Grace Notes - Mark 11 v 25

Mark 11:25 "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”.

All of my sin, every past, present and future sin was forgiven at the cross. The amazing fact is that before I was born, before I was conceived in my mother’s womb all my sin was forgiven. It is not sin that separates me from God but it is my unbelief in all that Christ accomplished for me on the cross. My eternal redemption was won for me, I just have to accept and receive it.

Likewise as a Christian, my good works do not earn any blessings from God and if I sin that sin does not separate me from God.

Sin does however cause a barrier in my heart, as it makes me more conscious of my ‘old man’ and causes my heart to harden to the grace of God.

Forgiving others and asking for forgiveness of others keeps our hearts free from the pollution of the world and the accusations of the Devil. We don’t ask for forgiveness to be right with God, we ask to be right with our fellow man and show the same reconciliation that God shows to us.

As Andrew Wommack explains keeping our hearts free from the pollution of sin helps us hear the quiet whisper of God’s voice and the awareness of the Spirit in our lives:-

There are qualifications for believing and receiving as well as restrictions for receiving answers to prayer. Unforgiveness in our hearts will keep our prayers from being answered.

We should forgive others as quickly as it takes to make the decision to pray. The Greek word for "when" means "whenever, as soon as, or while." When we stand praying, we must forgive if we have ought ("anything at all, the least little part; whatsoever") against anyone.

When we are offended or hurt, we often feel justified in holding a grudge.

The Old Testament law expressed this when it stated, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Ex. 21:23-25). Until the offense was paid, we did not feel free to forgive. However, God dealt with all men's offenses by placing sin upon the perfect Savior who was judged in place of every sinner of all time. To demand that others must earn our forgiveness is not Christlike. Jesus died for every man's sins, extending forgiveness to us while we were yet sinners, and we should do the same.

It is doubtful that a person who refuses to forgive has ever experienced forgiveness himself. This is comparable to the servant that Jesus talked about in Matthew 18:23-35. He was forgiven a debt of over $3,000,000,000 and yet he refused to forgive his fellow servant who owed him $3,000. The forgiveness that we have received from the Lord is infinitely greater than any forgiveness we will ever be asked to extend to others. Freely forgive as you have been forgiven.