25“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:20-26; Matthew 21:20-22)
There are qualifications for believing and receiving, and one of them is that we forgive those who hurt and offend us or someone else. Harboring unforgiveness in our hearts will keep our prayers from being answered.
We should forgive others as quickly as we make the decision to pray. When we stand praying, we must forgive anyone we are holding something against. Why is this so important? God dealt with all men’s offenses by placing sin upon Jesus, who was judged in place of every sinner of all time. To demand that others must earn our forgiveness when we did not earn ours is not being like Jesus. He forgave us, and we should forgive others.
It is doubtful that a person who refuses to forgive has ever experienced forgiveness. This is comparable to the servant Jesus talked about in Matthew 18:23-35. He was forgiven a debt of over 3 million dollars and yet he refused to forgive his fellow servant who owed him 3,000 dollars. Jesus called him “wicked” (v. 32). Can you see why God cannot answer our prayers if we are acting like this wicked servant and refusing to forgive others the way we have been forgiven?
The forgiveness you have received from the Lord is infinitely greater than any forgiveness you will ever be asked to extend to others. Freely forgive as you have been forgiven, and then you can pray confidently in faith, and God will hear and answer your prayers.
