Matthew 6:14-15

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  

Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus takes a moment to expand and clarify what it means to forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.  Remember the “Our” Father that the Lord’s Prayer started with? If the members of the family are not getting along with one another, how can we claim to have a right relationship with the Father? The vertical and the horizontal are connected. If we have truly experienced God’s forgiveness, then we will have a readiness to forgive others.

If God answered the prayers of a believer who had an unforgiving spirit, He would dishonor His own name.  How could God work through such a person to get His will done on earth? Warren Wiersbe once said, “The important thing about prayer is not simply getting an answer, but being the kind of person whom God can trust with an answer.”

Forgiven and forgiving,

Pastor Gerard Deleeuw