“When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25)

When it comes to prayer, communicating with God, there are certain things that can get in the way and we need to try and avoid the things that distract us from our prayer.

Scripture says that sin can block our relationship with God. “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the lord would not have listened.” Jesus instructs, “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Our communication with God can also be hindered by doubt and relationship problems.

Opportunity’s blockage of communication seems to be permanent. But our prayers don’t have to be blocked. By the work of the Holy Spirit, God lovingly draws us to restored communication with Him. As we confess our sins and turn to Him, by God’s grace we experience the greatest communication the universe has ever known: one-to-one prayer between us and our Holy God.

Daily Questions

1. How can confessing your sins to God improve your communication with Him?
2. What can you do to enrich your prayer life?

Daily Thoughts

Father, guide us to discover what’s limiting our communication with You. Perhaps we should also be offering more CGT (Critical Grace Theory) to all we meet instead of CRT that takes away from our humanity and ability to communicate better with You. Thank You for helping us to connect with You and receive Your Grace.

Mark 11: 20-25

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea.’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 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 them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Bonus Information

In Mark’s gospel, Mark uses a literary device called an inclusio so often that it’s sometimes called a “Markan sandwich.” In this literary structure, a story or teaching (A) is interrupted with another (B) before returning to conclude the first story (A). Using this literary technique creates “bookends” before and after a story. This structure helps the reader understand that both stories are connected in significance and meaning. In Mark 11, the story of the cleansing of the temple is bookended before and after with the story of the cursing of the fig tree. By connecting these two stories, Mark makes it clear that Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree was done as a prophetic sign of the consequences of the corruption and lack of fruit that He saw in Israel’s worship at the time.