Mark 11:22-26
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
22 Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God. 23 I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.24 Therefore I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for—believe that you have received[a] them, and you will have them. 25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing. [26 But if you don’t forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your wrongdoing.]”[b][c]
It amazes me how we all remember this verse, but how many times do we go to God in prayer and forget to forgive. The one thing that God has already given us we find it so hard to give to others. Something that we totally didn’t deserve or earn we totally expect others to plead and beg for from us. I find a lot of times that the other person doesn’t even realize they hurt me, yet I want that apology or something that shows they are sorry. I can’t expect a sincere apology from someone if they don’t even know that they have offended me.

I have to be willing to be vulnerable and let someone that cares about me know that they have hurt me. Did you read that right? SOMEONE THAT CARES ABOUT ME. People that don’t love me and don’t know me shouldn’t hurt me. Now I’m not saying I haven’t ever been hurt by a stranger but what I am saying is I shouldn’t let a strangers opinion of me effect me in such away that I can’t go to my Heavenly Father with a clean heart. A stranger doesn’t know my struggles and they can’t feel empathy for me. They don’t have a relationship with me so they shouldn’t effect my relationship with God. Some of us need to stop being snowflakes by expecting more out of strangers. Not everyone was raised with “if you can’t say something nice don’t say nothing at all” or Matthew 7:12. Sad but true.
Someone who cares about me is someone who has been through it with me. Not those so called friends. Not the ones who follow you on Facebook and ignore you in person. Not the ones who say they want to be friends only to dip out on you as soon as things get hard. Those people may be closer than strangers, but forgiveness should be just as easy as it is for a stranger. So-called friends dare I say “acquaintances” know your name but don’t know your heart. They have a limited understanding of who you are. Your relationship has gotten only so far and there is no push to go further. These people are at a distance for a reason. Recognize those people and forgive them knowing they don’t know you and, frankly, you really don’t want them to know you or you would spend more time getting to know them. Not waiting until your hurt by them to stalk them on instagram and brood over them. In the word of Elsa “Let it Go” Don’t let unforgiveness toward these get in the way of your relationship with God.
For those who care for you ; “It’s time to talk.” If you need to be able to talk to those that care about you and tell them how you feel. You need to forgive. Most of the time I find that I misunderstood where they were coming from or that wasn’t what they were trying to say. Most of the time I find myself assuming the worse. I always hate it when I jump the gun and am completely offended over something I assumed and the heart of it was far from that. If I never open my mouth and I never ask the hard questions and become vulnerable to those that care for me, I hold onto that thing that separates me from them and that which separates me from God. Let Jesus bring Light to that seed of bitterness you are keeping in the dark. Let God help you rooted it up be.
So to sum this up.
- Stop being a snow flake
- Let go of the hurt from those who don’t matter
- Communication will bring to light that bitterness which is in the dark.