“When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them.”

During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us how to pray.  (Matthew 6:5-15.)

In the Book of Mark, we see Him using a fig tree to teach us the power of prayer when we have prayed in faith and trust.  (Mark 11:20-24)
In both recorded instances, He concluded with a message:  “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25), (Matthew 6:14-15)
He is not talking about salvation forgiveness.  He completely took care of that.  It was finished at the cross, and because it was the perfect one time sacrifice, it can never be lost, or have to be repeated.  (Hebrews 10:14)  He is talking about our relationship with others.  When we hold a grudge against someone because of a hurt done unto us, that is like a log jam in a river.  The peace and the joy that is ours to have through the Holy Spirit flowing in us gets caught in that jam of unforgiveness.  The Lord has blessing upon blessing for us, but many get caught in the jam of bitterness, and anger, and us holding on to the desire for the one who hurt us to “get theirs.”
It is not easy to forgive someone who has really hurt us, but we only hurt ourselves when we don’t.  The rewards are beyond compare when we do.
Someone might say, “They don’t deserve to be forgiven!”  Neither do we “deserve” to be forgiven, but we are.  The blood of Jesus covers all of our sins from the past, and we are on the highway to heaven because of it.  We are forgiven, and the sins of our past are forgotten. (Hebrews 8:12)
Let this be the day we decide to ‘let it go’.  Cut the chain of the past, and ‘be set free’.  God loves us unconditionally. May we love in that way through Christ Jesus.  Let us declare victory over it as we give it to Him.
Blessings of perfect health, and prosperity in all good things be upon you, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus.  You are greatly loved.
Poppa B.
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