And when ye stand praying, for give, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven m ay f o r g i v e you your trespasses (Mark 11:25) ^ ^ hese words follow immedi ately on the great prayer- promise, . . What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.” The words that precede that promise, “Have faith in God,” teach us that in prayer all depends upon our relation to God being clear, but these words that follow remind us that our relation with our fellow- men must be clear too. Love to God and love to our neighbor are insep arable: the prayer from a heart that is either not right with God on the one side or with men on the other cannot prevail. Faith and love are essential to each other. We find that this is a thought to which our Lord frequently gave expression. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:23, 24) when speaking of the sixth command ment, He taught His disciples how impossible acceptable worship to the Father was if everything were not right with the brother: “ . . . if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” And so later when speaking of prayer to God after having taught us to pray, “ forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” He added at the close of the prayer, “ . . . if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” At the close of the parable of the unmerciful servant He applies His teaching in the words, “ So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.” And so here, beside the dried-up fig tree, where He speaks of the wonderful power of faith and the prayer of faith, He all at once apparently without connection introduces the thought, “ And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your ®
What does love for our neighbor have to do with
Prayer that Prevails
by A ndrew M urray
Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” It is as if the Lord had learned during His life at Nazareth and afterwards that disobedience to the law of love to men was the great sin even of praying people and the great cause of the feebleness of their prayer. And it is as if He wanted to lead us into His own blessed experience that nothing gives such liberty of access and such power in believing as the consciousness that we have given ourselves in love and com passion for those whom God loves. The first lesson taught here is that of a forgiving disposition. We pray, “ Forgive, even as we have forgiven.” Scripture says, “Forgive one another, even as God also in Christ forgave you.” God’s full and free forgiveness is to be the rule of ours with men. Otherwise our reluctant, halfhearted forgiveness, which is not forgiveness at all, will be God’s rule with us. Every prayer rests upon our faith in God’s par doning grace. If God dealt with us after our sins, not one prayer could be heard. Pardon opens the door to all God’s love and blessing; because God has pardoned all our sin, our prayer can prevail to obtain all we need. The deep sure ground of answer to prayer is God’s forgiving love. When it has taken possession
of the heart, we pray in faith. But also when it has taken possession of the heart, we live in love. God’s forgiving disposition revealed in His love to us becomes a disposition in us; as the power of His forgiving love shed abroad and dwelling within us, we forgive even as He forgives. If there be great and grievous injury or injustice done us, we seek first of all to possess a God-like disposition: to be kept from a sense of wounded honor, from a desire to maintain our rights or from re warding the offender as he has deserved. In the little annoyances of daily life, we are watchful not to excuse the hasty temper, the sharp word, the quick judgment with the thought that we mean no harm, that we do not keep the anger long or that it would be too much to expect from feeble human nature that we should really forgive the way God and Christ do. No, we take the command literally, “ Even as Christ forgave, so also do ye.” The blood that cleanses the c o n s c ie n c e fr om dead works cleanses from selfishness too; the love it reveals is pardoning love that takes possession of us and flows through us to others. Our forgiving love to men is the evidence of the reality of God’s forgiving love in
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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