Matthew 6:14-15

"For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive you."

     I read this verse today. It's funny how certain things in my life will bring up stuff in the bible that I'm not expecting to make much of a difference and then it hits me in the face. Anyway, I was listening to this song that is a soon to be choir special. It prompted a closer look at prayer. Right before this verse is maybe the most famous prayer of all time. Why does Jesus teach his disciples how to pray and then with the same breath tells them to forgive those that have wronged them, then continuing to say if you don't forgive then God won't forgive you.

     During this study for Exchange of finding my identity in Christ. I came across a story of Peter and John when they were starting ministry in the early church. Peter and John are preaching the name of Jesus to the people in Acts 3 after healing a crippled beggar who was never able to walk. They are arrested by the religious leaders and brought before the Sanhedrin. The guys in the Sanhedrin aren't anything to mess with. They were highly educated and greatly respected. When they said jump the Jews asked how high, how far, and with what intensity. Standing before them because you did something they didn't like wasn't a place where anyone wanted to be. They knew everything you could know about the Old Testament. In fact, they had it memorized. These leaders were the elite. 

     Peter and John. Well, they weren't elite. They didn't have the bible memorized. Here is what I related with-- Acts 4:13 "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."