Mark 11:25 (NIV) And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
Those who have received forgiveness need to be forgiving toward others. Christ asks us to go the extra mile and take on the role of reconciler—just as He did for us when He reconciled us to the Father. “The effects of sin and Satan’s discord in our lives makes us all terribly vulnerable to natural misunderstandings, and we need to learn this point of human understanding. We must acknowledge it in order to open up the reconciling process. Jesus laid down his life to make forgiveness available to us. Our relationships with one another are so important to Jesus that He said: This is how I want you to conduct yourself. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God” (Matthew 5:23-24). When we refuse to harbor misunderstandings, we declaw Satan and destroy his power to build firestorms of resentment that hinder the work of God. “The Kingdom order of forgiveness will not always be easy” but it forms the foundation of our faith as seen in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
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