01/13/2024
The devotional message I read this morning spoke of faith and prayer. It reminded me of how often I have read or quoted Mark 12:23 and asked that God answer my own prayers. Our faith is prone to fading away without prayer, and our prayer life deteriorates without a healthy dose of faith. There is no substitute for either.
“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
Mark 11:23 KJV
This is a powerful scripture but immediately following it Jesus continues by teaching us to do two things. First He tells us to believe that our requests will be honored. He speaks of believing and having faith in this way:
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Mark 11:24 KJV
But, this isn't all He says. The second thing that Jesus says is that as we pray for these things we should forgive those who we hold ill will against; meaning any who have done something against us. Why? Because if we can't forgive our fellow man then how can we possibly expect God to forgive us, and when we harbor ill will in our hearts it chips away at our faith and takes away the peace and joy that Christ brings into our lives.
“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Mark 11:25-26 KJV
I humorously have said that when I do something wrong at home my wife places that transgression in a shopping bag, and when she gets mad at me about something else, then she pulls that bag out and begins unloading every misstep I have ever taken and reminds me of it! This is a funny analogy and isn't 100% true, but sometimes it feels that way. If I am honest with myself, I have a tendency to do the same thing.
Is that really forgiveness? If we do this with those we love, will we ever be able to forgive casual acquaintances or people with whom we have no real relationship? What if we asked God for forgiveness and then after He has forgiven us He places that item into a bag of His own? Wouldn't that destroy our faith in His forgiveness... And Him?
Sometimes we doubt our own ability to forgive because we have never really forgiven to the point of choosing to forget those hurtful things ourselves. We carry our bags full of stuff and convince ourselves that just because they are hidden inside the bag that they are gone, and we have dealt with them by truly forgiving others... Yet there is the bag, and inside it are the transgressions... each one of them ready to be recalled at a moment's notice.
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:14-15 ESV
So what is Jesus telling us to do here when He asks us to forgive? Is He asking us to forgive until it is convenient to remember and to resurrect? Is that how we want God to forgive us? No, I don't think so... He is telling us to forgive and to forget; to burn that bag of convenient transgressions and pains that we often use against someone, and that taints our own faith by its very presence. He is telling us that if we are unable to do this then we can’t expect God to forgive us.
Have you ever noticed how encumbered our prayer time is when there is conflict between ourselves and someone else? There seems to be a distance between ourselves and God... It's like yelling across a raging river and hoping we are heard on the far side. Eventually we give up on our ability to communicate. We long for that quiet room where we can sit and talk. We long for a peace of spirit. If our spirit is not at rest then our faith begins to falter, and we feel it in our physical lives as well… we don’t sleep well at night, we feel anxious, or sometimes we experience indigestion or an inability to concentrate. Most of all though we lose that comfortable closeness with our Heavenly Father.
So to live a settled life is similar to moving a mountain, it takes faith, it takes prayer, and it takes forgiveness. When all of these pieces are in place our time with God becomes restful, powerful, at ease, and the mountains that we have named after our troubles will begin to move and crumble into the sea.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for forgiving me of my sins, and for choosing not to remember them. Thank you for your Son Jesus who reminds me that I too must forgive, and forget, not just superficially, but deep within my heart. Help me Lord to be a true believer and to forgive to the point of total forgiveness as you do. If I fail at this then send me away by instructing me to seek out those I haven’t forgiven, and to make things right. Help me to do this so that my spirit will find peace and calm, and my soul will rest in you without distraction. Let no ill will exist between me and the things or people about me. Let my anger, bitterness, and hatred be lost to me, and your love find a comfortable home in my heart and soul forever. For this I will worship you, praise you, and glorify you for all eternity.
“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”
Hebrews 12:14-17 ESV
Rich Forbes