Let It Go to Receive

You cannot hold on to unforgiveness and receive the blessing of God at the same time.  It is impossible!

Text for Today – Mark 11:25-26 – 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.

The two verses in our Text for Today are as plainly stated as possible.  You can only be forgiven if you forgive.  If you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven.  Do you realize that the person who offends you, if he repents and asks forgiveness, and confesses the sin of the offense, he will be immediately forgiven by the Lord?  And do you likewise realize that if you DO NOT forgive the offense, you WILL NOT be forgiven when you sin?  Please understand that the act of forgiving is much more for your own benefit than for the person who offended you.

To refuse, or even delay forgiveness to another person is to offend God, in short, to sin.  It really makes no difference what someone does to you; forgiveness on your part is commanded by the Lord.  Even if the offending party enjoyed hurting you, and refuses to ask forgiveness, you are still required to forgive if you expect to be forgiven if you sin.  I don’t know about you, but I refuse to allow someone else’s actions to be a cause for me be separated from fellowship with my Father.

All the sins a sinner commits do not keep him/her out of heaven – only the sin of unbelief.  For a believer to refuse to forgive is an action of unbelief that will rob him of the blessings of God in his life.  Why would anyone deliberately persist in an action that robs him of the blessings of God, and cuts him off from fellowship with his heavenly Father?  For the believer, Mark 11:25-26 are just as much a way of life as Mark 11:22-24.

Choose today to live by this forgiveness commandment of the Lord.  Let nothing prevent you from forgiving those who hurt you, especially your brothers and sisters in the Lord.  By letting go of the offense, and releasing forgiveness to an offending party, you release yourself to receive the blessings of the Lord by having the ear of God.  Remember, without His ear, you will never have a prayer answered.  On the other hand, if you have His ear, there is not prayer He will not answer for you.

Manna for Today – Mark 11:22-26; Matthew 6:9-15; 1 John 5:14-15; Psalm 66:18; Luke 6:27-37; Ephesians 4:32