Parable of the Unmerciful Servant Prayer

This is a reflective prayer based on the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21–35). It focuses on the transition from receiving God's immense grace to extending that same grace to others.

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A Prayer for the Unmerciful Heart

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Heavenly Father,

I come before You acknowledging the massive debt I could never repay. I thank You for the moments You have looked upon my brokenness, my failures, and my "ten thousand talents" of sin, and chose to wipe the slate clean. Your mercy is the air I breathe.

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Lord, search my heart today.

Show me where I am still choking my fellow servant over "a hundred denarii." Reveal the places where I have accepted Your forgiveness with open hands, but offered my own judgment with a clenched fist.

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Forgive me for my selective memory.

I so easily forget the weight of the mountain You moved for me when I am faced with the pebble someone has placed in my path. I confess that I often demand justice for others while begging for mercy for myself.

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Transform my spirit:

 * Soften my pride: Remind me that I am no better than those who have wronged me.

 * Release my grip: Help me let go of the debts, the grudges, and the apologies I feel I am owed.

 * Expand my capacity: Let the gratitude I feel for Your grace be the fuel that allows me to forgive "seventy times seven."

Teach me to live not as a debt collector, but as a conduit of Your grace. May the mercy I have received be the same mercy I give, so that I may walk in the freedom You intended for me.

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In Jesus' Name

Amen.

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Reflective Verse

"Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?" — Matthew 18:33

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