Prayer
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PRAY
Given that we’re considering the idea of prayer today
If you were attending GC 18months ago, you’ll remember we were preparing getting ready to launch our afternoon 4.30 service.
And we had a number of gatherings as a church in our new congregations, were we thought about and prayed about the new service.
They were called weird things like,
Pot-luck, Ponder and Pray,
Or Bonding and BBQ.
And many of you have upped your serving commitments at church to make the second service happen.
And I trust we are all grateful to each other for that.
For both services have now continued for over a year, with some growth.
I hope you were exciting if you were here on Christmas day to see some having to sit on the stage to fit us all in.
Or encouraged by the whole church BBQ’s in the summer, were you’ll have caught up woth friends form the other servcei, and seen people around you probably had never met!
And then last January, we launched our new church vision statement,
Following Jesus Together - Passionately, Courageously and Increasingly.
If you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus - then I trust you are on the whole encouraged by doing it ‘together’.
That is what the NT calls us to do, to follow Jesus together.
And perhaps if you haven’t enjoyed, or arent enjoying the ‘togetherness’ of our church, well then todays passage is going to help us.
We had a series of BS looking at the vision statement and it’s biblical basis.
And i asked for feedback from them to help us to better ‘Follow Jesus Togeteher - passionatly, ccourageously and increasingly.
WE had all sorts or helpful ideas.
Things such as thinking through how we can help each other improve our motivation for serving on rotas, as it is hard sometimes (always) to stwered, be in the band, serve refreshment, teach or help in Sunday School, welcome, read, pray, lead, PA, Powerpoint, and so on.
And we want to do that with an atitude of joy to serve Jesus, rather than regret for ever agreeing to be on the rota.
So we now have the doodle poll to help relieve the burden of swaps or over commitment. We do try and listen and keep an eye out for those who are over burdened.
It’s not perfect, and it’s never going to be easy, service is supposed to be sacrificial, but together, we can keep moving forward a s a church.
But one of the biggest thins that came up from all that feedback and the alunch of the new service, was wanting to get real, practical encourageamnet amoung us into our services.
So we are encouraged in our own faiths, so we know what to pray for each other, so we know what we could be praying for ourselevse.
So some of the things we’re going to try and put more of into our services is an oppertunity to hear from each other occaiasionally.
That’s why Sarah was interviewed earlier.
Real and normal people sharing real and normal life as a Christian.
And part of imporving our fellowship is to be able to pray more and communicate more as a church.
So, here are some practical things we’re introducing today.
There is now this feedback and prayer box for you to put anything you would like prayer, or you want to feedback about the service or sermon, or questions you have. There is a slip on the service sheet that you can tear of and put something in here if that’s helpful.
And we are also launching a new prayer email address today.
So you can share requests and praises.
Not just for emergencies,
but also perhaps you’re wantingto hsare the gospel with a family memeber this week and you’d like prayer, or perhaps you’re starting a new job and you’d like to start well and somehow let them know you’re a Christian early on.
Whatever it might be.
We can then make sure we’re praying for each other using these emails perhaps at prayer meetings or even on Sunday at church. So we start really engaging with each other’s lives.
And all this got me thinking about what we ought be thinkning about today as we begin another year ‘togeteher’.
And prayer seems like an obvious place to start. But prayer in the bible is typically always paired with another idea or topic in the bible.
In for example it was heavily tied with evangelism.
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Given that we’re considering the idea of prayer today
Which also seems appropriate for us as we embark on a year of really trying to become family.
Becasue with family comes conflict and upset, so forgiveness seems like a good option to twin with prayer today.
What a great passage to look at today.
it seems appropriate we look at a passage that helps us with just that.
In , The Lord Jesus himself teaches his disciples,
and therefore by extension, teaches his church, his people, us: to pray.
But it’s a challenging passage to.
But we’re not going to spend the majority of our time in the actual prayer, but more aournd the principles that Jesus gives for the ways we should pray, or rather the ways we shouldn’t pray, and the actions or attitude that needs to go along side prayer.
Not one to take lightly,
We’re going to mainly look at the 3 principles around the prayer that Jesus gives us.
Prayer and Forgiveness
1 - The Error of Selfish Prayers
1 - The Error of Selfish Prayers
2 - The Error of Babbling Prayers
2 - The Error of Babbling Prayers
1 - Self-Glorifying or God-Glorifying
1 - Self-Glorifying or God-Glorifying
3 - The Error of Unforgiveness
3 - The Error of Unforgiveness
4 - The Beauty of God Focus ‘Prayer and forgiveness’
4 - The Beauty of God Focus ‘Prayer and forgiveness’
2 - Self-Trusting or God-Trusting
2 - Self-Trusting or God-Trusting
3 - Unforgiving or Forgiving
3 - Unforgiving or Forgiving
1 - Self-Glorifying or God-Glorifying
1 - Self-Glorifying or God-Glorifying
We join Jesus as he is preaching to his Disciples on a mountain top according to 5v1.
It’s part of what is famously known as the Sermon on the mount.
And we also learn from 5v1 that Jesus is addressing his disciples.
. He wants them to know what the life of a Jesus Follower looks like.
But we also know there were great crowds following Jesus and the disciples.
So we have here a sermon,
addressed to Jesus Followers,
but that many other’s a listening in.
And he spends much of his time explaining how ultimately,
when it comes to faith and obedience to God,
it is what is in our hearts that counts,
not what we look like to others.
And so it is with prayer.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
mat 6 5
The Error of Babbling Prayers
The Error of Unforgiveness
The Beauty of God Focus ‘Prayer and forgiveness’
The error of the hypocrite is selfishness.
Even in his prayers, the hypocrite is obsessed with his own self-image
and how he looks in the eyes of those around him or her.
Now remember as we read this, there are 2 things going on.
1 - Jesus is clearly condemning the hypocrite,
who is not actually saved at all.
They aren’t Jesus followers.
That’s why Jesus says, they have received their reward in full.
The praise of those who respect and look up to them now,
who think they’re amazing.
That’s all the praise they’ll ever get.
They wont get any from God.
But remember, Jesus isn’t directly addressing hypocrites, they might be in the crowd listening in,
So, secondly, Jesus is addressing Jesus followers and giving them a warning,
not to be tempted to do the same.
In other words depending on whether you are a hypocrite or a Jesus follower,
with depend on what you do with this verse.
The hypocrite, and there may be some here today,
simply prays to look good,
but isn’t actually interested in pleasing God, but only in pleasing themself!
And the message here is, you need to find Jesus,
and follow him in your heart - and then pray!
You’re receiving all the reward you’ll ever get if you’re living for man.
But more likely, most here are in the second category.
We are Jesus followers,
and so we are being warned not to pray like those who only pray publicly to look good.
Our heart may be good, and desiring to please God,
but we do face the temptation to please man as well.
And now there’s a challenge to us all.
Did my prayer at home group,
at prayer meeting,
from the front of church,
did it make me look good!
Did I sound holy,
did I use holy words,
and dramatic pauses.
If you’re like me, then you’ll be thinking all those things and more every-time you pray in front of others.
And Jesus says you’re asking the wrong questions!
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
We are praying to please God, not man.
Now obviously Jesus is not meaning we are never to pray publicly with each other.
There are plenty of NT examples and encouragements to pray in groups.
His point is, about the why are you praying.
Is it for man, or for God.
Of course when I pray in public I need to think carefully about my words,
and make sense,
Jesus is inhe point here is more about our prayer life.
mat 6 9
2 - The Error of Babbling Prayers
2 - The Error of Babbling Prayers
mat 6 11-
But not so people think I’m great,
but so that they think God is great and they rejoice in Him not me.
Am I praying to please God should be the only question in our heads.
It’s the heart that counts.
So why does he tell us to pray in secret?
Well, Jesus is not really laying down rules about when and where and with whom we should pray,
The point here is more about our general prayer life.
And our prayer life should be done significantly more in secret that in public.
If the only time you pray is at prayer meeting, or home group or at church, we need to heed this warning.
It would be odd wouldn’t it,
if the only,
or biggest proportion of the time you spent speaking to your earthly father or your spouse,
or your children,
was in public contexts.
And it would be even more odd if you only ever spoke to them in public so that others thought your were a great person.
No, you would majorititvly speak to them in person,
and on the occasion you were in a public context or group discussion,
you would still hopefully be more interested in them, than everyone else.
It’s what is in our hearts, what is said secretly to our loving Father that counts.
For that shows Him, who we really care about!
God, or ourselves!
will really be rewarded with more intimate and joyful fellowship both now and eternally.
Don’t brag about your prayer life,
don’t only pray publicly
- learn to pray in secret, behind closed doors, in the depth of your heart.
Pray Pray pray to your father..
For his reward is eternal and glorious!
Then, when you pray with your children, or at church or in a group,
It’s simply a small aside from the gerat chasm of prayer
that you have already enveloped your life into secretly with your Father.
Then the temptation to sound or look good is gone,
for you are so used to speaking to your Father secretly,
that you aren’t tempted to use it hypocritically.
And look at the wonderful antidote that we’re offered to self-centred prayer.
In The Lord’s Prayer we are obsessed with God
—with his name, his kingdom and his will, not with ours.
True Christian prayer is to have a preoccupation with God and his glory. - not ours.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Pray God glorifying prayers, not self-glorifying prayers
Here is the second warning that Jesus gives his Followers in prayers.
2 - Self-Trusting or God-Trusting
2 - Self-Trusting or God-Trusting
v7
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Many, many people in this world pray.
But the prayer of those,
at that the time of Jesus’ sermon,
who weren’t believers and follower of Jesus, were just babbling.
Lots and lots of words,
lots and lots of requests,
lots and lots of begging,
or nagging,
or anything,
as long as they thought it would help them.
Prayer that are entirely based on what they thought they needed,
and what they thought God needed convincing of,
or reminded,
or encouraged to provide.
They trusted themselves alone.
Much like a child might persist in asking for sweets or not to eat broccoli.
But as a parent we know better.
Our wisdom far outstrips theirs.
We know what they need,
we know what they don’t need but want,
we know what is best before they even ask,
or ask incorrectly!
And so it is with God our Father.
We need not impress,
or persuade or convince our loving heavenly father of what we need
with a barrage of words and babbling.
He knows,
His wisdom far outstrips ours,
and the true Christian prayer delights to trust that He knows what is best for us,
and that we may well not!
So look how simple Jesus makes our prayer requests.
We’ve see how the first half of the Lord’s prayer focuses us entirely on the glory of God and his purposes being fulfilled.
And now we get to the part were we ask for our own needs,
and it’s simple.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
Asking for daily bread in the symbolic sense, not literal.
Father give me all I need for life.
Enough food and drink,
good weather for by crops,
love for my family,
money to pay the bills
good Health,
a roof over my head,
But I’m trusting you Lord God to provide.
Don’t give me what I want, give me what you already know I need!
What a fantasticly reasurring undertsanding of prayer
and our relationship with God.
He already knows what we need,
before we ask,
simply trust he’ll provide what’s best for us and ask him to provide that.
At times of course we may not get what we think we need.
We may get ill, or loose our home, or run into debt.
But we know God is still for us.
He is still on our side.
Perhaps we’re learning a more important lesson,
perhaps he’s calling us home sooner through ilness,
perhaps we need to trust him more with life, so we face trials,
But we dont need to stat babbling and dictating our needs to God.
We need to ask him to provide what he knows is best for.
Give me my daily bread, so that I trust you more Lord.
Let’s pray God-trusting prayers not self-trusting prayers.
And the final warning given around the Lord’s prayer is this about forgiveness.
3 - Unforgiving or Forgiving
3 - Unforgiving or Forgiving
1 - daily bread
2 - forgiveness
3 - strength to stand against temptation.
V12 and the following explantion in v14 and 15 are quiet extraordianry.
So when he says ask for forgiveness, as we forgive others he is not talking about our initial salvation forgiveness.
Where we first repent for we know we fall short of the loveing Father’s standards, and so we find forgiveness in trusting in and following Jesus.
Jesus who died in our place on the cross.
Jesus who gives us his right realtionship with God in exchange for our broken one.
But as we continue in our journey as Christians, we are to continue to ask for forgiveness.
We pray it all the time,
We are saved, eternally, fully and finally,
but have really stopped to think bout what it means and it’s implications?
But in responce to that salavtion, we will recognise how serious sin is.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
We will recognise more and more how much hurt we casue our Father when we stray from his love.
And so we will rightly mourn our sin, and ask for forgivenss.
It is they way we can enjoy closer fellowship with our Father.
Much like if you were to do somehting to offend your earth parents.
You may still have their unconditional love, but there will be a tension to your fellowship.
Until there is repentance and forgiveness, we are missing out on fully enjoying the unconditional love that is always there.
We’re setting up barriers.
It’s why we spend the first part of the Lord’s prayer calling on the return of JEsus.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Come Lord and bring your full and final and eternal end to all sin and evil in the world.
So that we may eternally enjoy perfect and full unconditional love.
So that we enjoy all that you have done for us, with our sin putting up barriers.
But until then, forgive our debts, the aspects of our lives that cause a price to be paid.
A price that is already fully paid for in the death of Jesus, but nontheless had to tbe paid,
forgive our ongoing debts,
That is why we pray, forgive us as we forgive others.
It is not, it cannot possibly mean, that we can only be saved through forgivenes if we forgive other people.
No, for Jesus forgives us, despite our sin.
It is our very sin (often of unforgivenss) that needs to be forgiven!
Forgiveness for salvation is a free gift of grace by God’s love.
But here is a prayer that Jesus Followers (Christians) are being taught to pray, and was adotped from the first churches right through to today as a model for our prayers.
So what does it mean that we are only forgiven if we forgive others.
And just to make sure we undertood that part of the prayer correctly, Jesus emphasies it again after the prayer,
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
What a g
This is were we wish Jesus had the benefit of reading the apostle Paul’s letters!
Jesus seems to have his theology mixed up.
Our forgiveness from God the Father can’t rely on our forgiveness of others can it!
Can we only be forgiven and saved if we forgive others?
Well, no.
We know that forgivenss,
through the death and resurrection of Jesus is a free gift.
But remmeber Jesus is speaking to saved people.
It would be nonsensical to say that we recieve forgiveness if we forgive others first,
As one of the things that we are surely being forgiven of
is that fact that we so often don’t forgive!
So to make sense of it,
we need to remember Jesus is speaking to as already saved people, his disciples.
Or at least People who are in the process of understanding that salvation if a free gift.
This prayer has been rightly used throughout church history, as the model for our prayers.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Christians, Jesus followers, already forgiven people are to pray for forgiveness.
Not in the sense that we might not have been fully and finally forgiven in Jesus,
but in the sense that until Jesus returns we will still pile up the debt for which we have been forgiven,
It’s partly why we pray v10
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
We want Jesus to return so that an end to all our sin and the evil in this world will be over.
Until Jesu returns we will continue to sin,
we will continue to add to the ‘debt’ which is the word used here,
that we owe to Jesus.
He has paid our debts fully and finally on the cross,
our sin is delt with,
But each time we still sin today,
we add to the debt he’s already paid.
So it’s good and right to mourn our sins,
ask for forgiveness and seek to change,
The last line of the prayer asks for help to do just that, to change,
to not sin,
we are to ask for strength to stand in the face of future temptation and evil.
I do occasionally hear the idea that we don’t as Christinas need to continually repent,
or confess, or ask for forgiveness,
becasue Jesus has already done it all.
And I would say, Yes he has,
But the size of our debt to what Jesus has already forgiven keeps piling up,
and we should humbly come before him and recognise that today and everyday.
We need Jesus and his forgiveness everyday, not just once a few years ago.
Act of forgiveness is once for all, but the acts of sin are ongoing!
But back to the real challnege,
how is all this linked to our forgiveness of others?
Well, it seems clear that forgiveness is one of the most crucial elements of the Christian faith.
All our hope in pinned on the fact that Jesus forgives us, forgives us freely!
And so the point here,
as we pray for forgiveness,
And as we have already said, if we want enjoy a tension free, relationship with our Father in heaven, we must be forgiving of others.
is to make sure we don’t just say it (like the hypocrite)
but that we truly believe and understand it in our hearts.
Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offence against God,
to the point that his own son Jesus had to die for us,
Our father loves us enough to
the offences which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely small.
If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offences of others,
it shows that we have minimised our own before God.
Forgiveness is hard,
and we don’t always get it right.
But if we really think our offences against God, the creator of the universe,
are less significant that what someone has done to us,
well then the challenge is to ask if we really have understood the forgiveness of God at all.
There may be people in this church with whom you hold a grudge.
There may be others in your family, at work, a neighbour,
who you just haven’t forgiven.
Well that’s not an option says Jesus.
If you want the forgiveness of my Father
- that was paid with my blood,
then you can forgive the most horendous of offences that man has done to you.
They may not repent, as we need to to God,
They may not even aknowledge the hurt they have casued.
But in the light of the loving forgivenss of our Father in Heaven towards us,
We are expected to be able to forgive,
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
If you outright refuse to try and forgive others,
well then maybe you haven’t received the forgiveness of God in the first place.
But if you find it hard, or struggle to forgive someone,
that doesn’t mean you’re not forgiven by God.
it means you’re striving to do the right thing.
It means you may need to ask God for that daily bread of a forgiving spirit,
It may mean you need to ask for forgiveness for being unforgiving,
and it means you need to appreciate more fully all that Jesus has forgiven you.
it may mean you need to talk to me or someone else about forgiving someone.
And it means you can forgive, for you have been forgiven,
Think about how great this year would be as a church to live and pray like this this year.
For us to be a church that is so in awe at the forgiveness we have found in Jesus,
that we are quick and easy in our forgiveness of each other.
Wouldn’t we be a massive signpost for the world,
pointing to the forgiveness of Jesus,
if at work we forgave our collueges who abused their position at our expense,
or forgave a boss who expected too much,
or forgave our neighbour for being too noisy,
or a parent or sibling who we have become estranged too.
Forgiveness is emphasised in the Lord’s prayer becasue it is the key to our salvation,
and it is a core characteristic expected of those who have been saved.
s
3 - The Error of Unforgiveness
3 - The Error of Unforgiveness
4 - The Beauty of God Focus ‘Prayer and forgiveness’
4 - The Beauty of God Focus ‘Prayer and forgiveness’
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian Way of Prayer
The error of the hypocrite is selfishness. Even in his prayers he is obsessed with his own self-image and how he looks in the eyes of the beholder. But in the Lord’s Prayer Christians are obsessed with God—with his name, his kingdom and his will, not with theirs. True Christian prayer is always a preoccupation with God and his glory. It is therefore the exact opposite of the exhibitionism of hypocrites who use prayer as a vehicle for their own glory.
The error of the heathen is mindlessness. He just goes babbling on, giving voice to his meaningless liturgy. He does not think about what he is saying, for his concern is with volume, not content. But God is not impressed by verbiage. Over against this folly Jesus invites us to make all our needs known to our heavenly Father with humble thoughtfulness, and so express our daily dependence on him.
So there it is.
There is our plan this year and until Christ returns.
We want to be
Focus - Prayer to enjoy and relate to God, do not worry about looking good before others, and forgive each other becasue God forgives you.
Function - renew commitment and enjoyment of personal prayer and loving forgiveness of each other.
God-glorifying in our rich prayer life.
our father
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian Way of Prayer
It is always wise, before we pray, to spend time deliberately recalling who he is. Only then shall we come to our loving Father in heaven with appropriate humility, devotion and confidence.
Kingdom come
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian Way of Prayer
To pray that his kingdom may ‘come’ is to pray both that it may grow, as through the church’s witness people submit to Jesus, and that soon it will be consummated when Jesus returns in glory to take his power and reign.
Bread
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian Way of Prayer
To pray that his kingdom may ‘come’ is to pray both that it may grow, as through the church’s witness people submit to Jesus, and that soon it will be consummated when Jesus returns in glory to take his power and reign.
Forgiveness
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian Way of Prayer
This certainly does not mean that our forgiveness of others earns us the right to be forgiven. It is rather that God forgives only the penitent and that one of the chief evidences of true penitence is a forgiving spirit. Once our eyes have been opened to see the enormity of our offence against God, the injuries which others have done to us appear by comparison extremely trifling. If, on the other hand, we have an exaggerated view of the offences of others, it proves that we have minimized our own. It is the disparity between the size of debts which is the main point of the parable of the unmerciful servant. Its conclusion is: ‘I forgave you all that debt (which was huge) …; should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ (33).
Deliver us
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. The Christian Way of Prayer
‘Do not allow us so to be led into temptation that it overwhelms us, but rescue us from the evil one’. So behind these words that Jesus gave us to pray are the implications that the devil is too strong for us, that we are too weak to stand up to him, but that our heavenly Father will deliver us if we call upon him.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. Those Who Mourn (4)
It is not only the sins of others, however, which should cause us tears; for we have our own sins to weep over as well. Have they never caused us any grief? Was Cranmer exaggerating when in his 1662 Holy Communion service he put into the lips of church people the words, ‘We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness’? Was Ezra mistaken to pray and make confession, ‘weeping and casting himself down before the house of God’? Was Paul wrong to groan, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?’, and to write to the sinful church of Corinth: ‘Ought you not rather to mourn?’6 I think not. I fear that we evangelical Christians, by making much of grace, sometimes thereby make light of sin. There is not enough sorrow for sin among us. We should experience more ‘godly grief’ of Christian penitence, like that sensitive and Christ-like eighteenth-century missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd, who wrote in his journal on 18 October 1740: ‘In my morning devotions my soul was exceedingly melted, and bitterly mourned over my exceeding sinfulness and vileness.’ Tears like this are the holy water which God is said to store in his bottle.
Such mourners, who bewail their own sinfulness, will be comforted by the only comfort which can relieve their distress, namely the free forgiveness of God. ‘The greatest of all comfort is the absolution pronounced upon every contrite mourning sinner.’ ‘Consolation’ according to the Old Testament prophets was to be one of the offices of the Messiah. He was to be ‘the Comforter’ who would ‘bind up the brokenhearted’.4 That is why godly men like Simeon were said to be looking and longing ‘for the consolation of Israel’. And Christ does pour oil into our wounds and speak peace to our sore, scarred consciences. Yet still we mourn over the havoc of suffering and death which sin spreads throughout the world. For only in the final state of glory will Christ’s comfort be complete, for only then will sin be no more and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’.6
God-trusting in all our requests
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew b. Prayer, 6:5–15
It is not that the act of forgiving merits an eternal reward, but rather it is evidence that the grace of God is at work in the forgiving person and that that same grace will bring him forgiveness in due course.
And we want to be thankful, repentant Jesus followers
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew b. Prayer, 6:5–15
Jesus is saying that to fail to forgive others is to demonstrate that one has not felt the saving touch of God.
who are forgiving as we have been forgiven.
PRAY
Short, direct, and sincere prayers are adequate.
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Mat
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.