CONFESSION
Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 9
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Another view of the Wetsern Wall of the Temple Mount (also known as the Wailing Wall). Many Jews come to this special location regularly to pray, because it is close to where the Temple once stood which housed the presence of God.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Nehemiah 9:2
Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
Not only did the people confess their sins (a prerequisite to effective prayer), but they also confessed the history of God’s “amazing grace” through the centuries since Abraham. This is a thorough review of the past. Verse 36 brings the story to the present, “We are Your servants today!” “We are in great distress” (9:37b). Then we read the conclusion for the future: “We make a sure covenant and write it.” A “covenant” is the most solemn and binding agreement possible between two or more parties. In this case, it was a legal document between God and the individual person. It was most important that the “covenant” be witnessed and sealed by leaders, priests and Levites. We may want to conclude our meditation on chapter 9 by reading out loud from Nehemiah 9:5b to 9:38, the end of the chapter. Next, we may want to write our covenant with God and others over the next few days. For those people in Jerusalem, this process took 12 hours. Don’t rush it. Share it with me at davidmainse@crossroads.ca – share it with your leaders in faith. Perhaps this could even be a part of your last will and testament. Be generous with your family members, and then they’ll pay close attention when, by law, the lawyer is required to read it out loud. On second thought, it may be too personal to share it with me. You can leave that out, but I would be very interested to know that readers have taken me up on this suggestion. Believe me, it will be worth the huge effort required.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I confess my sins and trust You for the forgiveness You promised (2 Chronicles 7:14 and 1 John 1:9). I also confess as the people did. It is taking longer today, but You are not in a hurry. I pray that I will slow down and take more time with You. I pray this in the Name of the One who told the story of the Jew who collected taxes for Rome and prayed a short prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and who, according to Jesus, went to his home justified (made right in God’s sight), Amen! Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I confess that I’ve gone well over my goal of 100 words. Please forgive me, and I’m sorry to report that I’ll probably do it again. I guess that means that I have not truly repented. I have a bad cold just now and my head is stuffed up. I guess that includes my brain. What I really want is for my head to be stuffed full of God’s thoughts as recorded in Scripture.
From time to time I have written out a statement, put it in my top centre drawer in my desk, opened the drawer first thing each day, and read the statement. It was a very effective way to focus myself on those things that are really important! That statement was not what I want put in my will, but a sentence, using as few words as possible, to describe my commitment to God and to others. For example, when the Crossroads Ministry had a big financial need, I would write something like this: “I am absolutely sure that God will meet the needs of the ministry, providing sufficient funds to pay every bill!” What about that. The ministry is still moving forward after 51 years. Thank You, Lord!
Yours for spending whatever time is necessary on putting first things first, and as someone has said, “Let the main thing be the main thing!”
David
Pastor David….first let me say I pray your cold will clear and your stuffy head will feel better. Summer colds can be debilitating and I pray you will rest and feel better soon.
Never feel you must stick to just 100 words. It is obvious some of us do not!! Your encouragement through The Word starts our days on His path and that is uplifting. Thank you.
I pray all of us will take the time to write out a covenant and read it often. Thanks for the suggestion.
It was a blessing to read our scripture out loud this morning and to feel the impact it made.
Bless everyone as we go to Worship this Lord’s day.
pray along with you Catherine 🙂
Yes, Pastor David, May our Lord strengthen your immune system to relief you from your cold and restore your health. Thx for your faithfulness in writing out this blog in all circumstances! Thx for the challenge to spend time digesting ch 9 and to write out a new covenant with our Lord. I hope we all take the time to that.
Have a blessed evening.
Janet
Praying you are feeling strength from The Lord today Janet. Tomorrow I have my check up with my surgeon after my mastectomy a few months ago. I go in His strength and with His peace.
I will being keeping you in my thoughts and prayers, Catherine.
Thank you Colleen. Bless you.
A timely message today, which I will give thought and prayer to. It is assuring to know how our Lord forgives, restores and guides us in the way of truth and understanding. How anxiety can be alleviated by placing our faith and trust in Him. I pray you are feeling better soon and thank you for your additional words, always appreciated!!
Dear David M. As I head out to worship our Lord will be asking the parishners to pray with me for a quick recovery on your summer cold
Never be concerned that your 100 words are too many each of them are always a treasure to our soul
Will be deffinetly following your challenge in the coming days
God bless you all
XXX Carole
I have always assumed the 100 words part was a minimum requirement not the maximum, so for me as long as you write at least a hundred I don’t care if you go over, so need to apologize from my perspective. I will also be praying the Lord will strengthen your immune system to fight off your cold and give you patience to bear it while the healing process runs its course.
I also leave notes around my office and in my drawers to remind to think of the “big picture”. One of my favorites that I have carried for years is:
“The ultimate insult is to live as though God does not exist”.
Found a great quote from Timothy Kellor that addresses today’s topic: Whatever we worship we will serve, for worship and service are always inextricably bound together. We are
Thhankyou and God bless you and your family David Mainse!!!
Blessed Sabbath, David Mainse and fellow bloggers. It is good to be back and I took my time reading the Bible and all your blogs and praying for the needs as well. I read your all of your prayers for me before and after the operation for the first time as I didn’t have access to a computer in the hospitals and they didn’t want us to bring valuables. Your prayers were amazing, all of you and I took note of each one and they were answered as God gave me such peace and grace through it all that I don’t remember much pain at all but God’s amazing grace! God bless you.
Amen Ger! God is good!
So great to have you back Ger!!!! God Bless You!!! And Yes, God’s Grace is Amazing!!!
Praying for your cold, David. I just lost a long blog so here is a shortened version. I read that Ezra composed this prayer and it is the longest in the Bible. I felt led yesterday to pray for our sins toward God as a family as the Israelites did; perhaps this will help to bring revival. One thing that was impressed upon me while I was in the hospital that I cannot change anyone; it has to be a genuine work of the Holy Spirit as I am reading in D.L. Moody’s book, “The Overcoming Life” right now. God bless you everyone, and keep it coming.
God bless you, Ger. Great to see you’re back! “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness… The Lord is my portion ; therefore I will wait for him.” (Lam. 3:22 to24)
Bless you,
Janet
So good to see you back Ger, Praise God for answered prayer so your surgery
went fine, P.T.L.indeed .for Gods healing power.I will be praying for you
David that your cold will improve soon .Keep up the giving us 100 words and more
love every word you write.. thank you….R…
What is it they say? Confession is good for the soul. I believe there is truth to this, for without confession (admitting our sin) and a returning to the straight and narrow plumb-line as set out for us in God’s Word, we would of course continue to sin. To admit our guilt before a Holy God and to repent of sin is indeed a very healthy thing in keeping ‘in’ relationship with our Lord and then moving on in a healthy spiritual life.
Sorry to hear of your nasty cold David … I’m praying that you’ll feel better soon.
Hello David and fellow- bloggers thank you for your insights. Ger welcome back!!! Please keep my nephew Devon in your prayers as he is returning on Tuesday from a Young Life camp. God bless each one and thank you!!!!
It is late…. Just got home . Glad your back Ger.
Oh dear, David , not a pesky summer cold. Take 2 prayers and call God in the morning. That’s my prescription Lol .
Wow what a powerful statement/ covenant. It brings to mind the fact that The United States was founded on such a covenant. George Washington made it
in the tiny church which was at the twin towers base when the towers fell.
That church is still standing and was totaly unharmed while a total of seven building were distroyed. I think God was making a sttement by protecting that church. That church is where America was founded and dicated to God. DC did not exist that place plus wall street was the Capital.
The US government for the most part has definatly turned it’s back on God
and we can see the sad results unfolding day by day.They have broken their covenant with The All Mighty. Many people are saying the US is the new Rome.
I’ve read where the twin towers have been compared to The tower of Bable .
A symble of arigance and pride. I pray for our American neighbours.
We all need to pray for our leaders and our people in Canada and The US.
Sadly both countries have fallen short. Even sadder is the fact that many people
Seem to be oblivious to their sins. It’s just one big party for so many people today.
A covenant is a serious undertaking! One would need to think it through very carefully.
Blessings to all! xo
M. 🙂