The Gift of Repentant Prayer
Today at MCC, Pastor Henry talked about prayers of confession, and he began by looking into the window of Israel's experience as recorded in Nehemiah 9. This chapter tells about Israel's times of stubborn, stiff-necked disobedience and how each time, when they cried out to God for deliverance, He responded with mercy and compassion. We see how we need to repent to gain God's forgiveness. Remember I John 1:9 which says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."So what prevents us from turning to God in repentance? What could keep us from confessing our sin? I think it is mostly because we are afraid to trust Him. We don't want to admit that the way we have been thinking and doing things is wrong and that by following His commands, He really has our best interests at heart. God gives us the gift of repentant prayer as a way for us to let go of arrogance and pride and hold on to Him instead, and it is a gift of pure grace. He wants us to let go of that "thing" and trust Him.
Today, I'll leave you with this quote by C.S. Lewis for something to think about:
"The thing is to rely only on God. The time will come when you will regard all this misery as a small price to pay for having been brought to that dependence. Meanwhile, the trouble is that relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing has been done."
7 Comments:
I am struggling a little bit with how to phrase this thought. Maybe someone can help me. There is an unbeliever's prayer of repentance that leads to salvation. When God saves us by faith in Jesus and we have repented of our sins, our sins-past, present and future- are forgiven once and for all. As believer's we confess and repent of our sins because unconfessed sin inhibits-but does not annihilate- our relationship with God; we forget who he is and what he has done for us. We are still saved by his grace but get stuck in pride and move away from that place of grace where we know God intimately. I'm not sure that I heard that distinction in the message. For many years I've heard older Christians mired in sin and misery and missing that amazing grace that set them free when they were reborn. Does this make sense? I felt the message was powerful and appreciated the dialogue with others in the service.
I am struggling a little bit with how to phrase this thought. Maybe someone can help me. There is an unbeliever's prayer of repentance that leads to salvation. When God saves us by faith in Jesus and we have repented of our sins then our sins-past, present and future- are forgiven once and for all. As believer's we confess and repent of our sins because unconfessed sin inhibits-but does not annihilate- our relationship with God; we forget who he is and what he has done for us. We are still saved by his grace but get stuck in pride and move away from that place of grace where we know God intimately. I'm not sure that I heard that distinction in the message. For many years I've heard older Christians mired in sin and misery and missing that amazing grace that set them free when they were reborn. Does this make sense? I felt the message was powerful and appreciated the dialogue with others in the service.
Sorry, didn't mean to publish twice(: Trying to edit...
Anonymous- Perhaps those mired in sin & misery are being too legalistic?
Jewels,
There we go again on connecting. We do seem to have a series of connecting events!
I love the your CS Lewis quote -- have saved it and will post-it on my desktop.
Anonymous,
He has forgiven us once and for all, in the sense that we are justified in Christ. Even though we are still enmeshed in the consequences of the sins, we become righteous in account of Christ.
But does this mean we continually sin so that grace will increase? Paul rhetorically asked that question in Romans 6:1 of which obviously he answered with a definite "no way!".
The reason is because if we are have to him, we will no longer live in sin. Sure, we still fall into sin but I feel that what Paul says then in Philippians is so important - that we need to live out our salvation in fear and trembling.
Hope this helps :)
Perhaps those mired in sin & misery are being too legalistic?
In what way? What do you mean by those in sin and misery are being legalistic?
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