Page 34 - The Importance of Prayer Student Textbook

worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. This verse also talks about a worldly
sorrow which lacks repentance.

Once we experience this Godly sorrow, come to faith in Christ, are we conformed completely to the
image of His Son? Of course not! God loves us just as we are, but God loves us too much to leave us
where we are. Therefore, He begins a process called sanctification which transforms us into the image of
His Son. Therefore, there must be a daily process of confession of sins to restore fellowship with God.
Notice I said fellowship and not restoring sonship. John 1:12 and numerous other verses teaches us that
once sonship is establishes it remains intact, because He promises that He who began a good work in us
will continue it until the day of salvation. (Philippians 1:6)

God gives us a wonderful gift called confession that restores our fellowship with Himself. Jesus serves as
a mediator between the Father and us. (I Timothy 2:5) Galatians 5:17 teaches us that, the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye
cannot do the things that ye would. Within our own abilities we cannot win the battle. However, in Him
we are more than conquerors. Therefore, we must come to an agreement with God through something
called confession of sins. 1 John 1:8 says, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. The Spirit of God will shine the spotlight of the word of God on our lives and point out
anything in our lives that does not match the character of His blessed Son. When He does that it is our
responsibility to confess these flaws in our image. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How often do we need to do this?
Often! But one word of advice when we enter our times of confession, I want to encourage you to
magnify the one who can deliver more than the one who wants to destroy you. Or to word it another
way focus on the mover of mountains not upon the mountain.

Let’s now move to the second part of this verse, forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin
against us. In my many years of ministry this seems to be the harder step to take than the first part of
this verse. First let me say that when we forgive another person for sinning against us it is not saying
that what they did was right. However, it is surrendering all judgement into the hands of our Lord. When
Joseph’s brothers sinned against him, they meant it for evil, but God allowed it because he had a greater
purpose in mind. (Genesis50:20) It is beyond the scope of this lesson to elaborate on this verse as I long
too! However, I want to point out Psalm 32:3-5 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my

groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drainedas in the
summer’s heat. Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not conceal my iniquity. Notice the Psalmist
kept silent, yet within his life there was an inward groaning or rage going on. Day and night, he was
unwilling to forgive those who had harmed him, and it was literally draining him of his energy. Finally, he
came to a point where he was willing to pray, forgive me of my sin of unforgiveness. This resulted in him
being set free from the spirit of bitterness, resentment, rage and a whole host of similar sins.

If we are to take this condition literally, we are finished. Manifestly, if God forgave me in exact
proportion to the way I distribute forgiveness to other people, I would perish. The truth be told none of
us forgive as God does. But thanks be to God this is an aspiration rather than a condition. Jesus is
teaching us to aspire to mirror, to reflect this kind of goodness. We are to be ready to forgive anyone
who sins against us until 7 x70. (Matthew 18:21-22)

This portion of scripture reminds us of the depth of our sins and the need to keep short accounts. It also
reminds us that keeping a vertical relationship with God is important but there is also a need to keep our
horizontal relationship with others without blemish. Yes, our sins have been paid once for all by the

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