Forgiveness Is A Critical Element in Our Prayers

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.

In other words, when we come before the Father in prayer with anger, uncharitable feelings and unforgiveness toward another, He cannot grant us spiritual power.  We have supplanted His place as The First by coming to Him with our grievances against another mixed in with our prayer offering.  The grievances must be set aside through the same perfect process of loving forgiveness that we receive from the wondrous workings of the Cross.  Jesus died for the forgiveness of all men, not just certain ones that met His expectations.

Let us be ever so mindful that this order of prayer is critical when we are praying for our own forgiveness from our sins.  God's Holy Word makes it abundantly clear that the forgiveness of the Father is not possible if we are not first able to forgive those who have given us reason to feel injured by them.  Truly we cannot be forgiven if we are not willing to forgive others - irrespective of their actions toward us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to hear our prayers when we come before You without claims against any other person.  We praise the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to stand before You as righteous men and women, free from unforgiveness.  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 worthy to receive Your mercy.  We ask all these things in the name of our merciful Savior, Jesus Christ.