Prayer Series 5: Exhale Repentance

Sin.  We all fall short (Romans 3:23).  We all sin.  Even as believers we sin, whether we are strong, weak, mature, or babies in our relationship with the Lord.  Do you want to walk in the Spirit?  Do you want to be constantly connected and guided by God?  Do you want to be maturing in your walk at the fastest pace possible?  Well, reality is, sin puts up resistance to our connection with God.  Sin is the kink in your hose that prohibits His living water to freely flow into your heart, mind, and soul. 

D.L. Moody said it this way: “The fact is, we are leaky vessels, and we have to keep right under the fountain all the time to keep full of Christ, and so have fresh supply.”

The leaks are caused by sin or obstructions we allow that block our own selves from a free and unobstructed connection with God.  Praise God for new mercies every morning, because we need a fresh supply of His living water each and every day to give us more of Him and to wash away our fleshy, selfish natures.  That fresh supply comes from spending time with God.  Yes, corporate church and group Bible study is all good and so is fellowship with other believers, but how is your individual, by-yourself, just you and Him, quality time with God?  Are you seeking His will for your life and regularly examining your innermost self through prayer and His Word? 

Each time you “inhale His Word, exhale repentance” (Jon Courson).  It is so easy to gather up knowledge and temporarily feel better for “the work” of spending time with the Lord, but are you internalizing His Word, being honest about the issues of your own heart, and laying those hard-to-admit, dirty, and impure areas before Jesus in prayer?  Ed Taylor tweeted this gem, putting it this way: “The only difference between a strong believer and a weak one is responsiveness.” 

True, Biblical repentance is the changing of one’s mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ. 

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, He has forgiven you of all the sin you’ve ever committed and all of the sin you will ever commit.  He has made you a pure, blameless, and righteous child of God, so that you can have an unrestricted relationship with Him for eternity.  Our salvation will result in a new, born again, changed heart (2 Cor. 5:17) that will bear fruit (Luke 3:8-14).  Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action.  The action is to grow closer to Him and to mature in our walks with the Lord, by learning more about His heart and His will and then surrendering more and more of our broken sinful natures to Him, seeking His perfect and complete, lacking-nothing plan for our lives (James 1:4).

Sin can be blatant and obvious or it can be those hidden attitudes and thoughts we all are guilty of, and it seems like our sin is constantly changing based on our daily circumstances, relationships, and stages of life.  God has a loving way of bringing to light your hard, stubborn, sinful areas when you truly seek Him and meditate on His promises.  Do you have sin that’s obstructing that free-flowing living water from filling you up and releasing that promised refreshment of joy, peace, hope, and freedom to you?  The answer is YES.  We all have some.  Is it pride, unforgiveness, bitterness, fear, idols, being fleshly in times of discomfort, impatience, self righteousness, isolation, an overloaded schedule of busy-bodyness, etc… etc… etc…  Only you and God know the intentions of your heart (1 Chronicles 28:9).  When you pray and spend time with God in His Word alone (just you and Him), admit those obstructions and kinks and ask Him to change you.  He will help you and will fill you up with His Spirit!  It only hurts me and the others around me when I allow sin in my life, and why would I want to allow kinks in my hose?  I don’t know about you, but I need His presence at the volume of a fire hose on a daily basis, and it’s up to me to get those kinks out and allow His refreshing living water to freely flow from Him to me.  Inhale His Word, exhale repentance in prayer.  

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank [is] in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” Matthew 7:3-5

Prayer Series 4: Praying God’s Word

I am not a great memorizer.  In fact, my memory is terrible.  Luckily, God has given me a husband who remembers everything, for better and for worse, even things I would rather block from his memory forever (yes, I have those too).  Some have said he has a photographic memory.  He has the ability to remember places, random facts, analogies, and teachings.  Oh man!  If I could have a memory for one thing, it would be scripture.  Like most, I need repetition, repetition, repetition, and then more repetition.  Even if I do memorize scripture, it’s forgotten in no time.

I was so blessed to help my mom move out of our childhood house and into a house with her wonderful new husband the past few weeks.  We went through so many childhood memories like photographs, school work, cards, and crafts.  One thing I was so amazed by was all of the Bible verses I had on crafts and school work from childhood.  I so appreciate that I had parents that developed my godly character and prioritized learning about God throughout my preschool and elementary years, but it made me realize how easy it was to forget all those lessons when we stopped going to church, when sin snuck in, when our family drifted away from the Lord, and I backslid in my teens and twenties.

What’s my point?  The Bible is God’s Word to us – to YOU!  In it is found His will for our lives.  His amazing promises – and He is faithful 100% of the time.  Reminders to us, when we forget, of His love for us.  How He knew us before we knew Him.  How He has forgiven us and loves us.  That He has a plan for us.  That He will restore us and protect us.  That He has already conquered and made us victorious now and for eternity.  His love and His Word sets us free, so our joy may be full.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits” – Psalm 103:2

Now, don’t get me wrong.  It’s not the “work” of memorizing the Word at all.  No one gets points for having the Word memorized or being able to recite a bunch of memory verses.  The point is that we must spend time with God consistently, in relationship, to stay strong, to stay filled up, to equip ourselves for trials, discouragement, and afflictions which do come and are many. 

When you spend time in His Word and He impresses His promises on your heart, read it over and over and PRAY ON IT!  You know those little nuggets that touch your heart during a Bible Study?  Those are His words for you today.  Praise Him, thank Him, and pray on those promises.  Ask Him to help you prepare for the days, weeks, and years ahead by writing His words on your heart.  When you feel empty or distant from God, return to your Creator and spend time with Him.  He’s available 24/7.  It’s us that make ourselves too busy and unavailable, not Him.  He is always there with open arms.  Get into His actual Word, not just books written by men about the Bible.  Meditate on His promises and pray them.  Put them on a Post-it.  Put them in a prayer journal.  Email them to yourself.  Put them on your fridge.  Put them on your desk.  Share them with others.  Teach them to your kids.  Then repeat, repeat, repeat, and never stop.  Our human hearts, minds, and souls need to be in consistent fellowship with our God to have His Will and His Word front and center in our lives where it belongs.

So, what I’m saying is, don’t beat yourself up over your inability to spout off scripture or pray it out loud on the spot.  Just keep it simple.  Draw close to Him and He will draw close to you.  I pray for God to continue to increase our passion for Him and our desire to be in His presence and in His Word.  Praise God for new mercies every morning!  He is so good.

“He also taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live. Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.” – Proverbs 4:4-5