Text: Mark 11:25

 

 

Yesterday we contrasted the ability of God to respond in prayer with the needed faith that He will answer our petitions. The devotion closed with Mark 11:24 ESV: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” A key to this passage and in having prayers answered is found in the next verse, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25 ESV).

 

Forgiveness is a powerful thing and a uniquely Christian doctrine. “For Jesus, forgiving and being forgiven are the keys to healthy relationships” (Knowles, 2001). And we see where relationship is vital for our prayers to be answered—with the Lord (cf. Mark 11:25); the family of God (cf. Matthew 5:23-24); our own family (cf. 1 Peter 3:7).

 

“In making a request of God, the first thing we have to ensure of is this: Is our relationship right? Once we are convinced by the witness of the Spirit that we are blood-related to the Father and not at variance with others, we can come with boldness to the throne of grace” (Ravenhill, 1962, p. 32).

 

---

 

Prayer Focus

Make sure that your relationships are pure today. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal any deep-seated offenses against anyone—God or man—that have kept you in personal bondage. Release those with whom you may have ought; seek reconciliation from those that you now know by the Spirit are at variance with you; make for peace in your family through repentance. Practice Colossians 3:12-13 ESV: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”