Mensa Otabil - When You Stand to Pray, Forgive
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I trust you’re doing well and walking by faith and not by sight. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of love, power, and a sound mind, and in Him, we have the victory for every battle of life. It’s going to turn out well for you as you trust God day by day and walk in His ways. Faith works by love; faith requires love for it to have expression. Mark chapter 11, verses 24 and 25, Jesus speaking to His disciples says, «Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.»
A very interesting passage. Many times we focus on verse 24, which says that whatever things we ask in prayer, we will receive them. But then verse 25 gives us the grounds on which verse 24 happens, stating that there is a condition to God hearing our prayer and a condition for our faith to work. It says when you stand praying, forgive if you have an issue with somebody else. It’s a very, very strong statement. Faith is married to love, and love is expressed through forgiveness; they go hand in hand. You cannot separate them. Love requires forgiveness. So it’s very possible to be strong in faith and strong even in prayer and not see a prayer answered, and the reason may be, not always but maybe, because there is unforgiveness in our hearts.
So Jesus says when we stand praying, in the same place of faith, we must forgive if we have something against somebody else. That’s very instructive. I know it’s not always easy to forgive, especially if the person has shown no remorse and has not asked for forgiveness, but the Bible says forgive. Now you’re not forgiving for the sake of the person or for the good of the person; you are forgiving so that the wires connecting your faith to your desire don’t short-circuit. Nothing blocks it from flowing, so we forgive not because people are nice or they ask us to forgive. We forgive because we need our faith to function without interference. So Jesus says when we stand praying, we forgive. So is there something you should do about that? Is there somebody you should forgive?
Someone asks, «How do I forgive people?» Well, one way to forgive people is just to pray for them. Sometimes you don’t need to talk to the person to say, «I’ve forgiven you,» but start praying for them. Pray for them genuinely from your heart; pray that God will bless them, pray that good things will happen to them. Don’t wish them evil; don’t wish them bad; don’t wish that things will turn negatively for them. Just have good will towards them. That’s how you forgive people: you have good will towards them. So in addition to having strong faith, there has to be forgiveness, and forgiveness is when we have goodwill towards people—no ill will. So your faith is strong, but it must have love, and it must have forgiveness. I am Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.