Love is a powerful quality. We are more likely to receive answers to prayer when we love. This applies to our ability to forgive one another.
Have faith in God… I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. … And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins (Mark 11:22-25)
Failure to forgive, or failure to be loving, will cut off the effectiveness of prayer. Faith works through love (Galatians 5:6).
The greater our love, the greater our faith.
We need to consider this passage closely. It may be that we would see the Lord working more powerfully in our lives if we were to treat each other better.
This is not to say that answers to prayer are rewards for good deeds. Not at all. God answers our prayers because he loves us.
But wrong attitudes are destructive to faith. Bitterness, envy and resentment work against faith and hence, against answered prayer.
To read more on this topic see Living in the Image of God, Barry Chant (Miranda: Tabor, 2012 available in eBook and Paperback) from which this edited extract is taken.