The Prayers of the Righteous

Mark 11:25

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

There is but one Cross - one atonement for our sins.  Our time on earth is to be spent reconciling ourselves to the Cross.  Nothing we do has value in the eyes of the Lord unless it has been put in proper order in our lives.  The Heavenly Father must be the first consideration of every conscious moments of our lives.  If there is anything or any person the comes before the Father, He will not hear our prayers.

When we come before the Father in prayer with anger and uncharitable feelings for another, He cannot grant us spiritual power.  We have supplanted His place as The First by coming to Him with our transgressions mixed in with our prayer offering.  The transgressions must be reconciled or we have no hope of receiving a favorable answer from God.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to hear our prayers when we are righteous.  We praise the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to stand before You as righteous men and women.  We rejoice in knowing that our sins are forgiven because of the sacrifice of Your Son.  We pray for the wisdom and strength to forgive others as You have forgiven us.  May we humble ourselves and kneel at the Cross daily so that we may receive the grace that we need to remain righteous.