When my children were little I explained why they should confess their sins. "Suppose" I said, "that I used the same plate at lunch you used for breakfast but didn't wash it. And suppose I used that same plate to serve your dinner and still didn't wash it. But I filled the plate with mashed potatoes and peas and fried chicken so most of the egg, toast, and peanut butter didn't show. Would you like that good dinner I cooked?" They were emphatic that they wouldn't eat it. "Mom washes the breakfast and lunch dishes so they are ready to use again. That is how it is when you need to confess your sins. When you ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you, He does, and washes your heart so it is clean and ready to be filled with His presence."

There are things we have to do, and things only the Lord can do for continuous fellowship with our Father. Our part is "let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).

This is the first key for our part.

Do you struggle to get what you have learned about the Lord from your mind to your heart and life? You are not alone for most Christians have this problem. One man learned the secret, Brother Lawrence, a monk who lived a simple life and learned to fellowship with the Lord while he worked. Also the Apostle Paul knew how to walk with the Lord and wrote about it in nearly every one of his letters.

Remember: "if we confess our sins to Him, He can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died ot wash away our sins" (I John 1:9,10). Confessing the "things that slows us down and holds us back" are the sins we don't take seriously because we think they aren't really bad.

God's part is that He forgives our sins and washes us clean inside. After we have confessed our sins we must "Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor." Focus your attention on remaining in God's holy presence as Brother Lawrence said in his little book The Practice of the Presence of God. He wrote, "I keep my attention on God in a simple, loving way. This is my soul's secret experience of the actual, unceasing presence of God. It gives me much contentment and joy."

Memory Verse: "God is light and Him is no darkness at all. So if we say we are his friends but go on living in spiritual darkness and sin, we are lying. But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin" (1 John 1:5-7)

Prayer: Father, I see why it is necessary to confess my sins. Thank you for forgiving me and washing my life clean so you can live with me in unhindered fellowship. I don't want to justify the wrong things I do and blame others for my bad conduct. I ask you to point out to me when I offend you so I can confess my sin and realize there is still power in the blood of Jesus to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. In this way I can obey your command to be holy because you are holy.

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