Blogging the Lord's Prayer: BREAD AND FORGIVENESS

Jesus said that to receive what we ask in prayer, we must have faith.  But, Jesus DID NOT say that ALL we need is faith.

No.  No, He didn’t. 

In the Lord’s Prayer, the prototype for effective prayer, Jesus taught:

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (Matthew 6: 12, 13)

Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. (Luke 11: 3, 4)

See the AND there? 

The original Greek word is a primary particle used as a conjunction “having a copulative or cumulative effect.”  In other words, The forgiveness clause is part of the give us our daily bread clause.

To receive, you need faith, but you also need to be forgiven AND you need to be forgiving.

Still don’t believe me?  Can’t hear me over the echo of Creflo Dollar in your ear?

O.K.  Go to Mark chapter 11.

Jesus was teaching His disciples about the power of faith. 

Mark 11: 22     So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

23     For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

24     Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

That makes sense to you, doesn’t it?  Faith moves mountains.

But Jesus didn’t end His lesson there.  Keep reading and you’ll notice an And. 

Mark 11: 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.

26     But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Jesus deliberately and repeatedly linked receiving by faith to forgiveness and forgiving.

Jesus said that if you’re praying and asking by faith, but you have something against somebody, then before you finish your prayer, you’re supposed to forgive the person who offended you. 

Why do you have to forgive them? 

Because if you don’t forgive them for what they did to you, then you can’t expect God to forgive you for the dirt you’ve done to Him.  And if you approach God begging, but unforgiven (or to put it another way---- unrepentant) then you can’t expect God to give you anything---- no matter how much faith you have.

James 1: 5-8 says that we must have faith when we pray.  We can’t expect to receive from God when we are doubtful or double-minded .  Later, in James  4: 6-8, Scripture gives us a working cure for double-mindedness: Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts…

In other words, ask for forgiveness.  In one word, REPENT.

If you don’t repent, you’re double-minded; and let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1: 7, 8)

Experience demonstrates that you can ask in faith and still not receive.  Therefore, there must be something more to receiving that JUST FAITH.   

Yeah, yeah.  I know what “they” say.  “They” say that all you have to do is speak the word and believe.  But, what does the Bible say?

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  (James 4:3)

If you follow the reasoning in James chapter 4,  you see that the whole passage is about the two things that keep Christians from getting their prayers answered.  Those two things are:

(1)Our grudging, unforgiveness toward one another;

and (2)Our selfishness and arrogance about the stuff we want.

James 4:1     Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

In Mark 2: 3-12, before Jesus addressed a request for physical healing, the Lord addressed the need for forgiveness. 

He said, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” (Mark 2: 5). 

The physical healing was just an endorsement of the spiritual restoration of the foundational act of forgiveness. 

“That you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them.  (Mark 2: 10-12

Come on, let’s be real with each other.  We do a whole lot of praying, and claiming, and speaking, and believing----without results.    

And we have damaged a lot of brothers and sisters by telling them that the problem was, “You didn’t have enough faith.”   (Or, “you didn’t give enough money in church” which is so far from right that it requires a whole other series of posts.)

If we want to have peace with God and true power in our prayers, then we have to embrace more than the “word of faith;” we have to embrace the Word of forgiveness.

Faith is absolutely key to receiving answered prayer; but Jesus said that faith is not the only element.  Two other keys are forgiveness and forgiving.

Unrepented/ unforgiven sin creates static in your spiritual reception.  You can’t really clear hear how God wants to direct your path; so you can end up praying the opposite of God’s will----- with all of your faith.   But God never promised to answer prayer that was outside of His will.

When you hold on to the unforgiven sin debts of others, that also creates static; because you put yourself in the place of God, or rather god, because you make yourself an unforgiving judge of their sins. 

I know that “they” say ask in faith and forget your haters. 

God says, that you can’t forget them.  You have to forgive them.

Remember the Parable Jesus taught in Matthew 18.

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’

 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”  (Matthew 18: 32-35)

“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”   Therefore submit to God. (James 4: 6, 7)

Submit to God and repent of your sins.

Submit to God, and because you appreciate the forgiveness you’ve received, give forgiveness to those who have wronged you.

Faith without forgiveness is still faith, but it isn’t mountain-moving faith. 
Faith without forgiving is still faith, but it isn’t receive-what-you-ask-in-prayer faith.

Faith

But Faith connected to forgiveness for your sins and forgiveness of the sins against you ----- that’s the kind of faith that works miracles.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (Matthew 6: 12, 13)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

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