The Lord's Prayer (5 of 6)

Pray then like this:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Matthew 6:9-13

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

We are not asking God to overlook our sins, because we know, or should know, that's not going to happen. What we are asking is that He forgive our past sins. This is something we need to do on a daily basis. Why? Because, whether we realize it or not, we are prone to sin on a daily basis.

Romans 3:23 tells us that we all fall short of God's standards. We all sin. Sometimes we realize it, sometimes we don't, and yes, sometimes it is intentional. Fortunately, we have such a loving God that He is willing to forgive us.

Here's the catch. In order for God to forgive us, we need to forgive others. Matthew 6:15 states that unless we forgive others, God WILL NOT forgive us. We are also told commanded in Colossians 3:13 that because God forgave us, we need to forgive others.