This, then is how you should pray... Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive their sins, your Father will not forgive our sins. Matthew 6:9,12,14
In all of his teaching on prayer, Jesus gives nine general requirements of acceptable and right prayer. The first is a forgiving spirit. Christians must be willing to forgive. In teaching us to pray, he says that our own forgiveness from God depends upon our forgiveness of others. This makes perfect sense. How can we expect to approach the throne of God requesting forgiveness of our sins while harboring bitterness toward someone within our own hearts? We can’t. The Father cannot wholly forgive us if we are not willing to give him all of us that there is. To hold back our forgiveness of others means to hold back some of ourselves from God. But, to be fully forgiven means to fully forgive by giving our whole selves to glory of God. Martin Lloyd-Jones says it best, “The man who is truly forgiven and knows it, is a man who forgives.”
Think to yourself today as you pray about those, perhaps, whom you haven’t forgiven. Maybe it is a brother, or a father, mother or sister. Maybe it is someone who hurt you while you were still a child. Maybe its a co-worker or an estranged friend, or just maybe it is you. Confess your struggle to forgive to God and seek the grace of his Spirit to forgive those who have hurt you, and even to forgive yourself. “It is idle for us to say that we know God has forgiven us if we are not loving and forgiving ourselves” (Lloyd-Jones). Ask the Father to show you how greatly he has forgiven you. And then work to forgive. “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).
Helpful Bible Passages:
Proverbs 17:9
Matthew 18:21-35
Colossians 3:1-17
CHD
