God will forgive us, but …..
A Model Prayer – Part 5
Will God forgive us when we confess our sins to Him? Yes, of course!
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 ESV)
Yes, God forgives our sins, but we need to look carefully at what we are saying if we pray the words in Matthew 6:12.
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:9-13 ESV
In this prayer we are asking God to forgive us as we have forgiven others. If we are thinking about the words we are praying, we would only pray this phrase if we have in fact already forgiven those who have offended us.
Now look at the two verses that follow this model prayer.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV)
If we want a right relationship with God and with others we really do need to be willing to forgive anyone for any offense they may have committed against us.
One final passage:
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” [22] Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22 ESV)
We need to be praying for God’s forgiveness for our sins, and we also need to be forgiving those who have sinned against us.
Lord forgive my sins and help me to forgive those who have sinned against me.
A Model Prayer – To be continued in a future blog.
