Mark Chapter 11:

Mark Chapter 11:

22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

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.

26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

This passage of scripture is really cut and dry, but like anything, there is some understanding needed to grasp what is said. The key to having the confidence we need in order to have the pure faith needed to have our prayers answered, is to have a totally clear conscience. That is why Jesus added the part about forgiving others for what they have done against us, directly after saying that our prayers will be answered if we believe they will be answered. The truth of the matter is that we CANNOT fully believe that our prayers are going to be answered if we are holding something against someone in our heart. David knew this reality, and stated it plainly: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psm. 66:18). The beloved apostle said the same thing with just a bit more detail: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (I Jn. 3:18-22). In fact that assessment by John is the same thing Jesus said in our text passage, with yet more specifics. If our 'love' is not sincere, that can only be because we are allowing some iniquity to remain in our heart.

If we are holding sin then it is certain that our conscience knows it, and we are going to be aware of that interference even if we are deliberately blocking it out with our mind. The result will always be a hindrance to our faith, and our prayers not being answered. Holding a grudge against someone is not the only sin that will hinder faith and prayer, but rather ANY retained sin will put a damper on our faith and confidence toward God. I will say however that the failure to forgive someone for a wrong they have done you, is a very self-damaging sin, and it will knock you right off of the tracks if it isn't righted quickly. I learned this lesson early, shortly after I started out with the Lord some years ago. I was lied to, deliberately deceived, and wronged with a very greivous wrong by someone else in Christ whom I loved more than dearly. When I realized what had been done I was very, very hurt. I had just gotten started with the Lord, and I didn't handle the hurt like I should have. Instead of taking it to Jesus, or talking to an elder that could have steered me in the right direction, I just sat on it and kept hurting. So the hurt turned to bitterness, and the bitterness landed me right back in all of the sins and vices that God had miraculously delivered me from. God was merciful, and he only let me flounder like that for a few months. One day I got a letter from a brother in Christ who is also a prophet, and he said that the Lord showed him to tell me to read Matthew Chapter 18. Well, I read it, and the whole chapter is about the lost sheep being recovered, and the servant who had been forgiven much, but refused to forgive his fellow servant.

If ever there was a prophetic word, that was a big one. I was the lost sheep, and I was lost because I held a grudge against someone who had wronged me. Needless to say I was back in the fold within a couple of days, purer, cleaner, and more full of joy than ever. Of course it was because I forgave the person who had wronged me after getting that letter. Actually God made it very easy to do, because I just happened to see the individual in question right after getting the letter, and great kindness was shown to me by the person. I have never even been close to having that kind of a problem since then, nor have I been anywhere near being knocked off of the tracks since that occasion. And there has been plenty of hurt and injustice that has come my way from others who have been very close to me in Christ, but I can say with a pure conscience that there is no one that I don't love without reservation. I learned a lot from that one undue experience, the hard way howbeit. So the point is that it doesn't matter how wrong someone has treated you, or how innocent you may be in the circumstance. If you hold a grudge it will do you a great deal of damage anyway. We are to be followers of Jesus, who was more innocent than anyone has ever been, and was dealt with more unjustly than anyone in the history of the world. Yet some of his final words were, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Lk. 23:34). I guess that about says it. God bless.