And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25

Recall that the Bible talks about having clean hands and a pure heart. One of the nastiest of sins that creeps into our lives is unforgiveness.

It’s easy to see the resulting bitterness and attitude in others but often difficult to see within ourselves. Now, we know when we are harboring unforgiveness but really don’t want to deal with it. It’ll come out in our prayers…or lack thereof.

The bitterness we harbor will keep us from praying as we should or praying at all for that matter. Well, that’s one sin that will keep us away but it is a big one.

Forgiveness is complicated because we all say and do stupid things. Approaching and confronting people about how they’ve hurt us is difficult. We don’t know how people will react. How do you react when someone approaches you like that? Has it ever happened?

Incidentally, for some, approaching those who have committed evil acts against you is not helpful or wise. There are other ways to get closure and peace of mind in those instances.

So, back to the original thought, clean hands and a pure heart. That’s God’s desire when we settle in to pray. If you need to confess sin of any kind, He will be there for you. It’s just a bit harder to pray when you have a nagging unforgiveness incident or two hanging over you. Take steps to resolve it so you can go back to living in peace again.