“Do Not Waste Your Prayer!”

“Do Not Waste Your Prayer!”(Mk.11:24-25).
We opened the week on Sunday with the words, “…So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart”(Mt.18:21-35).
In ending the week the Lord again says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
We may call this “inclusio.” Inclusio is a biblical literary style whereby – for emphasis – a sentence, phrase or word in the opening sentence is used in the closing sentence.
I consider therefore that by closing the week with the same content as in the opening of the week is an inclusio.
God is good. He is kind. He is compassionate. God is a forgiving Father who has made up his mind to forgive us.
However, God wants us to do by others what we want him to do for us.
The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) shall be celebrating her 66th Anniversary as an autonomous indigenous Church on Sunday 12th November. Keyword for this year’s celebration is, “Rejuvenation.”
Making all things anew is to avoid lip service and be more intentional in our actions of making things new through genuine forgiveness that does not keep records of wrongs.
We should learn to write on sand when our “friends hurt us and to carve on stone when they do good to us.”
Take note we are talking about our friends – those who belong to the household of faith.
One of the touching publications by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu was titled, “No future without forgiveness.” This book was published soon after the”Truth and Reconciliation Commission” had completed their work. It was challenged by the gory, horrible and inhumane stories of apartheid atrocities.
Truth be told, there is no future without forgiveness and there is no heaven for anyone who does not forgive! God has said unless we forgive others “from the heart,” he will not also forgive us. “I forgive you” means nothing and is nothing, unless it is from the heart. And only God knows the thoughts and desires of each heart.
Dear friend, do not waste your prayer. “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” If you do not forgive, you waste prayer!
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit fill me with a forgiving spirit. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.