Forgive Us As We Forgive

August 23

The most familiar prayer ever uttered is the Lord’s Prayer. It has trilled off the lips of prayer warriors and saints and school children (before school prayer was deemed illegal by the ‘wise’ people who make our laws), and it has expressed the heart of the Father to His children as much as the heart of each child to Him.

Though the prayer is brief, it covers the totality of the spectrum of man’s concerns. It first declares the Fatherhood of God, which is pivotal to our understanding of who God is as well as who we are. The relationship expressed in that simple phrase, ‘our Father’ gives us access to Him borne of ‘family.’

Although we know He is in Heaven above while we yet traverse the highways and byways of earth, although we know His name is above all names, yet we know that only when His Kingdom is fully come, shall we see His will completely employed in our lives and throughout the earth. But the most crucial aspect of this simple prayer is found in Luke 11:4

This assertion goes beyond the provision of our daily needs, which is paramount to those who must toil for our bread; it taps the core of our faith—forgiveness! Here Jesus teaches us to pray, ”Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Without our extending that grace to those who offend us, we cannot receive it from our Father, our Savior, our God.