Faith and Forgiveness

I had been browsing through The Holy Bible, Mark ch 11 all this week and got a chance to experience the meaning of Faith and Forgiveness, that is the essence of this chapter first hand. The verses I am referring to are:

24	Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25	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.
26	But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Interesting, Jesus asks us to forgive first in order to be forgiven for our mistakes. I could think of several instances in the past when I and maybe several of us, have been guilty of holding grudges against our closest friends and enemies and yet living in the hope of receiving forgiveness for our own mistakes.

Jesus taught the notion of forgiving first and then receiving forgiveness several times over. The Lords prayer which was taught by Jesus has "forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".

The question that comes to me is 'How easy is it to forgive someone for what we think is a great wrong done to ourselves'. To answer this question, I tell myself, "It is not for me to judge what is a great wrong or a minuscule one'. Jesus asks me to forgive, great or small, doesn't matter.

And the answer that I get is "The power of forgiveness is strong and affects all those around you". The movie, To End all Wars is a beautiful illustration of this point, so in conclusion

"Forgive and heal relationships before the rift widens and you will experience the Love"