Praying to God, and Forgiving Others
By William Covert
We desire that God shall answer our prayers; and he does when conditions make it possible. But there should be an agreement in our souls with the Spirit of God when we pray. To come as a suppliant before God with a heart calloused by malice is but an attempt to reconcile God with our sins. A lesson early to be learned, is that if we love God, we also love our fellow men. The love which the Holy Spirit puts in our hearts is God’s love, and that love makes us love as God loves. That wonderful promise in Mark 11:24, regarding answer to prayer, closes with this admonition: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25. This same lesson follows the model on prayer given by Christ in the sixth chapter of Matthew. There he says: “If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matt. 6:14, 15. Our Saviour and his apostles have safeguarded their lessons on prayer and its answers with admonitions relating to tenderness of heart and forgiveness of others on our part. Even the golden rule is set with many beautiful promises, and God’s goodness to us is assigned as a reason for this rule. Since God is so good in answering the prayers of men, men should certainly be good in helping men; “therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” See Matt. 7:7-12. This divine rule for human equity is the inevitable “therefore” for the man who would plead with God to bestow favors upon him. When God answers a man’s prayers, that man is logically classified in character with God, and he should consider himself as in honor bound to bless other men, as far as his ability and sphere will allow. The blessing he receives in answer to his prayers puts him in touch with the Spirit of heaven, and he is then expected to conduct himself as one whose citizenship is in heaven. It does not seem that a man can pray in faith until he lives in the atmosphere of God’s love; and when he does so live, he can exercise love for his fellow men as God exercises love for him. Is not our daily course in life a manifestation of what our real heart prayers are? If in our prayers we get into the real heart and soul of heaven, then the character of heaven is manifest in us, and through us God is manifesting himself to others. It is this divine life in us that draws others to God, and without this we can not be soul-winners for God. If deep down in our souls we feel a tender, forgiving spirit for those who do wrong toward us, we may then know that God in tender compassion is exercising forgiveness toward us. With this spirit in the soul, one feels at home with God, as a son feels at home in the presence of his father, and it is then we can truly in prayer call him our Father. These lessons we should learn so that we may understand how to pray.