THIS HAS TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED

I was listening to a preacher who said, We have to acknowledge that we have sinned.

This is not easy for us. Our pride gets in the way. We are actively taught to deny or ignore our sins so that we can get on with life. We are taught that they are just mistakes and everyone does them, so we should just put it aside and get on with living. The problem is that for God, until you accept that you have sinned, and ask his forgiveness, that sin stays with you.

We must acknowledge that we have sinned. Not just made a little mistake, but sinned – hurt God with our behaviour and upset his Holy Spirit, which God placed in all of us, (Romans 5:4-6), by denying God’s existence, ignoring His voice, doing as we please and hurting others. Everybody has done these things at some time, most of us more often than we are willing to admit.

These things hurt God. They upset him, at times to the point of wishing he hadn’t created us! (Genesis 6:5-8, Malachi All!). Yet, even with all our sin, He still loves us and calls out to us. So much so that he came in the person of Jesus Christ to teach us, forgive us, and bring us back to Himself.  (Jeremiah 23:5-6, Romans 5:6).

What we have to do is ask.

Ask for forgiveness and He will forgive.

Ask for strength to resist temptation and He will strengthen us.

Ask for help to keep us from doing evil and he will help us.

A lot of our sins are mistakes. They are not things we intended to do, but we did in ignorance. But they still need acknowledging as our sins. They are things we have done wrong that often hurt others and upset God.  

When we ask for any (good) thing in Jesus name, He will give it to you. (John 14:14, 16:24)

If we have Jesus as our guide, we will not ask for anything bad, so whatever we ask for, He will give gladly.

If we ask in anger, or in self-pity, or in pride etc; He will not answer because we are not asking in righteousness. We are not asking the right thing for the right reason. I think it’s marvellous of Him to ignore those things I’ve asked for wrongly and still love me! But because I stand in Jesus, His blood covers my sin and that’s what God chooses to see. (I like to wear something red to remind me that I am covered by Jesus blood as I go through the day). He will, however, show me I’m wrong, as any good parent should, and wait for me to say sorry. Then immediately forgive me. How great is that!

This is how I understand my God.

Read for yourself, see what you think.