Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Mark 11 and Psalm 62

Mark 11 is a dramatic chapter and there is much on which to comment, but for today let’s think about this profound statement:

²⁵ And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’

This seems to come out of left field. Jesus is just talking about how powerful and effective our prayers can be if we pray with faith, when suddenly He drops this bombshell.

But think about it, one of the greatest hindrances to our prayer lives is the unforgiveness we hold in our hearts. Unforgiveness is one of the biggest “mountains” that stand in the way of our abundance of living, because unforgiveness poisons us inside. So it’s no wonder the Father who loves us would want to deal with that before we move on to any other subject matter of our prayers. He wants us healed and whole, so He is willing to put any other business on hold until we can be set free from the chains of unforgiveness.

What’s more, for as long as we clench our fists around our unforgiveness of others, we remain unable to open our hands to receive the LORD’s forgiveness. We keep ourselves in chains. For our own well-being, Jesus commands us to forgive others and release them from their spiritual debt to us. He wants us to have the faith to choose to move the mountain of our unforgiveness and step into freedom!

Life application: Search your heart today and be honest with yourself and the Lord. Is there any unforgiveness towards someone in your life? Tell it to the Lord and ask Him to give you the grace to forgive. Tell Him you want to forgive and decide to do so. Then name that person and express out loud to the Lord that you choose to release them from their spiritual debt to you. Forgive them and let it go – releasing it into the hands of the Lord.