Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. — MATTHEW 18:21—22

I was holding a meeting in Houston, Texas, and a fine businessman came up to me and asked if he could talk to me.

I said, “I just don’t have time right now. But I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll come thirty minutes early tomorrow night, and I’ll meet you in the pastor’s office. I can talk to you for thirty minutes, but that’s all.”

The next night as I was getting ready, the Lord said to me, “Do you thinkthat I’d require you to do something that I wouldn’t be willing to do?”

I said to the Lord, “Well, no, certainly not. That wouldn’t be right. That would be unjust. And You are not unjust.” The Lord asked me that question three more times, and I replied in the same way. The final time He asked me the question, He also said, “Remember, Peter came to Me and said, ‘If my brother sins against me, how oft shall I forgive him? Till seven times?’ And I said, ‘Not seven times, but seventy times seven.’ So I require you to forgive four hundred and ninety times in one day! Now if I require you to forgive, then would I be unwilling to forgive?”

I said, “Certainly not.”

Then I heard these words in my spirit, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; AND IF HE HAVE COMMITTED SINS, THEY SHALL BE FORGIVEN HIM” (James 5:14–15).

I drove up to the church and opened my Bible. I had read that passage in James hundreds of times, but I had never noticed that it said, “sins,” plural. The moment I went into the pastor’s office to talk to this man, I realized exactly what the Lord was doing; He was preparing me to help this man.

Confession: God would not require me to do something that He wouldn’t be willing to do. He tells me to forgive another person 490 times in one day. And He is willing to forgive me 490 times in one day! I receive His forgiveness, and I receive healing.