to realize something God has been trying to say or has been saying but we missed it for a long time. When these moments occur they are unexpected, and the realization that washed over me on Sunday morning as I stood singing was almost overwhelming. Let me explain.
I could write a very long list of people that I have offended in my past. I’ve attempted to apologize to some, and others just don’t want to hear from me ever again. I understand that. I could write pages and pages of all the things I’ve done wrong. The one thing I’ve never been able to fully wrap my brain around is God’s forgiveness. How could He let go of my past when I can’t? I saw something while other members of the worship team were singing the lyrics of “Here In the Presence” by Steven Furtick, Chris Brown and Mack Brock:
“I know your past is broken
You can move on it’s over now
Here in the presence of the Lord.”
In that moment of time what here is what God showed to me:
As I was standing during the song in my mind’s eye I caught a glimpse of an image. In the image I was standing with both arms and hands lifted up in worship. Behind me was a wall that I knew was there yet I did not look at. This wall had significance. The wall was located just behind me about an inch away. In my mind I knew the wall was there and it was as if everything behind the wall was grayed out. A little explanation here; If I were to fill out a form on the internet and I missed something, the button to continue may be “grayed out” which means it’s not clickable. Hence, I cannot click on it and go back anything. This was the condition of the wall. I never tried to touch the wall, but there was no desire in my heart to turn and even look at the wall.
The wall represented my past. Why would I want to turn and look at it…all that before me was vibrant and beautiful beyond words I could write here. I cannot begin to describe the colors and the brightness of what I was beholding. I can tell you this: I did not want to look away. Why turn around and away from the glorious display in front of me to look at a gray wall?
Here is what I believe that many people need to hear from this particular song and can glean from the image that flashed in my mind:
Identify your broken past and claim God’s promises
“I know your past is broken…” You have been identified. You believe that you are known by your broken past. It may be abuse. It may be a failed marriage. It may be a lost job. It may be a combination of several things. The problem is that this is how you identify yourself. You identify yourself as the victim of your past and you let what happened in the past to define what happens to you in your future. This is not how God operates. God does not work to remind us of our past. He works overtime to remind us of what the future can hold for us and how he sees us.
“For I know the plans I have for you” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11, HCSB)
“Now this is what the Lord says — the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel — “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.” (Isaiah 43:1, HCSB)
God has a plan for your future. He knows what steps you will take:
“The very steps we take come from God; otherwise how would we know where we’re going?” (Proverbs 20:24, MSG)
God spends so much time on your future that he doesn’t spend a lot of time on your past. In fact, God works hard to bury it so that you and I cannot find it again:
“He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19, HCSB)
So, to recap, yes…your past is broken. Mine is, too. I have yet to meet someone whose past is not broken. Here is where the permission comes into play: “You can move on; it’s over now.”
Use your God-given permission to stop focusing on the past
What is over now? Your past. So is mine. Your past is the gray wall. Not clickable. You cannot look back into the wall and see things clearly. Everything that is behind the wall is gray and not definable. So now, we move on.
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14, ESV)
“You can move on, it’s over now.” Look forward from your past toward the glorious beauty that God has created for us to observe everywhere we look, and keep going away from your past toward the future God has created for you.
There are two very divergent paths that people can take. One path is defined by what happened in the past. People who are victims and who let that victimhood define them are destined to be controlled by that past. The second path is defined by who God says we are. This path requires following God, listening for his voice, spending time with him, learning more about who he is and the plans he has for one’s life.
I choose the second option.
A Prayer for Forgiving What We Can’t Forget
“Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sing against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” – Matthew 18:22
We have all had someone in our life who has hurt us. It could be someone who hurt us as a child and the pain still follows us today, or perhaps it’s someone we face daily, whether it’s our spouse or someone with whom we work. Sometimes, these wounds are easy to heal. But what if the offense is so painful, you can’t forget it?
We are taught in the Bible the basis for believers forgiving others is the fact that we ourselves, have been graciously forgiven by God. (Ephesians 4:32) God never says we are to forget an offense, but simply forgive it. But for most of us, forgiving what we can’t forget is not so simple.
In today’s Scripture, Peter felt the same way. Jesus responds to Peter’s question with an inexact number – probably not what Peter was looking for.
Jesus was not saying we keep a tally of times we forgive and then stop after seventy times seven times. Jesus was implying a number that can’t be counted. A continual forgiveness. What this means is it will take daily practice, daily obedience, daily forgiveness, and it’s ongoing, never-ending.
So how do we walk in continual forgiveness? We do this by prayer. We are to “pray and bless our enemies and those who have hurt us.” (Matthew 5:44) And day after day, prayer after prayer, the Lord will begin to chip away the pain and soften our hearts. We may never forget the offense, but we can certainly replace that pain with a love and perspective that God plants on our hearts through our prayers.
We don’t always forget the hurt, but we can allow God to change our hearts as we forgive the hurt. Let us become more like Jesus day by day and choose to forgive just as He forgave us.
Dear God,
Oh, how we don’t deserve your forgiveness. Day after day, we sin, and we fall short of what you have for us. We are unworthy of your mercy, but you offer it to us new every morning. (Lamentations 3:23)
Thank you, Lord, that when we repent and ask for forgiveness, that you remember our sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12) Lord, although we still remember and may not forget hurt, you have given us the greatest example of forgiveness. You sent your son to walk the same earth we walk to experience the same hurt and betrayal we do, and yet He chose to forgive.
Help us to follow in Jesus’s example. Remind us that prayer is one of our greatest weapons and through continual prayer, praying for our enemies, you will begin to soften our hearts and give us the strength to forgive them.
Help us see those who have hurt us the same way you see them. Help us to have compassion for them.
Father, bless those who have wronged us. Show us where we are still holding back forgiveness, so that we can begin the obedient steps of forgiving.
And when we still remember, as it’s hard to forget, open our eyes to love that person, replacing the hurt with love. We thank you for forgiving us this day and every day and commit to striving to do the same.