Mark 11-4.4.22

Scripture

Mark 11:25

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Observation-What does it say?

Jesus was teaching His disciples about the importance of faith, prayer AND forgiveness.

Understanding-What does it mean?

Forgiveness is a HUGE part of being a follower of Jesus. 

There’s a relationship between being forgiven of our sins and forgiving others of their sins (See Matthew 6:14-15).

Life Application

At the foot of the Cross, we are all the same. The one who has been forgiven much, loves much. (See Luke 7:47).

During one point in my life, I asked the Lord to teach me how to love like He loves. He taught me to be more loving through being generous, a servant to others, and to be caring/compassionate, but then He decided to take me through a lesson on forgiveness and I immediately regretted that prayer. LOL!

I’m not going to sugar coat this, but sometimes, forgiveness is hard. There are truly some deep hurts and traumas in life that many have experienced, with some situations which require boundaries/separation from the offender who continues to repeat the matter. There are situations where we may feel like it is impossible to forgive someone who has hurt us deeply. BUT, God is God of the impossible and His Word penetrates straight to the heart (Hebrews 4:12), requiring obedience regardless of how we feel. Remember, in order to be His servant, we must lose ourselves to find ourselves (Matthew 10:39).

When we bring our pains and hurts to the foot of the Cross and focus on what Jesus did for us first (His death and resurrection reconciled us to Himself), then we are able to forgive others and truly heal. Prayer is daily discipline/practice and forgiveness is a daily practice also, especially since our humanity would like us to do the opposite. Jesus told His disciples to forgive seventy times seven times. Basically, A LOT (Matthew 18:22)!

What are you holding against someone that God is asking you to forgive and release to Him today? (Please don’t call these people publicly out by name in the comments either—gossip and slander are also a sin.)

Thank you Lord for your abundant forgiveness of my sins. Please help me to take action in being a forgiving person the same way You have modeled it to me. I know that I would like the same done to me by others I have hurt as well. Amen. 

-Michelle Gaddi