The Awesome Power of Confession and Forgiveness in a Believer’s Life!

05 Aug 2024 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 32:11.       Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Well, it’s Civic Holiday Monday in Ontario and all the weekend festivities are set to climax today, as the good ole workweek resumes again tomorrow. And I know that many of us are going to try to finish on a high note, but please be careful, as that last lap go round, might just be the one to do you in. (smile) 

So a modicum of circumspection is strongly advised today. Let’s think of the possible consequences before we commit to the actions. And remember that many of us cannot afford to book off sick tomorrow, having already used up most of our sick time. Anyway, the boss will know just why you’re sick. So please let common sense prevail. (smile) 

And today we’ll continue looking at Psalm 32, the blessedness of Confession and Forgiveness, which will surely be rather important to many of us, after this Caribana weekend. (smile) Last week we stopped where Bruh David agreed to acknowledge his sin and confess his transgressions, and the Lord forgave him. (Ps. 32:5) 

He then continues: ‘For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of the great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble: thou shalt compass me about (surround me) with songs of deliverance. Selah.’ (Ps. 32:6-7) 

Yes friends, Bruh David knows that if he stays steadfast in prayer, acknowledging his sins and asking for forgiveness, the Lord will keep him safe, preserve him from trouble and surround him with songs of deliverance. How wonderful is that eh! But it only comes from constant prayer and acknowledgement of one’s sins to Almighty God. 

And with that steadfast attitude of prayer and confession of sins also comes divine instruction. As Bruh David writes of the Lord: ‘I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.’ (Ps. 32:8-9) 

How excellent is that my fellow believers! If we stay close to the Lord and empty our hearts and souls to Him, He will guide us with His divine eye. However, we must be wise and sensible, and not be like the mule or horse that have no understanding, and must have bit and bridle to be controlled. 

But unfortunately, many of us in these times of turbulence, entitlement and extremism, are behaving just like those animals who lack understanding. We’re allowing our fleshly lusts and our ever changing emotions to govern our lives, rather than the Word of the Lord. We’re not listening to His Holy Spirit that dwells within us for the very purpose of leading and guiding us in a godly fashion. 

We don’t pray or confess our sins and ask for forgiveness as we ought to, so what kind of life can we expect to live but one with no true godly support. One like Bruh David describes in the early stages of the psalm. ‘When I kept silence, my bones waxed (grew) old through my roaring (groaning) all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture (vitality) is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.’ (Ps. 32:3-4) 

Yes my people, that’s how we feel when our connection to Almighty God is missing, or simply not in tune. And we have no one else to blame but ourselves, for it’s our responsibility to go to Him in prayer for whatever ails us. And believe me, the confession of sin and its forgiveness can lift one’s soul from the very depths of misery and hell, right to the hallowed halls of heaven! 

But we need to stay steadfast in prayer and confession of sin. For as Bruh David further advises: ‘Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about (surround him). Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.’ (Ps. 32:10-11) 

Oh my fellow saints, we could not ask for wiser direction than that! But just remember that our heart must be right for it to work. We must be doing as Jesus advises: ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6:33) That’s Christianity 101 friends! 

And we all know it’s difficult to stay steadfast and focused on God in this evil and ungodly world, with so many distractions and bombardments constantly coming at us, but with God’s help we can certainly do it. And it all begins with prayer. So lets’ go to the throne of grace, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn seeking divine aid down here on earth. 

Altogether: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. Heavenly Father, You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Yes, we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. So, we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading for wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems. 

Oh Father, please ease the pain of the many suffering from negative situations, show them Your awesome grace and mercy. And faithfully keep Your promise to prosper us if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

And if we truly listen to our prayer, we can see that the basic elements for divine aid is a turning from evil ways, humility, prayer and sincerely seeking the Lord. So please let’s put that in our pipe and smoke it…that is if we truly want to receive divine aid! Much LOVE!

…there’s nothing that improves a believer’s life like…confession of sin…and the resultant forgiveness…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

The Overwhelming Need for Confession and Forgiveness in a Believer’s Life!

02 Aug 2024 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 32:1.        Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

It’s the big day people; Friday! And it’s especially big in the Province of Ontario because it’s our long Civic weekend holiday, where the yearly Caribana celebrations will be front and centre. They had the King and Queen Competition last night, and tonight the Steelbands will be on stage, then tomorrow the grand parade. So when we shout ‘TGIF! Thank God It’s Friday!’ many will truly be thankful. (smile) 

But fortunately, or unfortunately, my time for all the Caribana hoopla is over. I only go to the Steelband competition these days, as I don’t like the sorry spectacle it’s turned into. But that’s just my opinion…and anyway, the ole body can no longer handle all the physical exertion required to participate in the Saturday parade. (smile) 

Today however, we’ll look at Psalm 32, where Bruh David talks about Confession and Forgiveness, two things that are ever so necessary in a believer’s life, especially in these ungodly and evil times. So let’s read: ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no iniquity (doesn’t charge his account with sin), and in whose spirit there is no guile (deceit).’ (Ps. 32:1-2) 

Ah friends, those are such important words for us as believers. For Jesus died that we could be set free from the bondage of sin, and thus we have forgiveness of our sins through the shed blood of Christ on the cross of Calvary. And as Bruh Paul writes to the Ephesians: ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.’ ((Eph. 2:8-9) 

But does that give us the right to sin as we please? Obviously not! And Bruh Paul addresses that question in his letter to the Roman church, when he asks: ‘What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid (certainly not). How shall we, that are dead (who died) to sin, live any longer therein?’ (Rom. 6:1-2) 

That means we cannot take advantage of the grace that abounds from God for our sins and keep on living a sinful life. We ought to do our best to live righteously, although we’re still human and will sin occasionally. (smile) However, when we sin, it is in our best interest to ask for God’s forgiveness as soon as possible. 

Why? Listen to Bruh David from psalm 32: ‘When I kept silence, my bones waxed (grew) old through my roaring (groaning) all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture (vitality) is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.’ (Ps. 32:3-4) Yes mih bredrin, that’s what happens to us when we don’t confess our sins; they lay heavy on our souls, along with the Lord’s displeasure, such that our vitality, our pleasure in life seems to be lost. 

But look at what happens when we confess. Bruh David writes: ‘I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.’ (Ps. 32:5) Now that’s what we ought to do when we know that we have sinned. And we have a very good example of that not being done by Bruh Daid after he had sinned with Bathsheba. He only confessed his sin after the prophet Nathan, on the Lord’s directive, confronted him with it. And you can find that story in 2 Samuel 12. And from that, it seems Psalm 51- A Plea for Forgiveness – was born. 

There Bruh David writes: ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified (be found just) when thou speakest, and be clear (blameless) when thou judgest.’ (Ps. 51:1-4) 

And although Bruh David’s sin affected his work for God very much, and his confession and plea for forgiveness was somewhat late, the Lord forgave him because of his sincerity, but for the rest of his life he suffered for it with a dysfunctional family. And according to the scholars: ‘The psalm gives expression to why David was “a man after God’s own heart”: he was not perfect, but he had a sensitivity to sin that few knew about.’ 

So much so, that after confessing his sin and pleading for forgiveness, he continues with a plea for cleansing. ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all of mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right (steadfast) spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free (generous) spirit.’ (Ps. 51:7-12) 

Yes friends, ofttimes that’s the sort of cleansing we need for some of the sins we’ve committed. But please, let’s remember that if we don’t confess our known sins and ask for forgiveness, they will lay heavily on our conscience and will drag us down, causing us to lose our joy and be very ineffective witnesses for Christ. Now, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Friday Chant, asking for divine aid to live our best lives. 

Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough…   because our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving. And it’s obvious we can’t fix them on our own, so Lord, we’re desperately crying out for your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. We therefore ask you Lord to give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. 

And please help the rest of us to be responsible and to stay safe amidst all the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times. We fervently pray too Lord that you’ll use the discontent and dissatisfaction in our land as a means of restoring faith in you. Return backsliders to your fold. Show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a new flock of believers, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And as always, the granting of divine aid depends on the examples that we, supposedly faithful believers set. Much LOVE!

…God’s grace should not be abused…by continual and purposeful sin…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien