Forgive others so that God can forgive you. Mark 11:25

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. Mark 11:25

NIV: And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Jesus taught us to pray and many know the prayer by heart. This was a format of how we should pray to our Heavenly Father. A crucial part of our prayer should entail asking God for forgiveness. We may not take into account the sins we commit in a day, the little "white" lies we tell, the stoplights we run, or even the people we hurt with our harsh words. There are so many things we may do that we may not remember and it's only when we reflect on our day or on our sins that we may realize where we went wrong. However, we may do little things that are so much a part of us that we may see no wrong in what we do, but the Father in Heaven does, therefore, to cover us in a sense, we ask for Him to forgive us of our sins.

The part of the prayer Jesus taught us that speaks about forgiveness comes with a condition."And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..." This condition clearly states and we clearly state, if we pray this prayer, that we want God to forgive our sins, just as

Stop Procrastinating. Act! Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Proverbs 13:4

We all probably know someone who talks a good game but when it's time to walk the walk, you find out there's nothing to all the things they said. It could be that we too, want so many things and plan to have this and that but never act upon those things that we want.

What this verse says plainly is that the soul of a lazy person wants, but has nothing; but the soul of the hard working person shall be made fat. Therefore, don't just crave things, you have to work towards them. It's not enough just to want something because wanting alone leaves you with nothing. You have to work towards the things that you want in order to make them a reality or in order to get them. 

If you find that you are lazy,

Pressing towards the mark Phillippians 3:14

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 3:14

We all have goals that we try to achieve and there's no better time for new goals than the beginning of a new year. I usually have a long list of things I want to do like "read more books, eat right, exercise more etc. etc." At the end of the year, I like to look back and see what I was able to accomplish fully, in part or not at all. The ones that I didn't accomplish are usually added to the other years list or I just take it off.

What if there was a goal that had to roll over with every new year? A goal that you had to keep striving towards until achieving perfection? What if this very goal was perfection in itself? Do you think it would be attainable? Do you think you would be able to achieve it in a year's time or would it take you longer?

Jesus said we ought to strive for perfection so that