“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Memory Verse: “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” Ephesians 4:32.
Praying is an important aspect of every Christian journey as it’s the way we make our petitions known to God but understanding how Jesus taught us to pray is as important as praying. The understanding of His teaching helps us to navigate through the journey of life more easily and one of the key lines in the Lord’s Prayer is that which talks about “Forgiveness”.
The conversation about forgiveness is one which people tend to twist and turn, it’s as if people are constantly trying to make excuses not to. Most often, even in the Christian community, forgiveness is a really big deal and for a fact, the best of us continue to struggle with it because of the unforgettable experiences which have impacted us directly or indirectly. One thing to understand and be careful of is that the devil knows this and he takes advantage of our lack of forgiveness, exploiting it for his own benefit or good.
Every sinner is a debtor to God because we live our daily lives violating His laws. We live and breathes daily in sin and have the automatic expectations in our minds that God has pledged to forgive us yet we fail to pass on forgiveness to our fellow brethren.
Jesus spoke about the parable of the debtor and the focus was on forgiveness according to Matthew 18:21-35. Evidently, we don’t seem to understand the gravity of debt we owe God when we sin but yet as a good father that He is, He constantly wipes our slates clean giving us the opportunity to come to His presence as if we never sinned before. On the other side, when in the same situation holding the power to forgive, we choose to hold on to offences of others, we struggle and deliberate on forgiveness, an act which should be non-negotiable as God always forgives us.
Saying the Lord’s Prayer with unforgiveness in our hearts is vain declaration as the act of unforgiveness makes it a prayer that is invalid because unforgiveness is a sin. Saying the Lord’s prayer genuinely means telling God to only forgive us on the criteria that we also let go and forgive others. The moment we hold on to offences, then we stand a risk of being in debt to God.
The key to receiving is being able to give and not just some people but “Everyone”. If we are still struggling with unforgiveness then we are to make it a priority to keep asking God for the grace to let go. Only God is able to turn our hearts of unforgiveness into a forgiving one and if we are serious about it, then God is always ready to help us renew our minds.
PRAYERS:
- Father I thank you for another great week full of unlimited goodness
- Father give me a forgiving spirit Lord, help me to let go even in difficult situations
- Forgive me of my shortcomings o Lord and help me to live above sin
- Have mercy on me O Lord and receive my sacrifice of praise, IJMN, AMEN.
