{"id":1378,"date":"2010-01-05T18:34:54","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T23:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shieldsgroup.com\/?p=1378"},"modified":"2010-01-11T12:54:11","modified_gmt":"2010-01-11T17:54:11","slug":"escaping-a-prison-of-unforgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/05\/escaping-a-prison-of-unforgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Escaping a Prison of Unforgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Do you know what a litany is? <\/strong>A litany, in Catholicism is a form of worship or prayer used in services or processions. It\u2019s generally memorized. It\u2019s something you say over and over in worship. We use that word figuratively to speak of anything we recite again and again.<\/p>\n<p>I remember a woman I knew some time ago who had experienced a great deal of pain. Each time I spoke to her she would tell me the same stories over and over: My daughter\u2019s done this to me. My mother did this to me. My son\u2019s done this to me. The church has done this to me.<\/p>\n<p>One time I was remarking to an elder how this poor woman had such a keen memory for past hurts. He said, \u201cPastor Steve \u2013 she remembers those hurts because they have become a sort of litany. A litany of woes. She recites them to herself and to anyone who will listen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s what Peter is taking about <\/strong>in Matthew 18 \u2013 memorizing many hurts a person gives us.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Matthew 18:21(NIV) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, \u201cLord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><strong>Peter is saying:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;OK Jesus, I get it \u2013 I am supposed to go and tell my brother to his face if I have issues with him. And if he hears me, good \u2013 we\u2019re all good here. But what if he does it again? How many times do I have to put up with this?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>We say the same kinds of things <\/strong>that Peter was saying. And when we feel like Peter must have felt &#8212; if we live that way &#8212; we find ourselves in a prison of &#8220;unforgiveness.&#8221;<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>In this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/mp3s\/amq\/2010\/matthew\/20100103Matthew_FreeingYourslfFromUnforgivenessLO.mp3\">podcast<\/a>, we examine some of the keys to getting out of the prison of unforgiveness.<\/strong> This message is a little longer than usual as it we presented on a Sunday evening.<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5838\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1378-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/mp3s\/amq\/2010\/matthew\/20100103Matthew_FreeingYourslfFromUnforgivenessLO.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/mp3s\/amq\/2010\/matthew\/20100103Matthew_FreeingYourslfFromUnforgivenessLO.mp3\">http:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/mp3s\/amq\/2010\/matthew\/20100103Matthew_FreeingYourslfFromUnforgivenessLO.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/mp3s\/amq\/2010\/matthew\/20100103Matthew_FreeingYourslfFromUnforgivenessLO.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/?powerpress_pinw=1378-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/mp3s\/amq\/2010\/matthew\/20100103Matthew_FreeingYourslfFromUnforgivenessLO.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"20100103Matthew_FreeingYourslfFromUnforgivenessLO.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><!--powerpress_player-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know what a litany is? A litany, in Catholicism is a form of worship or prayer used in services or processions. It\u2019s generally memorized. It\u2019s something you say over and over in worship. We use that word figuratively &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/05\/escaping-a-prison-of-unforgiveness\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,3,9],"tags":[168,608],"class_list":["post-1378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-godly-living","category-relationships","category-sermon-podcasts","tag-forgiveness","tag-sermon-podcasts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9XvmV-me","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}