When We Pray

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses. 

Mark 11:25-26 

How does the matter of forgiveness relate to prayer? Christ has some specific remarks upon this subject. In our text, He addresses this by saying that if we come to prayer and have not forgiven someone who has wronged us, we should address that first before we would seek forgiveness from God. Implicit in the discussion is that we, in coming to God in prayer are going to be seeking forgiveness from Him. If we are going to seek forgiveness from Him, we should forgive someone who has sought forgiveness. This points to an inclination which occurs quite often where someone who has done wrong to another, has repented, sought forgiveness, and experienced rejection. This means the wronged person has refused to forgive when the offender has sought forgiveness. Christ teaches us that, just as He forgives us when we seek it from Him, so we should forgive when others seek it from us. This enables us to approach the Throne of Grace without the hindrance of such an unresolved matter. Thus we learn to forgive as He does.  

Our Holy and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You forgive our sins. 
We praise You that You teach us  
how to forgive others. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning