Forgiveness Spiritual Quotes & Sayings

Higher states of consciousness correlate strongly with attributes like compassion, forgiveness, generosity and kindness. The more one is self-aware and other-aware, and the greater one's connection with the spiritual, the more likely one will be a force for good in our world. — Philip Chard

Once people are not here physically, the spiritual remains. We still connect, we can communicate, we can give and receive love and forgiveness. There is love after someone dies. — Sandra Cisneros

The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either
or both
when needed? — Gordon B. Hinckley

There are new mercies every morning. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Love mercy, love kindness. — Lailah Gifty Akita

In order to create light you must first live in light. — Phoenix

There is grace for forgiveness. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The Lord is calling us to turn from evil. And return to Him in repentance. — Lailah Gifty Akita

We deliberately forget because forgetting is a blessing. On both an emotional level and a spiritual level, forgetting is a natural part of the human experience and a natural function of the human brain. It is a feature, not a bug, one that saves us from being owned by our memories. Can a world that never forgets be a world that truly forgives? — Tim Challies

Intentionally or involuntarily, your earthly and spiritual fathers will lead you the perfect Father. You might not recognize it, but even when they fail, they create the perfect scenario for you to run into your Heavenly Daddy's arms.

When they reject you, He will receive you. When they fail at meeting you, He will open up His schedule. When they miscommunicate with you, He will share His heart of love for you and, His heart of love for them. — Carlos A. Rodriguez

Find the meaning of life in me. Find your value and confidence in me. Find your purpose and direction in me. Find the source for all spiritual achievement in me. Find the strength to live each moment in me. Find the wisdom to navigate the many turns of life in me. Find forgiveness for all your sins in me. Find the satisfaction of boundless joy in me. Find the most satisfying life for all eternity in me. — Eric Ludy

When we harbor negative emotions toward others or toward ourselves, or when we intentionally create pain for others, we poison our own physical and spiritual systems. By far the strongest poison to the human spirit is the inability to forgive oneself or another person. It disables a person's emotional resources. The challenge ... is to refine our capacity to love others as well as ourselves and to develop the power of forgiveness. — Caroline Myss

There is spiritual edification in recognizing that God stays faithful in his covenants, that he forgives all sin despite whatever historical or sociopolitical circumstance. — James Mikolajczyk

In this life, you only need to do this much: You must know that the other person is instrument (nimit, in bringing you the results of your own karmas) so you must remain silent. Do not let the mind spoil in the slightest. If it does, then ask for forgiveness: 'Dear Instrument! You are simply an instrument. I ask for forgiveness for spoiling my mind.' You have to do only this much! That is the effort [purusharth]! — Dada Bhagwan

One famous Zen master actually described spiritual practice as "one mistake after another," which is to say, one opportunity after another to learn. It is from "difficulties, mistakes, and errors" that we actually learn. To live life is to make a succession of errors. Understanding this can bring us great ease and forgiveness for ourselves and others - we are at ease with the difficulties of life. — Jack Kornfield

My experience with forgiveness is that it sort of comes spontaneously at a certain point and to try to force it it's not really forgiveness. It's Buddhist philosophy or something spiritual jargon that you're trying to live up to but you're just using it against yourself as a reason why you're not okay. — Pema Chodron

The question is: do you want suffering or do you want peace? It's that simple. — Donna Goddard

One has to beckon the spiritual warrior inside oneself whenever it is deemed necessary for the task at hand. Courage is the fuel. Healing is the direction. Forgiveness is the balm. Love is the atmosphere Divine. — Donna Goddard

Forgiveness is a spiritual exercise that has to do with many things, but forgetting is not among them. — Colin Tipping

It's important to recognize that forgiveness is more than mere words; it's a heart attitude that induces a spiritual transformation. — Victoria Osteen

There is forgiveness for every soul. — Lailah Gifty Akita

People in the world ask for forgiveness, but [true] 'pratikraman' does not happen by doing that. That is like when people casually say 'sorry' or 'thank you'. There is no significance in that; the significance is of 'alochana-pratikraman-pratyakhyan' (acknowledgement of the mistake, repentance and asking for forgiveness for the mistake, remorse and avowal not to repeat the mistake, respectively). — Dada Bhagwan

The body is a temple, where God dwells. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Love is the strength of the spirit. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Often what prevents us from seeing beauty in the outside world is the fact that we fail to see beauty in ourselves and other people. Forgiveness is the key that can unlock this door for us. — Anthony J. Ciorra

Every relationship has a spiritual purpose that helps us grow and become stronger. Sometimes, our most challenging relationships bring the greatest personal blessings. From them we learn about forgiveness, patience, and other virtues. — Doreen Virtue

The realms of love and light, anything is possible — Lailah Gifty Akita

Breathe a word of prayer, not anger. — Matshona Dhliwayo

We're women and men who are so sinful and flawed that we deserve hell, but we've been so loved and welcomed that every spiritual blessing, adoption, tender fellowship with our Father and each other, forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life is ours. Christ's accomplishments and perfections are ours now. Everything about us is different. — Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

If we can't forget, how can we forgive? I believe that forgiving can't be done by willpower alone. I can will myself to write out my own memories and feelings. I can will myself to imagine onto the page how someone else may have felt. I can will myself to research someone else's life in order to better understand what happened. But I don't think I can forgive by simply willing to forgive. Forgiving happens to us when our hearts are ready. Sometimes it takes the form of working on our own story until quietly, often surprisingly, we simply let go of the hurt. Sometimes forgiving makes it possible to pick up the pieces of a broken relationship and begin again. Sometimes it means letting a relationship go. We can't forgive through willpower. What we can do is work toward readiness of heart. Writing as a spiritual practice can be that kind of work.
When our heart is ready, we often don't even know it until forgiveness happens within us. It is a gift. — Pat Schneider

Love is the only flame that set the soul on fire. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Unfortunately, spiritual development often attracts the emotionally unstable who can become even more damaged when building upon shaky structures. The emotional body is the framework through which the other three bodies spring, so if it's broken the others will eventually collapse - often with fatalistic results. Worth its weight in gold, emotional stability can occur naturally, but is usually cultivated through painstaking inflection, awareness, and release. Through release then forgiveness, the auric field amplifies its inherent magnetic function, enabling intent to manifest, therefore producing a more forward momentum in life. — Angel Cusick

Compassion and love constitute non-violence in action. They are the source of all spiritual qualities: forgiveness, tolerance, all the virtues. They give meaning to our activities and makes them constructive. There is nothing amazing about being rich or highly educated; only when the individual has a warm heart do these attributes become worthwhile. — Dalai Lama

All hatred is self-hatred, just as all healing is self-healing. — Eric Micha'el Leventhal

Every grievance you hold hides a little more of the light of the world from your eyes until the darkness becomes overwhelming. Everything you forgive restores that light. So ask yourself, who is it that you are really hurting? — Donna Goddard

In this way, our life may appear as a series of mistakes. One could call them "problems" or "challenges," but in some ways "mistakes" is better. One famous Zen master actually described spiritual practice as "one mistake after another," which is to say, one opportunity after another to learn. It is from "difficulties, mistakes, and errors" that we actually learn. To live life is to make a succession of errors. Understanding this can bring us great ease and forgiveness for ourselves and others - we are at ease with the difficulties of life. But — Jack Kornfield

Gospel bestows all good things spiritual: forgiveness of sins, true righteousness, peace of conscience, everlasting life; and all good things temporal: good judgment, good government and peace. — Martin Luther

It is essential that we renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. When we do this with a sincere heart, with real intent, forsaking our sins, and renewing our commitment to God, the Lord provides a way whereby sins can be forgiven from week to week. Simply eating the bread and drinking the water will not bring that forgiveness. We must prepare and then partake with a broken heart and contrite spirit. The spiritual preparation we make to partake of the sacrament is essential to receiving a remission of our sins. — Vaughn J. Featherstone

Vincent knew he was dying. A horrendous fever overwhelmed him with intolerable pain throughout many sleepless hours. It came as a result of a malaria epidemic that erupted in his hometown during early nineteenth century Europe. The disease spread so fast, physicians had to ration their stocks of quinine only to use it on patients who weren't declared "hopeless". Vincent was one of the unlucky ones. Speculating his time on Earth may be short, he requested spiritual guidance, even if he wasn't a faithful man, nor did he believe in forgiveness. He appealed to the Church as a "just in case" like many other petrified atheists. — Don Luis Zavala

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness. — Billy Graham

Forgetting offences is a sign of sincere repentance. If you keep the memory of them, you may believe you have repented but you are like someone running in his sleep. Let no one consider it a minor defect, this darkness that often clouds the eyes even of spiritual people. — John Climacus

When we accept Christ we enter into three new relationships: (1) We enter into a new relationship with God. The judge becomes the father; the distant becomes the near; strangeness becomes intimacy and fear becomes love. (2) We enter into a new relationship with our fellow men. Hatred becomes love; selfishness becomes service; and bitterness becomes forgiveness. (3) We enter into a new relationship with ourselves. Weakness becomes strength; frustration becomes achievement; and tension becomes peace. — William Barclay

I have observed that religious practice is not a precondition either of ethical conduct or of happiness itself. I have also suggested that, whether a person practices religion or not, the spiritual qualities of love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, humility and so on are indispensable. — Dalai Lama

Love your soul mate with all your heart and body. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The only person we have the right or the power to forgive is ourselves. For everything else there is the Art of Acceptance. — Rebecca O'Dwyer Centred Woman

To pine for an alternative past is a waste of energy. In the pristine world of your infinite spiritual self, there is no sin or negative energy. There is only compassion, learning, and unconditional love and forgiveness. Remind yourself and those around you of this fact. In the light of God, everything is healed and seen to be perfect. — Stuart Wilde

Forgiveness happens when you know that the other is not responsible. — Sri Amma Bhagwan.

Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than to the holy God? But if we do, we must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution ... Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of our sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but with the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. Our brother breaks the circle of self-deception. A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen! — Billy Graham

Where you see and feel wrongdoing, Divine Mind sees opportunity to restore Wholeness. — Deborah Atianne Wilson

Our justification from sins takes place at the point of saving faith, not at the point of water baptism, which usually occurs later. But if a person is already justified and has sins forgiven eternally at the point of saving faith, then baptism is not necessary for forgiveness of sins nor for the bestowal of new spiritual life. Baptism, then, is not necessary for salvation. But it is necessary if we are to be obedient to Christ, for he commanded baptism for all who believe in him. — Wayne Grudem

Prayer is the most powerful resource we have in this life; yet, many only turn to it as a last resort. When unbelievers pray for repentance of sin and ask for God's forgiveness, prayer is the spiritual dynamite that obliterates the darkness and despair of a sin-soaked soul. — Franklin Graham

Pastor Bob's breakthrough twenty years earlier had been the discovery that while Americans were hungry for spiritual nourishment, they wanted it bland and easy to digest - the religious equivalent of fast food. All that New Testament stuff about self-sacrifice and forgiveness puzzled them mightily. So Pastor Bob preached the Christian virtues of feeling good, relieving stress, getting rich, and hiring abundant deadly force to protect the good people from the bad. — Tony Hendra

The Deceiver can magnify a little sin for the purpose of causing one to worry, torture, and kill oneself with it. This is why a Christian should learn not to let anyone easily create an evil conscience in him. Rather let him say, This error and this failing pass away with my other imperfections and sins, which I must include in the article of faith: I believe in the forgiveness of sins. — Martin Luther

Let go of all your hurt and be healed. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Through faith in the Lord Jesus alone can we obtain forgiveness of our sins, and be at peace with God; but, believing in Jesus, we become, through this very faith, the children of God; have God as our Father, and may come to Him for all the temporal and spiritual blessings which we need. — George Muller

A true Christian does not see God's promise of forgiveness as a license to sin, a way to abuse His love and presume on His grace. Rather, he sees God's gracious forgiveness as the means to spiritual growth and sanctification. He continually thanks God for His great love and willingness to forgive. — John F. MacArthur Jr.

Safe relationships are centered and grounded in forgiveness. When you have a friend with the ability to forgive you for hurting her or letting her down, something deeply spiritual occurs in the transaction between you two. You actually experience a glimpse of the deepest nature of God himself. People who forgive can - and should - also be people who confront. What is not confessed can't be forgiven. God himself confronts our sins and shows us how we wound him: "I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from me, and by their eyes, which played the harlot after their idols" (Ezek. 6:9 NASB). When we are made aware of how we hurt a loved one, then we can be reconciled. Therefore, you shouldn't discount someone who "has something against you," labeling him as unsafe. He might actually be attempting to come closer in love, in the way that the Bible tells us we are to do. — Henry Cloud

Forgiveness means that problems of the past no longer dictate our destinies, and we can focus on the future with God's love in our hearts. — David E. Sorensen

Resentments make even the best of us feel superior. — Anne Lamott

The sage said, "The best thing is not to hate anyone, only to love. That is the only way out of it. As soon as you have forgiven those whom you hate, you have gotten rid of them. Then you have no reason to hate them; you just forget. spiritual Dimensions of Psychology." — Hazrat Inayat Khan

Let us beware of the prayer for forgiveness becoming a formality: only what is really confessed is really forgiven. Let us in faith accept the forgiveness as promised: as a spiritual reality, an actual transaction between God and us, it is the entrance into all the Father's love and all the privileges of children. Such forgiveness, as a living experience, is impossible without a forgiving spirit to others: as forgiven expresses the heavenward, so forgiving the earthward, relation of God's child. In each prayer to the Father I must be able to say that I know of no one whom I do not heartily love. 'And — Andrew Murray

Rebuilding relationship requires a lifelong discipline and commitment. — Sri Amma Bhagwan.

Every new morning brings new mercy, new love and new grace. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Forgiveness, by its nature, must often go into very hard places. I know. I've gone there. But forgiveness is not foolish and blind, an unthinking make-nice. Wisdom sometimes must tell even people who've genuinely forgiven to take ongoing steps that are hard to implement and apply and which to others may not look very forgiving. The heart of forgiveness can't be judged in black-and-white, cookie-cutter dimensions that work fine in a spiritual lab but not in real life. — Rifqa Bary

The Lord healed all our wounds. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Dear Lord, please show me everything I need to understand about forgiveness and surrender — Elizabeth Gilbert

The bond of love is sacred spirituality. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Your blessings far outweigh your bitterness. — Lailah Gifty Akita

An engaging examination of a painful subject, with a focus on healing and forgiveness. - Kirkus Review — Robert Uttaro

With all respect to the Buddha and to the early Christian celibates, I sometimes wonder if all this teaching about nonattachment and the spiritual importance of monastic solitude might be denying us something quite vital. Maybe all that renunciation of intimacy denies us the opportunity to ever experience that very earthbound, domesticated, dirt-under-the-fingernails gift of the difficult, long-term, daily forgiveness {...} Maybe creating a big enough space within your consciousness to hold and accept someone's contradictions - someone's idiocies, even - is a kind of divine act. Perhaps transcendence can be found not only on solitary mountaintops or in monastic settings, but also at your own kitchen table, in the daily acceptance of your partner's most tiresome, irritating faults. — Elizabeth Gilbert

Enemies and friends act like spiritual coaches. They round out the rough spots on Soul's unfoldment. The Mahanta (inner spiritual guide) teaches through others. So pay careful attention when sparks fly, because some important things in you - perhaps courage or forgiveness - needs some polish. — Harold Klemp

Living in love, gratitude and forgiveness, is peaceful and spiritually rejuvenating. Living under the emotional constraints of anger and resentment is draining and toxic to heart and soul. It can be difficult to let go of past hurts, but it can also be freeing and uplifting. More and more, i choose to live in love, gratitude and forgiveness. — Jaeda DeWalt

The essence of life is the power of love. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Love's voice reverberates with forgiveness across the room of our heart — Munia Khan

Without that forgiveness, that peace, no heart is ever happy. There is always an inner struggle. Pain. Only when God has been invited in-to manage one's life, to direct one's thinking, to be in control-can one ever get away from all the conflicts inside. We have to stop struggling against His will before we can find real joy. — Janette Oke

Forgiveness is spiritual. Punishment is legal," Leo says. "They're not mutually exclusive. — Jodi Picoult

Welcome the righteous,
avoid the wicked,
and yet open both arms to the repentant.
Whoever receives them receives God. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Is it atikraman [Hurtful karma] if we eat, cut our hair or brush our teeth? No, it is not like that. Anger-pride-deceit-greed is considered atikraman [Hurtful karma]. If you do pratikraman [Ask for forgiveness], they will all go away. — Dada Bhagwan

Ultimately, we can really forgive people only because Christ rose from the dead; his Resurrection is the guarantee that God can cure every wrong and every hurt. — Jacques Philippe

The opponent strikes you on your cheek, and you strike him on the heart by your amazing spiritual audacity in turning the other cheek. You wrest the offensive from him by refusing to take his weapons, by keeping your own, and by striking him in his conscience from a higher level. He hits you physically, and you hit him spiritually. — E. Stanley Jones

Grace is never out of view. Grace secures our relationship with God despite our sin. Grace maintains our forgiveness despite the inadequacies of our repentance. Grace filters the consequences of sin in order to protect us from spiritual harm. When this grace captures our hearts, it compels us to love and serve the God who provides its lavish, loving, and lasting provisions. — Bryan Chapell

Contrast is not 'bad' since the contrast we experience still causes us to learn and grow. Expansion never ceases, and that is a beautiful thing. Contrast allows us to see what is not in alignment with our Authentic Selves, and then presents us with opportunity after opportunity to respond from a place of compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, love, joy, gratitude, etc. Thus, when we break the karmic loop we swing back into alignment with Spirit. — Alaric Hutchinson

No matter what kind of sin you have committed, there is always forgiveness. You must repent and seek forgiveness. You can walk in the new life and light. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others happiness. — Dalai Lama

Our spiritual traditions have carried virtues across time. They are tools for the art of living. They are pieces of intelligence about human behavior that neuroscience is now exploring with new words and images: what we practice, we become. What's true of playing the piano or throwing a ball also holds for our capacity to move through the world mindlessly and destructively or generously and gracefully. I've come to think of virtues and rituals as spiritual technologies for being our best selves in flesh and blood, time and space. There are superstar virtues that come most readily to mind and can be the work of a day or a lifetime - love, compassion, forgiveness. And there are gentle shifts of mind and habit that make those possible, working patiently through the raw materials of our lives. — Krista Tippett

It is gracious to overlook an offence. — Lailah Gifty Akita

By practicing compassion and forgiveness, one can control hatred. — Radhe Maa

One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive God's forgiveness. — Henri J.M. Nouwen

Every human being makes mistakes, so why should you be afraid? Go to the One who can get rid of the mistakes and tell him, 'Sir, these are the kind of mistakes I make', so he will show you the solution. — Dada Bhagwan

The one whose 'alochana (confession of mistakes), pratikraman (asking for forgiveness) and pratyakhyan (avowal to never repeat the mistake)' are true (done correctly), he is bound to attain the knowledge of the Self (attain self realization). — Dada Bhagwan

If we can bring spiritual energy, which is love, kindness, forgiveness and so on, to the problem, we can dissolve it. It's really just a matter of changing our mind about how we're going to process the events in our lives. — Wayne Dyer

Love thy neighbor as thyself: Do not do to others what thou wouldst not wish be done to thyself: Forgive injuries. Forgive thy enemy, be reconciled to him, give him assistance, invoke God in his behalf. — Confucius

The movie, (X-Men: Days of Future Past), illustrates a spiritual journey that involves going back in time. The Purpose of the journey is to find the core grievance and let it be healed. When the grievance is healed in Forgiveness, all future scenarios of conflict and destruction are also healed. It is not that they have been prevented in time; it is that we have come to the realization that there was no time in which they could have existed. In the Happy Dream, everything is resolved. It becomes harmonious and then disappears.
Wolverine is the agent strong enough to go back through time and ignite the mission of forgiveness. We can think of ourselves this way as well. We can imagine that our future self, or our higher Self, is orchestrating this whole thing for our awakening. We are just perceiving it in time, where we perceive ourselves to be. There is great love and compassion coming from the higher Self, the future self. — David Hoffmeister

The beginning of forgiveness is often exhaustion. You're pooped; thank God. — Anne Lamott

I believe that love and forgiveness engages an incomprehensible healing force and sometimes true healing occurs, but always an emotional and spiritual healing happens. — Angeli Maun Akey

When a person has developed an ongoing relationship with the peaceful internal state, then he or she will likely begin to display certain characteristics such as empathy, forgiveness, magnanimity, altruism, compassion, and benevolence. And when someone displays any of the above, we generally start speaking about that person as spiritual, even though he or she may not represent a religion of any kind. — Gudjon Bergmann

A spiritual retreat is medicine for soul starvation. Through silence, solitary practice, and simple living, we begin to fill the empty reservoir. This lifts the veils, dissolves the masks, and creates space within for the feelings of forgiveness, compassion, and loving kindness that are so often blocked. — David A. Cooper

Peace of mind always precipitates peace on earth. — Phoenix

No pain will last forever. It is not easy, but life was never meant to be either easy or fair. Repentance and the lasting hope that forgiveness brings will always be worth the effort. — Boyd K. Packer