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• THE JOURNEY IS OVER (JOURNAL 90)

  3 June, 2016

  If you were to read our journal entry for this day last year, you would read the following Today's instalment… [more]

• JOURNAL 89

  22 May, 2016

  Hi sweetheart, Sometimes I experience periods of “What if…?”. These are times when my mind seems… [more]

• JOURNAL 88

  17 May, 2016

  Hi Darling, Coming home from the hospital with a mechanical device fitted to my chest – a P.E.G. I think it… [more]

• JOURNAL 87

  13 May, 2016

  JOURNAL 87 The doctor said I can go home this morning. The surgery has had the desired effect and this new means of… [more]

• JOURNAL 86

  10 May, 2016

  JOURNAL 86 MOTHER’S DAY Hello sweetheart, I haven’t spoken to our children as to… [more]

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• Today's "Moment with Mark" (68)

  28 January, 2013

   Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too." (Mark 11:24-25 NLT)

  There are some key words here for effective praying. One of them is "anything" - you can pray for anything. Another is "forgiveness". A third key word is "anyone" - first forgive  anyone - and a fourth key word is "believe". Time and space only allows me to underline one of these and it's the word "forgiveness" that catches my attention. It does so for 2 main reasons.

  1. Over the years I served as a Pastor I have seen time and time again how one's refusal to forgive another effectively blocks the power of prayer. A bitter, unforgiving attitude neutralises the power of God through prayer. Conversely, I have seen the power of forgiveness energize prayer so that the answer takes on huge dimensions - more than we can ask or imagine.

  2. Jesus taught this truth repeatedly.  "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.  But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.  (Matt 6:14-15)

  My observation and experiences strongly suggest that 0ne of the greatest needs in the faith community today is the ability and willingness for Christians to extend and receive forgiveness to and from each other.