READING: Mark 11-13
I suspect it’s a cause for unanswered prayer that we consider far too little. We know prayerlessness is obviously a problem. We understand that our sin gets in the way of our praying. I think we recognize that asking selfishly doesn’t lead to answered prayer. I’m not so sure, though, we realize how much an unwillingness to forgive others is a hindrance to prayer.
To put it simply, harboring bitterness blocks our prayer channel. Here’s what Jesus said: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing” (Mark 11:25). Praying effectively thus demands not only faith, but also forgiveness; we are to ask believing, and we are to ask forgiving. As one writer put it, “God wants us to deal with our ‘horizontal’ relationships in order to have a clear ‘vertical’ relationship.”*
Do you have something against someone? If so, I encourage you to deal with this issue not only to offer God’s grace to others, but also to strengthen your prayers. If you want to read more about forgiving others, check out these posts I wrote some time ago.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: How do you answer the question above—“do you have something against someone”?
PRAYER: “God, help me to forgive others.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Mark 14-16
*Barton, B. B. (1994). Mark (pp. 326–327). Tyndale House Publishers.
