Lent, a Season of Hope ~ Preparing Our Hearts for Easter, Day 3
“God removes the sin of the one who makes humble confession, and thereby the devil loses the sovereignty he had gained over the human heart.” ~ Saint Bernard
Acts 3:19
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
There is no better place to begin fresh in this season of Lent than to come to Christ in sincerity, with humble hearts, to turn to Him in repentance, and be refreshed in our walk. Let’s be honest, we all sin. We are reminded in 1 John 1:8, “If we say, ‘We have no sin,’ we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Because God is entirely good and is Truth, we as followers of Christ cannot also follow evil and falsehood. We come today with conviction that we have unconfessed sins, willful sins, that have not been brought before Him. Of course, nothing is hidden from Him and we don’t need to fill in all the details of things He already knows. But our sin causes us to hide our faces from God. Often, we are deceived into thinking that one little sin won’t matter to God; He has more important sins that offend Him. The scripture above instructs us to the contrary. We need reminding that anything that separates us from fellowship with God is wrong. We sense it; our hearts have been pricked. By confessing our sins and repenting—turning our backs on our sins to not repeat them—we are acknowledging our sense of need, a need for forgiveness and cleansing, a need for renewed relationship and fellowship with our Lord. We know that His forgiveness is free, but it still isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s downright hard and painful. Therefore, we need His help to open ourselves up to your amazing grace. We honor our Father with our confession and acknowledgement that we need to repent; He blesses us with His forgiveness and mercy, and washes us clean again.
I bring my prayer of confession to You now, Lord God, repent of my sins, and ask that You would hear, forgive, extend your mercy and grace. In the name of Jesus, and for His sake, I pray, Amen.
“If God should please, the Holy Spirit could at this moment make every one of you fall on your knees, confess your sins, and turn to God. He is an Almighty Spirit, able to do wonders.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
