 Mark chapter 11 verses 20 through 26. Mark writes now in the morning as they passed by they saw the fig tree dried up by from the roots and Peter remembering said to him, Rabbi look the fig tree which you cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered and said to them have faith in God for shortly I say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done he will have whatever he says therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them and whenever you stand praying if you have anything against anyone forgive him that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses but if you do not forgive neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses and so as I normally do I'll give to you a brief review into the events that are taking place that are leading up to what we're about to see and I'll kind of build up the context for you so we can pick up on our study and have an understanding of where we're going to be going today this is the last week of the active ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and so on the previous Sunday on Palm Sunday Jesus had entered into Jerusalem to the adoring welcome of a multitude as he had done so people from the city of Jerusalem had at streamed out and others who were following him from the Bethany area began to join into one crowd and as they did so they began to to shout out various things to him and they were crying out very loudly the reproval of him they cried Hosanna to the son of David blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord the king of Israel and so these are the things the kinds of things that they were crying out and they they welcomed him with emotional cries and as they did so the Bible tells us in in the Gospel of Luke that as well as other places that they were offended the Pharisees became offended and and they actually called to him out of the crowd and they said to Jesus teacher rebuke your disciples but Luke 1940 says he answered and said to them I tell you that if these should keep silent the stones would immediately cry out and so praise was not to be with how this is a good moment this is a holy moment it was a moment that should have people shouting and cheering and crying out and if you've ever been to Israel those of you who have may remember that Israel is really a city that has been formed out of stones so the point he was making is that the entire place the inanimate lifeless would even cry out because it's the right moment it was a picture of how it was a proper thing to do the open celebration was proper the city should rejoice in such a way for him well even though the majority were hoping for political deliverance the welcome that they gave him was right so as we saw he entered into the temple the hour was late and so he had returned to Bethany but the next day on his way to Jerusalem he had seen a fig tree he examined it for fruit but it was barren it had only leaves and so Jesus pronounced a curse on it verse 14 of this chapter says in response Jesus said to it let no one eat fruit from you ever again and his disciples heard it know as we saw he entered the city for a second time he cleansed the temple it was the place that the people were to meet with and worship God but they had profaned this holy place and so he drove out those selling animals he overturned the tables and he stopped the traffic flow but once again the religious leaders had become angry and and they were so angry but they couldn't do anything about it because they feared him you see the people were frustrated over the way they had been taken advantage of in the religious service and so they were real sympathetic to Jesus and the chief priests and scribes well they had seen the wonderful things that he was doing in Matthew 21 14 and 15 it says that when Jesus went in and began to minister the blind and the and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them but when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple and saying it was honor to the son of David they were indignant well after cleansing the temple and teaching and healing Jesus left once again he went to Bethany but the next morning he and his men once again returned to Jerusalem that's where we we pick up our story at verse 20 verse 20 says in the morning as they passed by they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots now let me share with you just for a moment about the fig tree the fig tree is a very ancient tree is mentioned various times in scripture in the Old Testament the fig tree was used as a picture of God's blessing on his people when God was describing the land of promise he used a fig tree as an example of blessing in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy 8 verse 8 it says it is a land of wheat and barley of vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of olive oil and honey in the Old Testament the fig tree was also used as a symbol of peace and security in 1st Kings chapter 4 verse 25 it says during Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel from Dan to Beersheba lived in safety each man under his own vine and fig tree the first time it's referred to is found in the book of Genesis and it was in the Garden of Eden because after Adam and Eve had sinned they tried to cover themselves up and they did so with fig leaves Genesis 3 verse 7 says the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings now when it says they knew that they were naked their nakedness was a symbol of their innocence but when they sinned they forfeited their pure consciences they became aware of shame they lost the purity and innocence that they once had they were aware of their sin and they tried to cover it up themselves lost purity aware of sin but tried to cover it up themselves and that's what's taking place in Israel during the time of Jesus Christ again the fig tree is a picture of Israel's religion a tree filled with leaves but having no fruit it's a religious system that gives a promise of satisfaction but it's unable to fulfill that promise you see a fig tree can produce fruit before it sprouts leaves that's called a bonus crop and when Jesus found no fruit on the tree he carefully examined it and then he cursed it and that's what Jesus was doing to the nation of Israel closely examining it a nation that had the appearance of providing fruit but in fact was not Hebrews 4 13 says there's no creature hidden from his sight but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account you can't hide your sin in other words God sees everything and God saw that the nation of Israel had the appearance of being fruitful through religion but were trying to make themselves righteous through their works so the withering began immediately but wasn't evident until the next morning now what does the cursing of the fig tree symbolize well it symbolizes national Israel a spiritually dead nation Israel's religion had the appearance of life but wasn't producing fruit and it had an impressive pretense of religion but was spiritually dead many religious systems have the appearance of spiritual life they have prayer they have good deeds their adherents can be very nice very generous very disciplined very sacrificial very humble but upon closer investigation the system doesn't bear genuine spiritual fruit and that's the state of Israel it had the appearance of godliness but no power of godliness so the cursing of the fig tree represents what was about to occur to national Israel Israel was about to be judged and the cleansing of the temple symbolizes but later Rome would fulfill it in mark chapter 13 verses 1 and 2 mark writes as Jesus was leaving the temple one of his disciples said to him look teacher what massive stones what magnificent buildings do you see all these great buildings replied Jesus not one stone here will be left on another everyone will be thrown down and so Jesus had cursed that fig tree which symbolized the nation of Israel and that cursing was going to be fulfilled when Rome invaded and destroyed you see outward religion without true faith is an abomination to God in Matthew 23 verses 27 and 28 Jesus said these words and and i think that we need to read the whole bible to get the whole picture because a lot of times especially today there are many places where you hear of Jesus and his his humility and his goodness and his love and his kindness and his grace and all but he's also righteous and he also is a judge and many times we forget that and he would pour out his his indignation he would often speak those things he he cleansed the the temple two times but he also spoke of the hypocrisy in Matthew 23 27 and 28 and this is what he said when he was speaking to the religious leadership of the nation he said what do you teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites you are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of bones of the dead and everything unclean in the same way on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness you have that appearance well that was a religion of Israel at that time the Pharisees had taught them to to strain out gnats and swallow camels they had taught them to have religious appearance the fast and and to pray and to give but but that with their mouths they praised God but their hearts were far from him and Jesus spoke of that quite often and so this this this fig tree symbolizes the nation of Israel a nation that is trying to make itself look righteous a nation that that has lost its innocence a nation that's about to be judged and so Jesus in verse 21 well in verse 21 says that Peter Peter remembering said to him rabbi look the fig tree which you cursed has withered away you know he remembered just the day before the Jesus had had cursed that tree and to see it dried up so quickly from from the roots to the branches well that's that's amazing that just doesn't happen but the real question was how did the fig tree wither away so soon and so Jesus now gives a second lesson and he's going to point out faith in God can do more than withered trees Jesus is about to lay down his life and it's important to emphasize dependence on God as long as he had been with them all their needs had been taken care of but he's about to depart and since this is true he needs to reemphasize certain things and so he's going to reemphasize here he's going to reemphasize prayer you see in his ministry his men had constantly seen him model service to the father they saw him as he taught they would watch the way that he would speak they they heard the words that he spoke and they would even mimic those things because during the time of Christ if you were mentoring somebody they would learn how you taught and the things that you taught they would watch you and they would model themselves after you and so they watched him as he taught and they were learning how to teach by doing so they watched him when he would preach and the things that he would say and and the way that he would present those kinds of things and they listened very carefully as he as he did so and not only that but they saw him as he performed miracles and they saw him when he'd do those things how he did those things and all of that was part of the mentoring of Christ with his men but the one thing that stood out in his life that all of them saw very clearly was his prayer life they had seen from the very beginning of his ministry that he prayed regularly and fervently Mark tells us in chapter one verse 35 in the morning having risen a long while before daylight he went out and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed so they saw that the Lord would wake up early and go to a quiet place and would make petition and speak to the father in Luke 5.16 he frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray they saw the frequency of this and in Luke 9.28 it says about eight days after Jesus said these things he took with him Peter John and James and went up on a mountain to pray so they saw the prayer life of Christ what's interesting is his men never asked them to teach them how to preach they never asked Jesus teach me how to how to how to teach they never said to Jesus can you explain to me how I should counsel can you show me how I can debate but they did ask him to teach them to do something Luke 11 verse 1 says it like this one day Jesus was praying in a certain place when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples we've seen you preach we've heard you teach we've seen the miracles we've seen the debates we've seen you minister we're learning those things by observing those things but you slip away often and you speak to the father and and we see that you and the father have this rich communion I want to have that too teach us how to pray and so as they're asking for that notice verse 22 Jesus answered and said to them have faith in God have faith in God hold fast to personally possess genuine belief trust and confidence in God have faith in God he's not speaking about having faith in faith he's saying have faith in God you see the disciples are about to go from having Jesus with them all the time to having him not with them they needed to learn that the God who answers prayer will answer theirs they needed to learn to trust that God would hear them they needed to know that God would provide for them and that requires faith in God having confidence in God knowing he's able to do what he what appears to be impossible and it's not the greatness of our faith it's the greatness of our God that we need to learn in Luke 17 5 and 6 that says the apostle said to the Lord increase our faith so the Lord said if you have faith as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree be pulled up by the roots be planted in the sea and it would obey you our faith is not in our own faith our faith is in our powerful God and if our faith is placed in an all powerful God great things can happen commentary commentator named Leon Morris said it like this amen go ahead if you want to clap more than two or three people that's good i have faith you will but no that's a good thought now Leon Morris said it is not necessary to have great faith even a small faith is enough as long as it is faith in the great God and that's the key for us you see so he says it like that and then he goes have faith in God foresuredly verse 23 i say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done he will have whatever he says we'll look at that now obviously Jesus is speaking figuratively miracles aren't performed as performance or entertainment just to attract attention when he speaks of the mountain that mountain speaks of something that has overwhelmed us and we feel helpless when in this place when we trust God our prayer he's saying will be answered you see doubting when he says without doubting doubting in our heart speaks of internally arguing about God's goodness and power his ability to do that which we're asking well we're to pray without arguing within ourselves because we can argue ourselves out of trusting him in Matthew 7 verse 7 ask it will give him to you seek you will find knock the door will be open to you ask seek knock are in a intense that means continuously continue asking continue seeking continue knocking hold fast be fervent in prayer don't give up James 1 6 through 8 says let him ask in faith with no doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind let not that man suppose that he'll receive anything from the Lord he's a double-minded man unstable in all his ways so we hold fast we pray and true faith is trusting God who has revealed himself to us and the revelation of God is found in Scripture not in our wishes and not in testimonies of others the revelation of God is found in Scripture 2 Peter 1 20 and 21 the apostle said above all you must understand no prophecy as Scripture comes from one's own interpretation for no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit so it wasn't somebody's wishful thinking or invention of a God he's saying that the Holy Spirit led men to write down his words so we would know what God wanted us to know and when his commands are obeyed he honors our obedience and that's why in verse 24 he says therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them here's the internal doubt that I have I doubt that John will be here next week no here's the eternal is here's the eternal doubt that I have so recently Marie my wife and I went to Washington I was asked to do some ministry there at a combined Calvary Chapel pastors and church conference and so I went to the church conference to teach these these men in all and so we go to the airport here in Ontario and we're going through the x-ray and all that and that and so I put my bags on that little and conveyor belt and I forgot that I had my phone in my pocket in my phone I have all my information that I carry like you but I also have a lot of pictures of my grandchildren and my family that are dear to me and yes they're in the cloud I know that but they're dear to me anyway it's just for some reason I've been taking pictures of my babies since they were first born I have pictures of my my grandchildren some of them when they were just born I and those are very dear to me I'm some people know this about me I'm very sentimental and those things matter to me and so I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket so I tapped my pocket and so my bag was already on the belt and everything you know I'd already put it so I put my phone in one of those little bowls containers and I went through and picked up my bag and picked up my knapsack and the whole nine yards and I left I went to to sit down Marie and I and so as we're seated there I tapped my my pocket because I was going to check on some emails and I didn't have it I said oh no I forgot it so I went back to you know place of inspection and I spoke to a couple of the the people there and one lady was so very kind she helped me look everywhere for it she looked in the loss and found see whether it was turned in and all well by that time I'm thinking no this and no I've lost it I've lost my phone now I'm angry because I get I get angry about some things and that's one of the things that made me angry I thought oh man somebody stole my phone now I'm mad at whoever it is that invisible person who stole my phone so and I don't know about you I don't know how you handled your temper or not me I have to go off by myself and broke some windows and stole some stuff but that but it was a righteous anger no I so no so I I went I just I was and I was I was really letting the Lord know how I felt about this you know God somebody stole my phone Marie's saying honey somebody may turn in and please get behind me you don't know human nature human nature's evil and you have taught you this evil there are thieves there are thieves thief and I went off told Jesus about the thief and I was very angry and I'm just so I go up to Marie and I say can I have your phone let me call myself see if I can hear it because it may be around here so I I dial but the music is so loud I can't hear and now that's only aggravating me more so I give her the phone I and I guess I'm just I'm just beside myself at this point I'm so angry yes I know it's a phone and I know you're more spiritual than me and you wouldn't have gotten mad but this is my confession so let me get it out so anyway Marie says to me Bea I'm praying for you I said okay that's fine you want to pray but some some thieves got my pictures I went I stood by myself because I have to calm down I'm that frustrated oh my so anyway we go to the to the desk to get our seat and everything and and Marie lost her boarding pass so I get her a boarding pass all of this is taking place and I'm standing there and I get a phone call from my daughter Anna and Anna leaves a message on Marie's phone not on mine because I don't have it we're praying for you I'm praying for you because I had called I said you're going to have to turn off my phone service so here comes one of the people from the place where you check your baggage and they do all the examine two of them and they walk up and said sir and I said hello and they walk past me to a guy and his wife we're standing six feet ten feet from me as close as these rails are to me is right there sir may I look in your bag they say to this guy and the guy goes sure of course and he opens up the bag pulls out a phone he says to me is this your phone and I said yeah it is so I went pop that guy no I yeah thief you thief you thief no I went a pox on your house but I went and he says I'm so sorry he says my wife has a phone that looks at he said I thought now his wife was in a wheelchair you know I mean my heart was you know immediately God said you idiot you know and so there it's handed back to me and so I'm thinking well thank you he says I'm so sorry sir he said I thought that was my wife's and I said you know what I get it I thank you my daughter and Marie had been praying at the same time and I read now I look at my phone and my phone and my daughter writes and says daddy I'm praying for you Marie was praying for me and I thought Lord this is just like you no faith see so I don't want to come on here and say you don't have faith let me tell you what faith is no I don't I fight and I struggle too I mean my what I see you know I see a lot of people still in line that that's what I see that's what ministers see and that's just John I mean the rest no I still I see that and so it can make you actually begin to doubt the goodness of God versus the evil of man I'm telling you it's very easy it's very real with me and the funny thing about all this is when I got on the plane I was walking past the fellow who has seated already he says he said because I told him I said you know what you know my God had already dealt with my my frustration I was already okay by that time but he said I said you know I'm a pastor I said I have a lot of things in my phone and it matters to me I said and but the most important thing is it has my pictures of my children and that matters to me and I'm sorry you know I'm sorry I show emotion but that's the depth of it that I really do that's what matters to me but he says you're a pastor he said yes I said he goes what church do you pastor and I told him he says I've been to your church I've been to your church I said you lying thief no I said I said welcome he may be here right now I'm just kidding but but he says I know who you I've been to your church you know and I said well praise the Lord well why didn't I tell you that it's because sometimes the things that are going on around you are so loud you can't hear the small voice of the Lord you says have faith in me I suffer with that too I don't stand up here as somebody who doesn't I'm I'm part of us I mean I go through these things and so I have to trust the Lord even and what people would say that's a very small thing and indeed it is but to some somebody something small somebody else it's great it's it's it's what God is doing in you and and we trust the Lord we trust that God answers prayer and all and and so we we lift our petitions to the Lord and we ask God to be involved in and we and we you know we we take these concerns and that we have to the Lord in prayer I remember one of my assistants at the time had been called to go to the hospital for a visitation one of our ladies was was ill and she had they had a air tube but she was her lungs weren't doing very well and so he was greatly concerned and he came back and said well that was interesting I went and prayed I said really he says you know what happened I said what he says I went in and and I said to her may I pray for you and she said oh of course please do he says pastor he says as I was praying for her she started grabbing her face her mask and she started he said oh my Lord she's she's gonna die right in front of me God what am I gonna do he says that she's grabbing her her her mask because she can't breathe he said I looked down and I was standing on her air hose so you never want to ask him to come and pray for you so anyway getting back to our bible study whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you have that you receive them and you will have them obviously to answer or to receive an answer to prayer requires us to ask James chapter 4 verse 2 says you do not have because you do not ask but he says believe believe that you receive them and you will have them again I I tried to learn this very early in my in my spiritual life in John chapter 14 verse 14 if you ask anything in my name he said Jesus I will do it when he says if you ask anything in my name it's not like that's a magic formula if you ask anything in my name the words my name speaks of his authority you know it's like when somebody says stop in the name of the law the law it's not the police officer whose authority is being invoked it's the law that's being invoked in my name speaks of the authority of Christ and so he's saying if you ask anything in my name I will do it but Jesus in John 16 24 said hither to have you asked nothing in my name ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full up to this point you have asked nothing in my name by my authority ask and you shall receive ask it will be given to you and so we go before the Lord in the name and authority of Christ who made it possible for us to go to God because it was through Christ that the blood of his offering that is cleansed us from sin and made it possible for us to stand in the throne room of God and to speak to him and say God I need your help and when we come to him we come in faith believe that he hears us and and and we trust that he will answer requests that we are making but the qualifier is that we do not pray with wrong motives praying outside of the will of God you may be praying for somebody that you'd like to date but that person's not saved instead of praying I'd like to go out with this person you ought to be praying you should which would be in the will of God for is not God's will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance so we say Lord in Jesus name you know I'm attracted to this person but this person isn't saved and I want to put my desires aside and I'm going to ask you if you touch them that they might be saved you see in 1 John 5 14 if we ask anything according to his will he hears us so how do I know the will of the father I know the will of the father by thoroughly reading the word of God because he discloses to us what his will is now notice in verse 25 he goes on and he says whenever you stand praying if you have anything against anyone forgive him that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses but if you do not forgive neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses so Jesus says in verse 25 when you stand praying which is the normal way of prayer during the day of Christ they would stand and they would pray of course there's no scriptural standard for a physical posture of prayer you can stand you can kneel you can be seated you can lay your face on the on the ground before the Lord the true posture is one of the heart and that's what Jesus would emphasize but he says this in verse 25 he says he says if you have anything against anyone forgive him that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses that's an important point in this forgive him now he spoke about faith Jesus spoke about faith now he speaks about sins sins that separates sin will always make a separation sin makes a separation between God and ourselves my sin makes a separation so that he will not hear me but it also separates me from my brother or my sister in the Lord it can separate me from people in general so he says if you have something whenever you stand praying if you have anything against anyone forgive that word forgive in the original language in the greek language means to send away it means to let go or to release it means to allow to depart that's what forgiving is it's a send away to allow to depart to release it can be used in reference to somebody who owes me something and I forgive him his debt that's why we forgive those who have sinned against us because Jesus when he taught us to pray made it made it very clear that we release them from the debt that they owe us and that's what forgiveness is so Jesus says if you have anything against anyone notice forgive him now it's interesting how he links relationships among people with answered prayer in order for his men to reach the world with the gospel forgiveness and unity would be needed and this applies to them it applies not only to them but it applies to all of us you see his apostles remember had an ongoing argument concerning the greatness in the kingdom in mark 934 it reveals that its men had had disputed amongst themselves who would be greatest in mark 1037 well that verse tells us that james and john had requested to to be seated at his right hand and left in his glory even in the night that christ was betrayed and he established the first communion service he had spoken of yielding up his body and his blood making a new covenant he went on to speak concerning a betrayer who was there even at the very table he had said they who was going the way it was determined but what are the men who betrayed him and in all of that jesus is speaking and and is sharing these things as he's he's given them a new covenant and all and then luke records uh that after he had said this an argument had broken out in luke 22 at verse 24 says there was a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest even in the midst of all of that he was teaching them establishing communion he told them the betrayer is there at the table he's going the way that is appointed to go this should have made them very sober minded but luke says no they were still arguing who's the greatest in the kingdom this constant drive for greatness was one of the most dangerous attitudes they could have it was a desire that was rooted in selfish ambition and that would undermine the message of the gospel they needed to understand the priority of dying to self and self-seeking they needed to work together as a team and when it's been argued over positions they were in danger of causing angry feelings that's what happened when james and john had asked for special positions because mark says when the 10 heard it they began to be greatly displeased with james and john so this kind of attitude would hinder and undermine the preaching of the message of the gospel the men needed to act as a team they needed to learn to work together for the greater good but unforgiveness amongst them would cause separation of fellowship and when they were divided they would no longer be concentrated on ministry and reaching the loss and their unity would have been one of the ways to demonstrate that they actually knew god john 13 34 and 35 jesus said it like this a new commandment i give to you that you love one another as i have loved you that you also love one another by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another that's how the world's going to know that we love one another that there's something here in the body of christ that matters and forgiveness does in 1st Corinthians 12 paul used the image of the church being the body of christ and he made it clear that each part has individual duties but each part is necessary he made it clear that each part of the body needs the other parts do you know that if you have an injury as as i told you last week i i i fell and uh and hurt my leg and all and you never realize how the whole body connects until you hurt one part of it then you realize that boy it's all connected it's all interconnected you may think well your toe doesn't matter but when you get up at night and it's cold and you hit your toe on that on on something the on the bed or whatever uh does your whole body just go ha too bad little toe no the whole body just reacts in a spasm wow your whole body does everything why because when little toe matters and in the body of christ each part of the body matters i don't know how to put this more clearly than that when we work well together and love one another and forgive each other of the offenses that we have committed and indeed we do it's a testimony to the world it's a testimony to the world you know sometimes churches are almost like professional church hoppers they go from one place to another one place to another looking for the perfect place because something happens here they didn't like or something happened there that they didn't like and and so they take their anger with them and they just project it on every place they go they always find something wrong with somebody else and they don't realize that we have to have grace towards one another and 1 Corinthians 12 25 Paul said that there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care for one another we had to take care of each other one part depends on the other and when one is injured the rest are affected and unforgiveness affects other parts of the body and quenches the holy spirit when when we hold angry grudges it disrupts our fellowship with the person that we're angry with it also disrupts our fellowship with God it hinders our prayer life and it can cause a division you see effective prayer always presupposes a forgiving heart this is because when you've been forgiven humility makes it easier to figure of others who am i to point a finger at you when i myself have done similar things and when we're born again we know that we're sinners saved by the grace of God and because we know who we are and what we've been we ought to have sensitivity to other people and that knowledge should produce humility as well as encourage a heart of charity in Ephesians 4 32 be kind to one another tender hearted forgiving one another even it's God and Christ forgave you and i went to a pastor friend of mine one time i was going through a struggle and as a young christian at that time a couple years old three years old in the lord or so now i was struggling with anger and all and and i went and spoke to the pastor and i said to him i'm i'm upset and and he said to me well you know and he quoted Ephesians 4 32 forgiving one another even as Christ forgots it God for Christ he forgave you and he said you know david you're you're supposed to forgive i said uh yeah he says even as God forgave you and i was so angry and bitter i said to him sure he forgives that's his job and he looked at me because that was such an angry thing and something he didn't expect to come out of my mouth but that's how bitter i was i wasn't gonna let go i wasn't gonna i was so angry i wasn't gonna let go i'm so angry you need to forgive no and then i spoke the same thing to another friend of mine who was one of my professors at biola when i was there as a young student and he said david you need to forgive and i said why he said because God wants to use you and what you're going through is something you'll hear other people have gone through and if you don't overcome this in christ you'll never help somebody to overcome it you need to let it go i wasn't ready i wasn't ready i would not let go and as a result of that for some time i began to spiritually wither inside unforgiveness actually puts you in a bondage it brings you into slavery you become a slave to that anger and it took it took a while and what set me free was the word of God the word of God as i as a reddit began to to to cleanse my evil heart and and and taught me that that i i am to forgive and and that it wasn't just me that was sinned against but there were others especially God and when i began to to realize that i let it go you have to you see when when you forgive it actually sets two people free it sets free the person who has sinned against you but it also sets you free there's that way it set me free and forgiving makes it possible for us to live and live in unity and it makes our prayer life even richer he said in verse 26 but if you don't forgive neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses when he speaks of trespasses trespasses been translated as a misstep in your walk with God if you've been forgiven then then you're going to become humble and compassionate towards other people and that's the fruit associated with appropriating forgiveness for ourselves if you desire your prayer to be answered they need to be offered in faith as well as love and if you expect fellowship with God you must also secure fellowship with people to forgive another for sinning against you makes fellowship with God possible holding anger against someone quenches the spirit and quenches the work of God and if we're unforgiving and unrepentant if we refuse to let go our prayers are hindered Psalm 66 18 says it like this if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear so on the part of a believer when we refuse to let go we stifle our walk with God and to hold a grudge reveals a heart that's not fully aware of the measure of grace every believer must seek to have a forgiving spirit and to refuse to forgive others is to invite judgment on yourself James 2 13 says judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy mercy triumphs over judgment by remembering God's gracious forgiveness for us we can pray with confidence in Psalm 4 verse 3 know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself the Lord hears when I call to him sometimes we carry bitterness and it stifles the work of the Holy Spirit sometimes we become debt collectors we think that person owes us when in fact it wasn't really only against us that we were offended or heard it was he offended she offended God himself and if God forgave how much more so should we I remember I was angry one time at somebody and I just I was just so bitter towards them and they said David they said God forgave me why can't you and that caused me some very deep soul searching they were right if God forgave them why can't I sometimes a wounded spirit is hard to heal but when you yield to the Spirit of the Lord and say God I just want to be in a right position for you work in me and so in prayer you have faith and you have love and when you have faith in God and love for him and others you can take your petition before the throne of God and you can say God be merciful to me I'm a sinner but I'm asking that you would answer this prayer and our God is able very often he does and sometimes he may not answer you exactly like you'd want him to I prayed for a long time that God would give me a young woman for my wife I prayed for several years for this one particular young woman and God said no that one's not for you and then he gave me the one that I couldn't live without he gave me my Marie all these years as a young man I had prayed for somebody oh God please I want and then one day the Lord very very graciously and kindly said to me that one is not for you this one is this one is and I have never regretted from Dave Marie and I became one in our love I have never regretted that I didn't have the other thank God the other went to somebody that she was prepared for but God prepared this one for me and so I learned a long time ago to listen for the Lord to answer in the way he wants but to make sure that my prayers are according to his will and that I learned to forgive those who have hurt me and that I trust him that he will answer and he does all of us can say how good God has been in that way God has been good to us he does answer our prayers and I thank him every day for that our father we ask that you would work in us today