Friday, January 29

Begin by reading the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)
This then is how you should pray:
Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen.
(this last phrase is actually not in the oldest manuscripts of the Bible, but was added from later tradition)

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…
Some translations and traditions use the word trespasses instead of debts, others have just used sins to communicate the meaning. All of these are getting at the fundamental truth of the Gospel, that we all owe a debt to God because of our sin/trespasses that we cannot pay, and our only hope of forgiveness lies with the one we have sinned against.

Have you stopped to consider that you owe a debt to God? You are in debt way over your head!

(Read the story of the unforgiving debtor or the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-35 to get some more insight into what this part of the Lord’s Prayer really means…)

The second line of this petition is often overlooked, “…as we also have forgiven our debtors”. All throughout the Scriptures, there is a clear and powerful connection made between our ability to receive God’s forgiveness and our ability to forgive others.

Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Luke 6:37-38

With the measure you use, it will be measured to you - and even more.
Mark 4:24

The story has been told of the British general James Oglethorpe, the founder of the state of Georgia, who remarked to Jonathan Wesley; “I never forgive!” To which Wesley replied, “Well then I hope, sir, that you never sin.”

Take a few moments to prayerfully consider where you most need to receive forgiveness in your own life and where you most need to give forgiveness…
Praise you Father that He has forgiven you!