This talk is called Faith in the Waiting.
And you know, we talked last week about starting in that
place of prayer. And this is for anyone who's
praying. Maybe you're fasting and praying
at the moment. Maybe you're waiting and
declaring however it is. You approach that place of
prayer, you come with a lot of expectation.
You are waiting for something to happen and you've been praying
for years, maybe months or however long it is.
And you've been yearning for God to fulfil what it is you think
he's laid on your heart and yet nothing's happened.
You're still waiting and you're still trying to explain to
people, I really feel like God's coming through on this and
you're still waiting in that place.
And frankly, you've got to the point now where you're not
entirely sure if that's going to happen.
You know, maybe you're one of those people who has a
conversation with God and reflective and maybe you're
saying God, are you really going to answer this prayer?
Did you say it to me? You know, am I praying it wrong?
Is it how I'm praying? Do I need to be more religious?
Do I need to use more scripture doing I need to approach this
slightly differently? Did I miss out?
Did you actually give me the answer and I absolutely missed
what you were trying to give me? Or maybe, and this is for me
sometimes, maybe I'm being greedy and maybe I'm asking for
too much. Maybe actually what God has for
me is a much longer story and a longer journey and maybe I'm
just being greedy and this is not what God has in store for
me. Maybe others need him more than
I do. If that resonates with you.
This is this is the talk for you because it's from me basically.
You know, my question is, have you been praying for that job,
that relationship, that healing, that help?
But so far, nothing. I know that feeling so
incredibly well. I mean, it was 12 years ago when
when we were in a an incredibly difficult situation where as a
family we had a one year old and a newborn and we were living in
a small flat, one bedroom flat. And we knew we needed to go big.
We just didn't have the finances.
And then things got worse. One of our neighbors who were
brought to church and engaged, unfortunately relapsed into
alcohol. And unfortunately when he when
he was not drunk, he was an amazing, really kind, genuine
guy. But after a drink, he turned
quite aggressive and violent and started banging on the door of
our house. I was out at the time, my wife
was there and, and was threatening, absolutely
aggressively threatening her. She called the police and they
basically said, look, the safest thing for you to do is to move
out. And they said we could try and
find you some temporary accommodation, but if you move
out within 48 hours, we can do something about this.
And it was a horrible situation. And effectively we're homeless
for six months or so and we're living in temporary
accommodation, which thank God, not everyone gets to that to, to
have that provision. But I remember praying all the
time as a as a father and as a husband going, I really need to
support my family. And I don't have the means and I
don't know what's going to happen.
And I remember someone coming up to me and saying, Oh, God uses
all things for the good of those who loving them.
And I'm like, yeah, but not me. Maybe I don't know, maybe that's
someone else. But I just, I'm not sure if I, I
want to believe that I believe scripture, but I'm struggling to
believe that in my own life. And I remember just being really
stuck and struggling as to what to do.
And I just thought, well, just do what's in front of me.
So I carried on whatever it was I was doing.
I remember going one evening and preaching at the university when
I got invited because I looked younger and, and I remember
coming back from there just saying, well, it's good to serve
God in this place. Whatever happens in our lives,
it's good to serve God. And I remember coming home and
my wife said, look, I've, I've got something to say, said, how
are you? And I was like, what is it?
She goes, I've got this text message from a friend that I
bumped in today into today. And I said OK, and she goes,
it's, you know, I was telling her about our situation.
And this friend replied saying that it's really horrible.
I've had a chat with my husband and, you know, it's a difficult
situation you're in. But I don't know if it's, it's
rude of me to offer. But we have a spare house in
Saint Albans if you're interested.
What does anyone else in here have a spare house in Saint
Albans? And it wasn't just a spare
house, it was a house on one of the most prestigious parts of
Saint Albans, a 16th century cottage terrace with a river in
the back garden back in onto the park.
It was a dream, it was phenomenal and it was way beyond
anything we could have mustered up in our own strength and
belief. And we knew even then we're
still thinking about money, but even then we knew it was God and
we've been able to live there for 12 years and it's been an
absolute gift. And not only that, they have
holiday homes in various parts of the world, which we get to
take advantage of. I mean, it's way like God always
outgives what you can do in your own strength.
But I remember in that place of brain and just having almost
what I felt was no faith, but I couldn't do anything else than
just rely on God because I didn't have the means.
And it was in that place that I remember just holding on and
saying, I have nothing else but you, God.
And it was in that moment, when I look back 12 years ago, I go,
wow, God, you moved in a mighty miraculous way.
And so I approached kind of today with this mixed feeling of
I know God can do it. I know he can move, but also
it's really hard in that waiting place.
And my question for you is, what do you do while you're waiting,
while you're waiting for God to answer your prayer in that
situation? The people in Jesus time were
kind of in this interesting place.
They were ruled by Romans. They had no true freedom, they
had no true identity, they had no true hope of anything
improving. But they had been praying and
waiting for a Saviour for a long time.
They had in mind what salvation would look like.
It would be big, it would be bold, it would be audacious.
It would be unstoppable once God turns up and does his thing.
A miraculous delivery from the situation they were in.
And then along came Jesus, and some knew he was the one.
Straight away many struggled to see it.
They couldn't grasp that this was their Saviour.
But everyone saw something about him.
And then one day, just as promised, he rides into
Jerusalem and everyone is shouting out He's our King, He's
our saviour. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.
The crowds came out to worship him.
Salvation, they cried. Here he comes, here it comes.
Everything we've been waiting for, everything we've been
praying for, and then nothing. Disappointment.
The next day, or that evening actually, Jesus wandered out of
the city and his disciples were left feeling like nothing had
changed. Imagine their questions.
Did I miss it? Did we miss what was going on?
Did I get it wrong? Was this?
Is this the wrong thing to rely on?
Is this the wrong thing to depend on?
Does God actually even care about us as a people?
Maybe he cares about those next door, maybe cares about the
Romans, but doesn't even care about us.
Once again, they're back waiting for that answer to prayer.
Without doubt, the waiting part is the hardest part of prayer.
It is the hardest part of praying.
There's a lot of work that goes into praying, but while you're
waiting for that answer, that's tough.
And you can come to church, you can engage in worship and you
can feel that anything is possible.
And how could you not after the kind of incredible worship we
have in this place? And then you hear about God's
prayers being answered for other people and you're happy for them
genuinely. But somewhere inside you're
going, what about me? And he's, you know, people keep
telling you he's going to act just like he did in my life.
He'll act in yours. But you're still waiting.
In fact, when intentioned words of encouragement along the way
can be just as hard to hear in that place.
But they're almost the most important thing to hear.
They're the ones, they're the things that keep us going
instead of giving up. And So what we're going to do
today is we're literally just going to look at the words that
Jesus shared with his disciples in that place and we're going to
have up on the screen. But if you want to follow this
in your Bible, say Mark, sorry, Mark 11.
I was at a Nigerian wedding yesterday for 12 hours and
everything was really loud. So I've slightly lost my voice,
but you're going to have to bear with me.
Maybe just read the passage and ask God to speak to you through
it. The next morning the disciples
spoke to Jesus about all that they were seeing and not seeing,
and Jesus answered, Have faith in God.
Now, some of you and I won't look at anyone in particular or
call names, but you know who you are.
Some of you have a lot of faith, a lot of faith and you can't
help but to dream and big and have big expectations of God and
these words are all you need to get you going.
Have faith in God. Of course, that's I've lost
track. I just need to have faith in God
and you're ready to go. You.
That's all you need to be reminded.
And I'm telling you, you are the people we need in this church.
You are the people we need on team.
You are the people that we need leading groups.
You are the team. You're the people that we need
praying because you have been given an absolutely incredible
gift of belief that God can do absolutely anything.
When I hear faith, unfortunately, it's a bit of a
mixed bag. I know it's true.
I know that God is capable of doing anything.
I know and have seen him do the miraculous, but also God, would
you give me some notes? Would you, you know, maybe some
direction, maybe, maybe a hint, something, just something I can
grab hold of in this place? You see, the mistake that I make
is thinking that God or people reminding me are just basically
trying to fob me off and like, it's like someone coming up to
you and saying, look, I, I honestly have no idea how this
is going to work out. But hey, why don't we just wait
and see what happens? And that's easy for others to
say, but I'm the one that has to do the waiting.
But that's not what God is saying when he says, hey, have
faith in me. When Jesus was saying have faith
in God, he's saying relax, don't worry.
Trust me, I have got this. I know what I'm doing.
I've already sorted it. My my kids are go to school and
you have to sort out their lunch in advance and pay for it and
and choose it and everything else.
And one of my daughter's sometimes she has a bit of
anxiety and she came up to me one morning and she was Dad,
have have you sorted my lunch? I said, yeah, I've absolutely
sorted. It's in good hands.
Don't worry. She goes.
Yeah, but really, have you sorted it?
I'd. I'd need to know that you've
sorted it. Look, darling, I've, I've
definitely sorted it. It's it's all good.
I've done it. I did it yesterday.
I know what I'm doing. But Dad, I'm going to have to go
to school this morning. I'm going to have to work my way
through the day. And I don't know if I'm going to
get to lunch, but if I'm going to get lunch when I sit down for
lunch. OK, listen, I've sorted it.
It's absolutely fine. Go in peace.
Trust me. And this is what God is saying.
I've got this, I want you to enjoy your morning, I want you
to enjoy your day, I want you to enjoy your life knowing that I
have sorted this. Have fun with your friends,
don't miss out. Be in the moment and when it
gets to it, you will see that I have provided for you, you will
see that I have sorted it. Go in peace and when God says
have faith in me, he's saying would you live your day?
Would you live your life as if lunch is already sorted?
Would you live with expectation that I've already done it?
You can ask me a million times and the answer's always going to
be the same thing, which is why you just need to trust me in
this. And when that time comes, you
will see that it's not the issue that is the problem.
It's just it's looking at who's telling you that means it will
be OK. Look, I know you guys know this,
and it's a wonderful phrase, but it is not about having great
faith. It is about having faith in a
great God and that's where we're at.
And then if that's the case, then why do we need to pray?
We're just, you know, pray once and leave it and I'll tell you
why we need to pray and God will go.
Jesus will go on and share this because there are other things
that God is trying to show us in that waiting place.
The next thing he says, verse 23 is truly, I tell you, if anyone
says to this mountain go throw yourself into the sea and does
not doubt in their hearts, but believes what they say will
happen, it will be done for them.
Quick poll, has anyone said to a mountain move and it's moved.
OK, maybe I'll try the 11:30 service.
And maybe they're more of a it sounds incredible, right?
It sounds wonderful. But the number one rule for
understanding Scripture is context, absolute context,
context, context. You see, before this, a couple
of stories happened. Jesus comes, is walking towards
Jerusalem with his disciples and he comes across this fig tree
and you may remember the story, you may know the story.
If not, you can look up the story.
And it's an interesting story. He comes across this freak tree.
There's no figs on it, but it's got lots of leaves.
And he goes up to it and his disciples like, oh, what's he
doing? And he curses it in front of
them and they're like, that's a bit harsh.
And then he goes from there and goes into the temple, makes us
stand froze over those tables, has a go at the merchants, gets
angry almost at what's going on. And then it comes back out of
the city and then goes up to this fig tree.
And the disophers are like, Oh my gosh, that fig tree cursed
has literally withered and died. What's going on?
And there's these stories come together.
I've learned a new word for you guys.
This whole section is called an intercalation.
I learned that just for you, intercalation basically means
sandwiched story. And what it's saying is there's
two stories going on here. And in the middle is what's
happening. But on the outside, is God
trying to teach us something Jesus is trying to teach us.
It's trying to give us a symbolic understanding of what's
going on. You see, in the temple, Jesus
did this. Well, I'll just skip that back.
The fig tree was symbolic to show in that something may look
good on the outside. It may look wonderful on the
outside, but if it's not bearing fruit, it's in the way.
It's an obstacle and what God is doing and what God is alluding
to is he's saying I'm going to come back and I'm going to
destroy this obstacle. Now the weird thing is in the
middle, he goes to the temple and he says to this like he
froze. Everything goes on and says this
has become a den of robbers. This is supposed to be a a House
of prayer for God. This is supposed to look good.
It does look good for other people, but it's not doing what
it's supposed to be doing. And Jesus uses that fig tree
story as a way of intercalation, as a way of explaining what God
is doing. It may look great on the
outside, but if it's not doing what it's called to do, then
it's getting in my way. It's an obstacle.
And when Jesus says he's going to move and mount him, he's
saying if you say to that obstacle to get out of the way,
that thing that's in the way of God's promises, of God's
blessing, of God's miracle, it will go because that's who you
are, sons and daughters of God who have the power to move those
obstacles out of the way of God's blessings.
No matter how good it looks or how long it's been there or what
purpose it's serving, it will move because you tell it to
move. God will not be stopped, He will
not be hindered, He will not be getting in the way of, and He's
calling for you not to call down His blessings, but to move those
obstacles out of the way of God's blessings.
Isaiah 40 kind of brings us all together.
Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a
highway for God. Every valley should be raised,
every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground become
level, the rugged places plain, and the glory of the Lord will
be revealed. Move those mountains.
Essentially Jesus is saying, command that obstacle, that
thing to move because it's in the way of a miracle.
If there's something that's stopping that miracle from
reaching you, if that prayer is not getting answered, maybe
there's an obstacle in the way and God's saying, I'm pouring it
out, I've got it ready for you, but get something out of the
way. You see, this is how we pray in
in many ways for healing and deliverance in this church.
We don't plead with God saying please God, heal this person.
Please God, make this a better place.
Please God, would you do this? Nor do we negotiate.
We're not saying God, if you do this for me and then I'll do
this for you. And you know, and looking at our
eyes guns in a way like and nor do we need to convince God to
pay attention and do something. See, we don't position.
We don't beg because we're not slaves.
We stand as children of God, holy, anointed, beloved sons and
daughters, invited into His presence simply to ask our
Heavenly Father to move that obstacle out of the way so His
blessing can flow. We took a team to India many
years ago and it was wonderful. There was lots of things.
I'd just come out of a bike accident.
I really had no strength and energy to do so.
I probably shouldn't have gone on the mission trip to be fair,
but but I went and we had fun. And I remember we we saw so many
healings and so many salvations and God was utterly on the move
through these people that have really never in many ways never
prayed before. But remember towards the end
that after being filled with excitement and expectation of
what God was doing, we all sat down to this meal, which was
presented before us. And, and the lady, one of the
ladies that was presenting would present really wonderfully.
And we said, well, why? Why aren't you only using one
arm? She goes, oh, this one's
paralyzed, but it's OK, you know, I can carry on serving
you. And we with the team, bless him.
They turned around and said, well, that's not right.
That's, that's getting in the way of what you're doing.
So they said, well, can we pray for you?
And she goes, well, I mean, it's been paralyzed for a long time,
but OK. And so they prayed.
And after a few moments, her fingers started to move.
And after a few more moments, her hands started to move.
And after a few more moments, her arm was swinging around.
Before they'd even finished praying, she was jumping up and
down and dancing and moving all over the place.
And then she went back in the kitchen and served us with two
hands. Everyone got blessed that day.
It was good. What is in the way of your
blessing? What is in the way of what God
wants to do in your life? That's the question.
Sometimes it's not God will you do this?
He wants to do it. He wants to bless you.
He wants to give you what he has in store for you.
He loves you, but something is in the way.
Move it. Let's think of this just a
little bit deeper. Faith is to say I belong to him
and and he goes on repeat this verse.
It does not doubt in their heart, but believes that God I'm
sorry, believes that that what they say will happen and it will
be done for them. I said God's heart is to bless,
His default is to give. His desire is to pour out an
abundance. The problem is never with God.
And He wants to remind you that you are his child and He is your
Father and He gives good gifts to his children.
And this is one of there's just many more to come.
And if you doubt that, it's either because you doubt His
love and His ability or you doubt your access to it.
And this is not a condemnation. This is a a request that you
would if you were in that place of doubt.
And I know that all too familiar.
That's the question. Do you doubt his love for you or
do you doubt your access to this?
Because both of those are under overwhelmingly challenged in
scripture and challenged by God. And maybe this week is the time
to remind yourself of how much God loves you as you open
scriptures you worship and you realise He does all this for
you. Or maybe it's time to remind
yourself of the access when you worship.
We go into God's presence with our heads held high, and we must
have learned to approach God as He invites us.
We don't crawl on the floor and hope that He won't kill us on
the way. We walk in heads up, confident,
aware that He has called us and that we were invited to sit with
Him. Many of us need to rediscover
who we are. And as we come into God's
presence, many of us need to discover God's invitation that
we are not an impostor and be honest with Him.
Father, do you really care about who I am?
And I promise his answer will be yes.
Look at the cross. Why would I go through so much
action? Why would I demonstrate that it
was such visceral, like pain? How much I loved you if I didn't
care about you? What about the things I've done?
I really do care. Look at the cross.
See, on the cross is where every sin you've ever done or doing or
will do has been hung, paid for, and dealt with in the name of
Jesus once and forever. About my thoughts, I mean,
they're not always holy again. Eyes glancing.
I still want to bless you. Just look at the cross.
See, I knew what you were doing. I knew where your life was at,
and I still did this for you. I'm beckoning you.
I'm drawing you. I'm inviting you to come and be
with me. Jesus showed His love in action,
and then on the cross, He tore down the greatest obstacle
between you and Him, sin itself. Now you have unlimited,
unapologetic and unbelievable access to the Kingdom of God and
the King Himself and so go to the Father and ask what you need
and command those obstacles to get out of the way.
And I will just use this as a moment to plug Kareem's Bible
study is doing it. Equip from this Tuesday is
centering around identity. And if I have those questions
trouble you, bother you and you don't know the answer to them.
Come along to that. See what the Bible says to it
and give that space to dig into it.
The next thing faith is to say I surrender.
All of that's the good stuff. That's all wonderful, but we
can't just skip over the bit that Jesus was trying to make
the point with the fig tree in the temple.
See, sometimes, just sometimes, that thing that needs to remove,
be removed, looks good, feels good, it's nice to have in your
life and it's been there for a long time.
Surely God won't be asking me to give up that.
It's not really anything to do with my faith shortly.
It could have been part of our lives for a long time and could
be good memories. But for me it was like, I love
this place that we were living in and yet I was forced into
that place of homelessness so that God could give us the
absolute best he had in store for us.
Maybe you've just lost a job and you're rattling and wrestling
with what that means. Maybe God is moving you so he
could put you in a better place because frankly, you weren't
going to leave yourself. The temple.
The temple was everything God had ordained for his people was
the absolute pinnacle of what God's people was the last thing
they could cling hold of as their identity.
They did not imagine that going nothing could possibly remove
that temple that was going to stand forever because that was
God's promise and God was saying it's kid in the way.
I have more for you. You willing to let go of it
because it's become a limitary. It's become an obstacle for what
I want to do so let's ask bold prayers, but remember that
prayer is two way and maybe as we seek God's voice.
It's asking us to let go of things and trust his plan as
just as Jesus said in the garden of the gifts so many Father,
everything is possible for you, but your will be done, not mine.
You know, many of us have been faithfully and wonderfully
praying for this church, for for it to grow and for us to be part
of a move of the Spirit that would long change the face of
this nation. A great prayer, a bold prayer.
But what we didn't anticipate in the process of that was big
changes, uncomfortable changes. And we thought certain people
were going to be here forever were called on.
You know, Mark was an absolute gift to this church and he
brought in his gifts to build and pioneer to this church to
what it is today. But God said thankfully to him
and to others, you have been wonderful, but it's time for a
new thing. It's time to move out the way so
we can hit the next chapter of this story.
And Chuck and town will bring different gifts and new gifts.
And we trust in God that this new appointment will move us
forward as a church to what God actually has in store for us.
And thankfully, as I said, both of them heard from God before we
did. So it's not on us, it's on them.
And we can and we can, we can thank God for them, but it's any
removal of obstacle is attached to a promise.
And if God is moving, it's because his glory will be
revealed moving on the next. Therefore, I tell you verse 24,
whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received
and it will be yours. This is a wonderful story of a
missionary. I can't remember which nation
they were in and they they were in this kind of village that was
absolutely struggling with drought.
All the crops had died and everything was fading.
People were going, well, you're a God man, you know, you're,
you're a person who knows this God who can do all these
miracles. Well, tell us where to God now.
And so he called all the people they could and said, come, we're
going to pray, we're going to fast, we're going to petition.
We're going to be in this place where we're saying, God, you, we
know that you want to bless us. Would you move amongst us?
Would you do something? And so he gathered all these
people and lots of people from the village came and they all
prayed faithfully. But one thing caught his eye and
it wasn't their amazing prayers. It wasn't the people that had
been fasting and looking like they're doing a great job.
It wasn't the the wonderful sound that was emanating from
her. It was a little child in the
back that was holding an umbrella because they were
praying for rain and everyone was praying for rain.
But the difference was she was expecting it.
She brought her umbrella because she knew that if they were going
to ask for rain, it was going to come.
I said hold it. There is something incredible
about that. Everyone can want it, but she
prepared for it. If you pray for rain, bring an
umbrella. Are we expecting as a church?
Are you expecting for that prayer to be answered?
Are we expecting for God's glory to be revealed?
Do you want to see sick people healed?
Have you tried praying for them? Because that that's a good way
to get sick people held. And if you don't know how to
pray for the sick, if you've never done it before, come to
introductions start on this Tuesday and we'll teach you how
to pray. But if you want to see sick
people held, pray for more people.
I mean, John Wimber, who started there, said, you know, after
someone came back after praying for 1015 people and they said we
didn't see anything. And he goes, well, go and pray
for 1000 people. Then tell me all the stories
that you heard along the way. We've got to move.
We've got to expect. We've got to move in this place
and bring them an umbrella. Are you expecting God to bring
people into this church who have no knowledge of Jesus and no
expectation of what church is? Can I ask in that turn, in
greet, did you look for someone who you've never seen before and
think maybe they're here for the very first time?
Maybe they've never stepped foot in a church and what they needed
was someone friendly to come over to them and tell them
everything they needed to know to start and to feel welcome in
this place. I wouldn't ask for a share of
hands. Are you expecting a new job?
Have you started to wind up your projects?
Have you started to plan to finish well, to leave well, to
make sure that you're not burdened anyone?
You prepared your handover for this?
Are you expecting to meet someone?
Have you thought about getting out your pyjamas at night and
stop watching Netflix and go and hang around with a friend who
might know some people? When you pray, bring an
umbrella. When you pray, come with
expectation. When you pray, come prepared.
Keep pressing in, keep pressing on is the name of this series.
And if we're not demonstrating it, then where's where's our
expectation in this place? I came back from preaching at
the university because I was just, I couldn't do it in my own
strength. And I was praying that God would
fulfill it. And I just carried on doing what
God was asking me to do. And God provided just because
his answer doesn't come immediately.
Keep moving. And I come to you today, not a
request. I'm I'm, I'm praying for this
myself. But we're, we're actually come
to the end of that tendency now and God has done an amazing
thing. But now we're kind of back in
the same situation. And I remember coming to the
leaders meeting going, I have no idea the answer to this prayer.
And I'd taken my kids to McDonald's beforehand because
that's the kind of father I am and that's the, my level of
cooking skills. And they've got those peeling
things at the moment. And I came back and it was great
leaders meeting, absolutely fantastic.
And, and I remember getting home and peeling off those things
because there's a small addiction and, and one of them
said, you've won £50. I've never seen that 50 lbs
winning was an option. But you know what?
It reminded me of this story when my prayers feel lost, when
I feel lost, it's those little reminders that remind me that
God is faithful. And it was a small deposit of
saying, God, I get it, you're on the move, You're blessing me.
I just need to, I just need to trust you.
The lunch is provided. I just need to walk as if I'm
expecting I'm going to bring an umbrella to this party because I
know that God is on the move. Say God provides us, we on the
move as we're on the move. So when you keep praying, keep
moving. Abraham didn't wait for
provision as he walked up the mountain with Isaac.
It was only when he got to the top did he find the provision
and find that alternative. Noah didn't wait for the floods
to come before he built the ark. Moses didn't wait for a path as
he approached the Red Sea. He stepped in and it opened for
him. John the Baptist didn't wait for
the Messiah to come before he made a way.
The disciples didn't wait for Jesus to multiply the bread in
the fish before they handed it out and saw God do a miracle.
And Jesus didn't wait for you to beg for forgiveness before he
died for you on the cross. Your salvation, your provision,
your answer to prayer is already in the works.
Keep moving, keep pressing in, and keep pressing on.
I would love to finish there because it's quite nice little
touch, but Jesus doesn't finish there, so I probably shouldn't
either. And it goes on to this what
feels like an utterly random thing to throw in.
And it was always like, oh, don't forget this, but it has so
much significance. And he goes on in verse 25 and
says this. And when you stand praying, if
you hold anything against anyone, forgive them that your
Father in heaven may forgive your sins.
We just saw that sin has been dealt with on the cross.
So what is Jesus saying here? Your sin is dealt with.
Sin is done. This is not us tripping up and
saying, Oh my gosh, we're not good enough.
We're not going to make it. God is clearly trying to say
something else here, and he's saying this.
The biggest obstacle to pray for sometimes is yourself.
It's me, it's you, it's us, the disciples.
They saw forgiveness as a faith issue.
They saw forgiven others as possible only with the help of
the God who had forgiven them. See, this is about grudges.
This is about holding on to some pain that someone else has
caused. You see, grudges breakdown
relationships. And what God is saying is, if
you are willing to hold on to that grudge for someone else,
then you don't understand how much I have forgiven you.
And if you don't know how much has forgiven you, then you don't
really know how much He loves you.
And if you don't know how much He loves you, how could you
possibly trust Him? Do you resent someone?
Perhaps they're living the life that you think that belongs to
you. Perhaps they took something that
you think belongs to you. Perhaps they just remind you of
what God once promised or what you felt was happening and is
not your life. They remind you of what you
don't have and you've developed this anger, this grudge, this
bitterness, and God is saying forgive them, let them go
because that grudge is breaking down a relationship.
It's not about them. It's never been about them.
The problem is, is you don't trust that God will come through
for you. You're hiding behind blame.
You're covering up your shame with bitterness, and you're
becoming your very own obstacle between you and God and what He
wants to give you. So if you hold anything against
anybody, forgive them, release them, ask for help, get other
people to pray with you, Confess it to them that your sins may be
forgiven. There's some kind of bitterness,
some kind of grudge, Then maybe that's the problem and you're in
the way of that place. Let your Father show you how
much He's forgiven you, how much He loves you, and as a result,
how much you can truly, truly trust Him.