The
Lord’s Prayer is easily memorized and can quickly be recited, but
as we have seen, there is a depth of prayer that can come from these
few simple words.
We have examined “Thy
kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” and
found there are three keys to the kingdom. Those keys are a
humble heart, obedience to the Word, and Godly character. These
unlock rooms to the kingdom which bless us and bless others as well! Just
a couple of the room we have mentioned include the room of spiritual
understanding, the room of accepting those who are different, making
life changing commitments, being a positive influence in our world,
and many more.
Last
week we read “Give us this day our daily bread” and discovered
that our daily bread was more than money, food, or finances. Our
daily bread is to also have our daily needs met in our emotions and
in our spiritual life. There is so much to pray for when we
pray the Lord’s prayer! This week we pray:
Matt 6:12 And forgive
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Different
translations for this verse use the word trespasses or sins instead of debt. In Strong’s Concordance,
the Greek word indicates that it is something owed, specifically,
something owed in the moral sense; a sin debt.
Because
we have Adam’s fallen sin nature our character has been marred
by sin, we owe a sin debt toward God and we are called upon to repent. Secondarily,
because of Adam’s sin nature in us, we will probably always owe
someone on earth a sin debt. Jesus told the disciples:
Luke 17:1 It is impossible
that no offenses should come …
We
are all blameworthy. It is easy to remember the offense when
you have been wronged. We often rehearse that offense and mourn
that it ever happened, but we must remember that we are all capable
of offending! James reminds us of the power of the tongue
and how such a small member of our body can kindle such a great forest
fire!
James 3:6 … the
tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.
Have
you ever been offended? Well, I can almost guarantee that you and
I have also offended someone as well! The Apostle Paul said, “All
have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.”
As
we come to this line in the Lord’s Prayer, it obviously fits us
all, “forgive us our debts.” However, the prayer was not
given to condemn us but to set us free! The objective of this prayer is to provide an opportunity
of grace!
To
understand forgiveness lets look at the character of the One known
to forgive. Moses asked to see the presence of God, and in
Exodus 34, God show Himself to Moses, but instead of seeing a form
which Moses can describe, he sees the character of God!
Ex 34:5-9
5 Now the LORD descended
in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name
of the LORD.
6 And the LORD passed
before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
7 keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing
the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."
8 So Moses made haste
and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
God’s
character is one of mercy, grace, patience, goodness, and truth! He
will not, and He cannot, be other than what His character is! When
we pray for God to forgive us we are praying to the One who has already
proclaimed that He will forgive! He is forever gracious!
Gracious. No
one can match the consistent graciousness of our God. When
we pray “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” we are
praying that we will develop the same gracious character that God
has within Him! We need our character to always be merciful,
gracious, patient, and to always seek for the good of others as we
follow truth.
If
we are gracious we will not sin against God, we will not sin against
one another, and we will never be offended if some sinned against
us! There would be no sin debts that needed to be paid! However,
we haven’t become as gracious as we should be! Thankfully,
God is!
Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, and let us
reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet
they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson
they shall be as wool."
God
is speaking to all of us and asking that we should be reasonable. Sound
reason and good judgment reveals the need which we all have for not
only seeking the forgiveness of God, but for us to be active in forgiving
those who owe us a sin debt!
The
fact that this prayer is included in the Lord’s Prayer should help
us understand the importance of having God’s gracious character
at all times, but Jesus found it necessary to emphasis the need of
being gracious by telling a story to the disciples about a servant
who owed his master a million dollars. When the debt was presented
to his master, it was forgiven! But the servant immediately
went out and found someone who owed him $20 and demanded payment! When
the man couldn’t pay, he was thrown into prison! That wasn’t
gracious at all!
When
the master of the servant heard what had happened, he called that
servant to him and said,
Matt 18:32
32 'You wicked servant! I forgave
you all that debt because you begged me.
33 Should you not also
have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity
on you?'
34 And his master was
angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all
that was due to him.
35 "So My heavenly Father
also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive
his brother his trespasses."
Having
unforgiveness in our heart wins us a title of Wicked! I don’t
want that title! Do you? It’s time to make a change!
How
do you forgive when you don’t feel like it?
Tell Jesus you desire to obey Him
and
ask for his strength to forgive.
Then say
the words out loud: I forgive.
Then allow
Jesus to forgive through you.
Jesus
has given us the ability to speak forgiveness even when we don’t
feel like it and His grace becomes effective in our lives! Please
note: you may need to speak forgiveness more than once!
Matt 18
21 "Lord, how often shall
my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus said to
him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy
times seven."
Therefore we pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
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