Message #16 (of 20) from the PrayerPower radio series
"Jesus' Teaching on Prayer"

by Kaye Johns

We all know that isn’t easy to do--to forgive those who sin against us. Yet Jesus taught that we must. In the model prayer, which is to be our daily pattern for prayer, He tells us to ask our Father to forgive us "as we forgive those who trespass [or sin] against us." [Matthew 6:12].

Does that mean if we don’t forgive others, God will not forgive us? That’s exactly what it means--forgive us just as we do, or do not, forgive others. Jesus felt so strongly about this point that he stated it even more plainly immediately following the model prayer: "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." [Matthew 6:14-15]

The sin of unforgiveness is especially serious. Jesus was not talking about our salvation, which has been accomplished, but about the daily cleansing from sins that He has just taught His disciples to seek.

We don’t have to feel like forgiving; we have to decide to do it. Forgiveness is an act of the will, not of our emotions; but speaking the words is not enough. God knows our hearts. And He wants them right, with Him and with others.

Pray with me now -- Father, show us if we are harboring unforgiveness in our hearts. Don’t let us ignore it or call it something else, for we ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

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