Though we profess that God is all-seeing and all-knowing, that he understands not merely the actions of our hands and the thoughts of our minds but even the intentions of our hearts, still we sometimes feel as if we need to hold back from telling him all that we have thought, all that we have done, all that we have desired. Yet if we are to confess our sins before him, we need to confess them all, for he knows them anyway. These words from F.B. Meyer encourage you to tell him the truth—the unvarnished truth.
You have lost the light of God’s face, not because He has arbitrarily withdrawn it, but because your iniquities have come between you and your God; and your sins, like a cloud before the sun, have hid His face from you.
Do not spend time by looking at them as a whole. Deal with them one by one. The Boer is a formidable foe to the British soldier because he is trained from boyhood to take a definite aim and bring down his mark, whilst our soldiers fire in volleys. In dealing with sin, we should imitate him in the definiteness and accuracy of his aim.
Ask God to search you and show you what wicked way is in you. Marshal all your life before Him, as Joshua marshalled Israel, sift it through, tribe by tribe, family by family, household by household, man by man, until at last you find the Achan who has robbed you of the blessed smile of God.
Call up each rebel sin, by its right name, to receive sentence of death.
Do not say: “Lord, I am a great sinner, I have done what I ought not, I have not done what I ought;” but say, “Lord, I have sinned in this, and this, and that, and the other.” Call up each rebel sin, by its right name, to receive sentence of death. Your heart is choked with sins; empty it out, as you would empty a box, by handing out first the articles that lie on the surface.
When you have removed them, you will see more underneath; hand them out also. When these are removed, you will probably see some more. Never rest till all are gone.
Confession is just this process of telling God the unvarnished story—the sad, sad story—of each accursed sin; how it began: how you sinfully permitted it to grow: how you have loved and followed it to your bitter cost.
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Some Christians seem to be specially gifted when it comes to spiritual discernment. Others take a special interest in discernment and expend the hard effort of growing in the discipline of it. But they may sometimes wonder: What should I do with this discernment?
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Jesus, who knew what was in the heart of men, warned of the hypocrisy of those whose prayer life is only ever public. “When you pray,” he said, “you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen…
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