Devotional Guide, Today’s Reading – Friday, October 25, 2019

Theme: AVENGE NOT YOURSELVES

Text: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”. – Matthew 6:14, 15.

Comment: After teaching his disciples “the All-Sufficient Prayer”, Jesus Christ then gave conditions for God’s forgiveness of sins. To expect forgiveness from our Father in heaven, we all must first learn to forgive ourselves. It follows therefore, that all those, having grudges in their hearts and saying the “Lord’s Prayer”, are deceiving themselves: as God Almighty will not hear nor answer such prayers. There is a common saying that, “We cannot pray in love and live in hate and still think we are worshipping God”.

St. John aptly captures this behaviour saying, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20). And King Solomon added, “The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous”. – Proverbs 15:29.

If we desire God’s forgiveness and for our prayers to be heard and answered then we must learn to first of all, forgive our neighbours. Christ stated, “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 11:25,26.

It is our prayer that God Almighty should give to all His children, forgiving hearts, that they in turn, enjoy His divine forgiveness.

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