Faith won’t work in an unforgiving heart.
Jesus made this clear in the Gospels.
Although there are other hindrances to faith, He repeatedly put unforgiveness at the top of the list. When teaching on the prayer of faith in Mark 11, for instance, He said:
"Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. AND WHEN YE STAND PRAYING, FORGIVE, IF YE HAVE OUGHT AGAINST ANY: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses "(verses 22-25).
Some years ago, I got a fresh revelation of how to put those verses into operation. At 4 a.m. I woke up to a vision of Jesus. I could see Him clearly in the spirit, standing at the foot of my bed holding a big tray heaped with cookies.
You’d think since He was holding a tray of cookies, He would have been smiling. But He wasn’t. He had a very stern look on His face.
'Have a cookie!' He said.
Not knowing exactly how to answer, I hesitated, and He spoke again.
'Your response is: I believe I will. I take it. I have it. I thank You for it. And I forgive if I have aught against any.'
Then, after just those few seconds the vision ended.
As I lay there thinking about it, I realized the cookies represented faith. The six “I” statements (“I believe, I will…” etc.) outlined how we’re to respond to Jesus’ command, “Have faith in God.” They are, as I’ve come to call them, the six I’s of faith.
I forgive is No. 6.
That means the prayer of faith isn’t finished until all unforgiveness has been repented of and released. It means that faith and forgiveness are a package deal.
“But Brother Copeland, why would Jesus be so strict about that? Why would He make forgiving such a hard-and-fast rule?”
BVOV : 27
