Tag: Confession

Transparency Before God

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture3 Comments

One of the things that we as Christians need to realize is that confession and cleansing is not a “once and done” action. It is ongoing, a process that gives us transparency before God. That transparency isn’t for God’s benefit. He already sees all and knows all about us. It is for our benefit, so that we can have a clear conscience and stand before the Father pure and holy as He desires for us. I am not getting into the doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” I am talking about confessing our sins and being forgiven on a daily basis, sometimes more than once a day even.

I use the acronym ACTS for my prayers. If you are not familiar with it, here is what it stands for:

A=Adoration

C=Confession

T=Thanksgiving

S=Supplication

I used to get adoration and thanksgiving all mixed up together. But I have personally discovered that adoration is being aware of and loving God for His character traits, like His mercy, grace, holiness, etc. Thanksgiving is thanking Him for what He has done for us. So similar, but really not the same, right? Sometimes, it is hard for me not to jump right in and start telling God my prayer requests. But by using this acronym, I slow down and spend the time I need to acknowledge God’s power and love, tell Him how I have failed Him and ask for forgiveness, thank Him for what He has already done, and then I can tell Him my current needs or desires.

Anytime we sin, we let a little darkness into our lives. If we want to live completely in the light and be the light, we have to stay prayed up and transparent before God and others. There is a lot of talk about politicians being “transparent.” Since I don’t think that will ever truly happen this side of heaven, I don’t have a firm grasp on what transparency looks like, but my own thoughts are that I am totally and completely honest with God. It is humbling thing to do, but it is also necessary for my relationship with God to be closer and fulfilling. The door to my heart that God holds in His hand is closed until I open it with the key of confession and humble submission to ask for His forgiveness. It’s hard to hear from the Holy Spirit when I am holding on to unconfessed sin. Here are some reminders from the Scriptures of why the C in the acronym is vital to our walk with God.

Do you recall who in the Bible claimed to be holy and without sin? That would be the scribes and Pharisees, the Jewish leaders, whom Jesus called out and called “vipers.” Why would He do that to the leadership? They had not repented of their sins and they were using their positions of power to oppress the people under a multitude of requirements in order to gain power and wealth. I don’t claim to be holy except with the righteousness of Jesus. He cleanses me each time I go before Him and confess and then I move on and try to do better in the future. My right-standing before God is because of Jesus. My clear conscience before God is because I confess and ask for forgiveness.

Why not take a few minutes now to do the ACTS prayer? It can be as short or as long as you need. Just take time to refresh yourself before the Lord. I can assure you that you will have burdens lifted and be really ready to face a new day with the Lord. God bless you!

Lessons from Hosea

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Hosea is one of the most interesting books in the Bible since God tells Hosea, a prophet, to marry a woman who will be unfaithful and then to forgive her. It is a beautiful word picture of how much God puts up with us and forgives us, again and again. This morning in my devotional, some of the verses from Hosea jumped out at me and I want to share them with you today.

Like the rich and powerful in today’s world, Israel boasted of being “self made,” forgetting completely all that God had done for them. Aren’t we the same way? When things are going well for us, we tend to pat ourselves on the back and take all of the credit for all of the good things happening in our lives. May we never forget to give God all of the glory and praise!

Again, we tend to forget God when we are satisfied with our lives. Our pride takes over, we become self-sufficient and distance ourselves from God and the relationship with Him. May we never forget that the Lord is the one who provides for us and sustains us!

God is always willing to meet us more than halfway if we will just confess and return to Him. Too often, once we have turned our backs on God, we get further and further away from Him and forget all about His welcoming love and forgiveness. May we never forget that our Father in Heaven always has open arms to receive us!

We are all walking down the path of the Lord, the one that He has set before us to travel. For those of us who have established and kept our relationship with God, the path offers life, safety, security, restoration and peace. For the sinners, it is a path filled with traps into which they stumble and fall. God doesn’t want the sinners to fall for eternity, so my thought is that He is with them on the path just as He is with us because He is trying to get them to focus on Him and not on the path to what they would call success in life. May we stay on the right path in the right way, listening only to God’s directions and find ourselves walking steadily closer to eternity with Him!

The ACTS Prayer Pattern

On By vickleaIn praise, prayer, Scripture, Song4 Comments

“A” stands for “adoration.” I believe that every prayer should start with adoration for God for Who He is.

Praise Ye The Lord

“C” is for confession. There should never be a time when you have not willingly confessed your sins to the Lord. All of us are sinners saved by grace and we need to remember where we came from, what He brought us out of.

Forgive Me, Lord

“T” is for thanksgiving for what the Lord has done in your life. Everything we have and all that we are is from Him.

Thankful Heart-Petra

Finally, “S” is supplication. This is telling God what you need and most of us usually start and end and even have this part of prayer as our entire prayer. It is the last thing that we should be approaching the throne for. After adoration, confession and thanksgiving, then we tell God what our needs are, the ones that only He can meet.

Hear My Cry-Maranatha

I generally end my prayers with thanksgiving again, but the pattern above is one that is easy to remember and to follow. I am not saying that all should follow this pattern because I am not a legalistic. I am just suggesting that whatever you pray and however and whenever, you need to remember to include praise, confession and adoration along with your requests. God is your Father, not Santa Claus who brings all the goodies your heart desires. He is your Father who wants what is best for all of us. He may not answer our prayers right away, but His timing is always perfect.

Thankful that I Am Accepted

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

Many years ago, I sent out various applications to colleges that I desired to attend and then waited anxiously to hear about whether I was accepted or not. I did not get into my first choice, a college that was way beyond my financial capabilities anyway, but I was accepted into Mary Washington, graduated from there and went on to teach. It was during the weeks of waiting for the acceptance letters when I was overwhelmed with the thoughts of what would happen if no one accepted me.

Less than a year after my graduation, I was invited and accepted into the family of God. No anxious waiting, no thoughts about a plan B or even any idea that I would not be accepted. Why not? Because acceptance is a gift from God and He does it well.

There is no favoritism with God, no “show me the money and I will accept you” kind of pseudo-acceptance. God truly accepted me because He shows absolutely no favoritism. I had to confess my sins and repent, true, but that is what everyone who calls on the name of Jesus as Savior has to do. There is no magical formula for acceptance with God, no letters of application to complete and no anxious waiting to see if God will allow you into His family or not. He already has…you have to accept the invitation He sent out long ago when He sent His Son to die for you, and then His acceptance of you is automatic. As someone who struggled most of my young life with being accepted, this is the most amazing gift and one I hope that I never take for granted. And I pray that you know the same acceptance and loving grace that He has shown me. It’s free to you although it cost Jesus dearly.

My prayer of blessing for you today comes from the Holy Bible. Accept His blessing on your life as you read and meditate on the Scripture below.

How to Be Saved

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

Over four decades ago, a sweet neighbor explained to me how to be saved and gave me a Bible to read. Considering how lost our world is now, it seems relevant that I share these Scripture verses with you for you to ponder.

Note that this verse is from the Psalms. God always had a plan for redemption of sinners in place. In the Old Testament, the people made animal sacrifices and times established by God. In the New Testament, Jesus sacrificed Himself Once, for all. But confession of our sins remains the same, regardless of the time in which we live.

The reason it is so important to confess our sins is so that we can be cleansed. We don’t have to go to a place or a person. We just have to confess our sins to Him. He hears us, and his faithfulness and justice reaches down to us, forgives us and cleanses us from wickedness.

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus by Hillsong

May God bless you this day and every day with a cleansing of your heart and soul so that you can go out and bless others with the Good News that there is salvation available to all.