When teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus pointed out the importance of practicing forgiveness. Many times this text is misinterpreted as God’s refusal to forgive us unless we forgive others, which is not true. This statement was made before the redemptive act of Christ on the cross. Jesus’ sacrifice made the way for all of us to receive God’s forgiveness for our failings and shortcomings, even if we have not yet worked through the process of forgiving others in our lives. Yet the importance of practicing forgiveness toward those who have wronged us is essential and demands a high place of priority in each of our lives. The need for forgiveness is not necessarily done for the person we are forgiving, it is for us; and will enable us to find freedom from being trapped in our anger. Sometimes it is hard to forgive others, even when we want to, because the emotions are just too raw to put the issue down. Then we must practice and pursue the “forgiveness process” of unraveling and letting go of our hurt and anger, however long it takes, until we find the freedom in our hearts to forgive and let it go. There are other times that it is easier to forgive, because we do not get pulled into a web of negative emotions. It is only through His Spirit of love and forgiveness that we can experience personal freedom, and manifest His Light to a broken ,hurting world in need of much healing.

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop [leave it, let it go, in order that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you and your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop” (Mark 11:25).