October 19th

When You Stand Praying, Forgive

Mark 11:25-26
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Offences Will Come

Many believers today feel that it’s alright to hold grudges and retain animosity in their hearts toward others. There are certainly few, if any, who escape being offended of wronged at some time or another. So, everyone has reason to be unforgiving toward someone.

If We do not Forgive

Yet the Bible is clear, based on multiple scripture verses, that our failing to forgive is not something that the LORD tolerates. Mark 11:26 tells us that if we don’t not forgive others, then, the LORD will not forgive us of our own sins.

As We Forgive Others

The Lord’s prayer affirms this truth. Jesus said to pray this way, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) In other words, “LORD, forgive us our wrongs in the same way that we forgive those who have done us wrong.”

The Servant

Jesus also told the story of a servant who owed a large debt to his Master, but could not pay. When the servant begged for mercy, The Master forgave him the debt. But the servant went out and pressed a fellow servant to pay a small debt owed to him, and he would not show mercy to the fellow servant. When the Master found out about it, he had the first servant he had previously forgiven thrown into jail until the servant’s original debt could be paid in full. The Master took back his forgiveness. He expected the servant, who had been forgiven, to also show mercy and forgive.

The message here is clear. Unforgiveness is a sin, and it is a sin that we cannot afford to play with. If we have been forgiven of our sins, and we have, if we have received His forgiveness, then we are not allowed to hold animosity, grudges, and unforgiveness toward others. Period.

How Do I Forgive?

Jesus said to bless those who curse you, and to pray for those who despitefully use you. That’s how we forgive. That’s how we let it go. We ask God to bless them, and we refuse to ever think badly of them again. When we bless someone in prayer, and we ask God to bless that person, we release any animosity we have toward them. We are, in reality, delivering ourselves from something that would otherwise hinder our lives greatly, if we fail to forgive.