Effectual Prayers – Forgiveness

” And when ye stand praying,
forgive…”
Mark 11:25

Christ is the sum of all knowledge and perfection and in His piercing Light, all things are made bare. It is this Light by which all men will be judged. There is nothing hid from the Magnificent One whose “eyes are as a flame of fire”. It was by these eyes that the deception of Ananias and Sapphira’s seemingly innocent lie was seen and dealt with in the severity of God’s righteousness (1). It is a deception repeated to varying degrees in His house today. How little we as the church of today consider our ways. The God who never changes, has not changed. His estimations of our actions, our professions and our dealings with one another are not lost in His sight. The unforgiving remain weighed down in their own sins (2). The unmerciful receive not the depths and power of His mercy (3). The unholy are blinded by the shades of their own spiritual condition (4). These are the weights and measures by which God deals with His Own. The Light of Christ is only made effective by the corresponding deeds of truth within the individual.

“But he that doeth truth
cometh to the light…”
John 3:21

The significance of this statement bears eternal repercussions. Its decree brings to every man the responsibility for his own growth and development in the call and the purposes of God. Within the confines of our hearts (if sensitive to the Spirit) we intuitively know that to hold unforgiveness will cloud and darken the wonder of prayer.

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses”
Mark 11:25

Forgiveness is the fruit of a heart involved in the “doing of truth”. It flows from a heart that seeks to grow and live in Christ. Dead and powerless prayers arise from those who fear not nor understand His ways. To hold animosity, offense and the wrongs of others within is to negate the forgiveness of Christ unto our own hearts. Man uses religion to cover his refusal to walk in the truth of Christ by making forgiveness a word rather than a deed (5). This limits their Christian experience to lifeless confessions, powerless prayers, and a growing detachment from the life and light of Christ.

“Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth”
John 9:31

Truth is measured to us correspondingly to our walk in truth. The more we yield to its way, the more we are afforded of its great reward especially within the depth of our communion with Him (6).

“He that doeth truth”

Let us not settle for the “broad gate” which leads to a desensitized heart. Let us not linger in the shallows of confessions and creeds. Let us come with “open face” and behold the Light and Glory of the One who deals with us in truth.

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”
2 Corinthians 3:18

An “open face” means we are open and sensitive to the leadings of the Spirit of God. In every response to Him, we grow in His Light and His Person. Those who desire the truth of Him know within the need to DO the truth of Him in order to be changed.

May we comprehend that the change we need will only come as we walk in the current truth we have. The seeing of Him and the corresponding transformation of our own personal lives comes by our involvement in the doing of His Truth.

Psalm 15
1 Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

______________

References
1. Acts 5:1-10
2. Matthew 6:14-15; (among many others)
3. Matthew 5:7
4. Hebrews 12:14
5. Matthew 18:35
6. Matthew 25:21,23

Brian Troxel