Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | More Subscribe Options

Keep up to date with RSS or iTunes

Good morning!

Did you know that God wants you and I to experience a fulfilling, love relationship with Him?  It’s true!

Growing in the spiritual habit of confession is like taking a daily shower to clean us off from the filth and dirt of the day. Regular cleanups help us hear God’s voice, and harboring sin and wrong attitudes in our heart hinders our prayers. If our heart is the home of the King, then we will do well to make sure its rooms are clean.

To grasp the importance of house cleaning in our relationship with God, I’d like you to look up some verses that teach us about the act of confession. Take some time to write down these verses and look up each one, I’ve even listed them on my blog.

There are three verses to start with: 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Don’t you just love that about the Lord? He is faithful, He forgives us, He loves us, He wants to spend time with you.

There is something amazing about getting into the presence of God and just cleaning house with Him. When we clean house, we make an inventory of what needs to be cleaned.

So read Psalm 51 and write down everything you see that has to do with sin. Psalm 51:1 says, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love, according to Your great passion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from all my sin.”

In the culture that we live in, sin is not a popular topic. But the Bible says sin is what separates us from God—and pride keeps us from confessing our sin to others and to the Lord.  Pride is a thief, robbing us of inner peace and joy.  When we think that we do not need to confess our sin, it begins to fester, causing deeper hurt. Pride will try to keep us from being real, from asking for help or even being truthful with ourselves.

How do we keep the rooms of our heart clean?  We can start by keeping short accounts with the Lord, busy moms, spend time with Him, allow Him to search your heart.

The Bible says that we want to allow the Lord into every part of our hearts. And be thankful for what happens when He comes in and forgives us of our sin.

When I confess my sins to the Lord, I get a sense of a mind that is being renewed, being washed. I think of the rooms in the house that are being cleaned.

Confession before God and men is a holy habit that is lacking in the disciplines of the inner life.

In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, “Life Together,” he writes, “He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone.” He goes on to write that pious fellowship permits no one to be sinners and thus we are weak in our fellowship with one another. He says, everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship, and thus we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy.

It is so easy for us to try to hide our sin from the Lord, but, you know what? We can’t do it.

It really is amazing what the Lord does when we allow ourselves to come before Him, in humility, and confess and repent of all our sin in our life, and allow Him to bring those things to our mind.

Thank you, Father, that we live in a world in which You can still enter into our hearts and into our minds. Thank you, Lord. I am reminded that I live here, but I don’t wage war like the world does; I am reminded that the weapons of my warfare are not the weapons of this world.

Prayer is your best weapon, busy mom!  Let’s pray for each other and for ourselves today, that we might walk humbly before God.