Thursday... Now this is something we need to know!

Thursday... Now this is something we need to know. If you want God to listen and not ignore your prayers, you need to know this.

Psalm 66:16 & 17 (NLT) says, "Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke." Now that is great. During the difficult times we are going through we need to be able to connect with God, to be able to cry our to him. But then verses 18 - 20a says "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer." Now this is really important to know if you want God to listen and not ignore your prayers.

So, if we want God to listen and answer our prayers we need to confess our sins to God. The Amplified Bible says, "If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it]. the Lord will not hear me."

David in Psalm 25:16 - 18 (NLT) says, "Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress. My problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all! Feel my pain." And here is what he prayed, "Forgive all my sins." He asked God to forgive his sins

Now over in the NT in 1 John 1:8 & 9, we read, "If we claim we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But" Such a great word. If there was no but then God would never hear our prayers. The writer goes on, "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness."

So if you know that you have sinned and you have not confessed those sins to God then that is a great place to start. And this is so very important. So important that God sent His Son Jesus, to die for us so that our sins could be taken care of. In the OT an animal had to be sacrificed to take away our sins so Jesus became our sacrifice.

Psalm 66:15 (NLT) says, "That is why I am sacrificing burnt offerings to you (God) - the best of my rams a pleasing aroma, and a sacrifice of bulls and male goats." Jesus died for us as our sacrifice. God is serious about this.

So just stop and confess your sins and He will forgive you. Do that right now. In the quietness of your heart, talk to Him, confess to Him, ask Him to forgive you of your sins and He will. And if you do that, it will be just as if you hadn't done them. And that is such Good News! Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

Comments

Tuesday... It is so worth it. It really is!

Tuesday... It is so worth it. It really is! Look at this, Proverbs 5:21-23 (CEV) says, "The Lord sees everything, and he watches us closely. Sinners are trapped and caught by their own evil deeds. They get lost and die because of their foolishness and lack of self-control." That is true of so many. Now look at this, Luke 15:1-7 says, "Tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, 'This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them.' Then Jesus told them this story: If any of you has 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, 'Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep.' Jesus said, 'In the same way there is mo...

Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together!

Monday... Three ifs and two thens. They go together! They really do. And this is what caught my attention this morning as I was reading Proverbs 2. Verse 1 (NRSVUE) says, "My child, if you accept my words and treasure my commands within you." Verse 3 (NIV), "Indeed i f you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, Verse 4, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, Verse 5, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." And verses 9-11, " Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." There will always be some effort we must do, some ifs for the thens to be realized in our lives. So many of us want to understand without the ifs. But the thens are so worth, so very worth the effort. Verses 5-6 in the Ampli...

Todays Beginning

Search This Blog