Faith and Forgiveness

Scripture:

Mark 11:24-25 "I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours.  But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your father in heaven will forgive your sins, too."

Observation:

Jesus said that we can pray for anything, and if we have faith enough to believe we've received it, we can have it.  These are powerful words that in faith, pentecostal, and charismatic circles, we hear very often.  Though we hear them often, very seldom do we hear the rest of the story.  The next verse starts with "but", which usually means you can forget what you just heard unless this part happens.  Then He says we must forgive anyone we are holding a grudge against.  Faith and forgiveness must go hand in hand!

Application:

We are great at preaching faith, but bad at practicing true forgiveness.  We love to talk about faith and getting what we want from God, yet not so good at fulfilling the rest of the paragraph where it talks about forgiveness.  We need to be people who walk in faith, but faith must be shown in the area of forgiveness.  Holding a grudge against someone will inhibit our prayers and stop our faith from producing.  We must never allow ourselves to hold grudges against anyone for any reason.

Prayer:

Father God, You are amazing!  Thank You for sharing with me this morning.  I want to walk in faith and forgiveness.  Show me any people who I haven't fully forgiven and let me truly walk in forgiveness.  I don't want anything in my life that hinders me from walking close to You.  Teach me to live a life of constant and complete forgiveness.

Yours Forever,
Jeff