“Forgive em’ and Let them go!”

When you come before God, check to see if anyone has anything against you or if you are holding anything against anyone. Don’t come into God’s presence and expect to have your prayers answered if you are asking God to forgive you, but you are refusing to forgive others (Read Matthew 6:14-15). And if God does not forgive you, He’s not going to answer your prayer. We often overlook the importance of relationships and how those relationships affect our prayers. If you are not careful the devil will use this for his good. We go to church and we sing our praise and worship songs. Soon we forget that we’re angry at others, so we become determined not to make things right. We let the songs cover up our anger. Yet, the anger remains within us. When we go home, we are reminded of what made us angry until it develops into bitterness. So from God’s point of view relationships is one of the keys to answered prayer. When you pray God will reveal to you all the hurt, bitterness, and anger you are holding against people. There will be conviction in your life because God will remind you of broken relationships you had forgotten about. Why? Because He can talk to you about them now. He can finally get through to you because you’re listening. Perhaps you are saying, “I forgive them, but I will never forget it. But I have faith that God will answer my prayer.” The Bible says, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6). So, faith only works when love is in order and you have forgiven the folks who deeply hurt you and you have also forgiven yourself? No matter how much faith you feel you have, if your relationships aren’t clear, they will shut down your faith and you are praying under a closed heaven. So, you need faith to please God (Read Hebrews 11:6), but you also need love; because God is love (Read 1 John 4:8, 16). Forgiveness will cause the heavens to open up for you. Make sure that your relationships are in order. Have you committed a wrong against anybody? Are you holding on to a grudge? Is there anybody in your family or church or on the job with who you are not in good relationship? If we regard iniquity within our hearts, the Lord will not hear us (Psalm 66:18). However when we forgive others, God will also forgive us and the way will be opened for Him to hear and answer our prayer.