Temple Cleansing Time I Scripture:Matthew 6:12 (KJV)
“2And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Jesus is telling us that the ideal prayer contains both a request for personal forgiveness “forgive us our debt” and for a forgiving spirit. “as we forgive our debtors”
- The most costly thing that God has ever done was to provide mankind with forgiveness of sin.
- I believe we all know the principles of sin, guilt and judgment.
- Sin makes us guilty; when we sin we are separated from God.
- Forgiveness has been provided and offered by God, only through Jesus Christ.
- Confession and repentance is necessary.
In the bible days a criminal was crucified with the record of his crimes at the top of the cross for everyone to see why he was being executed. The apostle Paul is telling us in Colossians 2:13-14 that when Jesus died on the cross, God pulled all the pages out of the sin books and nailed them to the cross as if they were the crimes of Jesus, and when Jesus died He paid the penalty for our sins. We no longer have to be in debt to our sin.
Once we have been saved we have received God’s judicial forgiveness now he extends to us relational forgiveness, which needs to be done daily because sometimes our feet get a little muddy and that can clog our relationship with Christ.
The Prophet Daniel knew the first thing he must do when he came before a Holy and righteous God would be to Confess sins, if he was going to petition God to turn away His wrath and hear the prayers of his servants “I prayed to the Lord and I confessed” We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets. Lord you are righteous but we are covered with shame” (Daniel 9:4-6)
What is confession? The Greek word for confess means “to agree with God” “to admit my guilt’ when we confess our sins we admit we have sinned we have done wrong, we confess our spiritual short comings. Daniel confessed not only his own personal sin but also the sins of the nation; they had rebelled and rejected God.
There are some rules regarding prayer that we need to follow and one of them is “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps.66:18)
According to scripture we can not be effective in our prayer when sin maintains it grip on the believer’s life.
That is why confession is so critical and should be implemented early in our prayer time. We must admit the acts that displease God and then we have the responsibility to change those acts. It may not be a pleasant experience to examine our faults but it is a necessary step we must take, because a Holy God can not pour himself into a temple that is unholy. Confession initiates the process of cleansing our spiritual temple.
Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
James 5: 16 says that the effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.
Fasting is like doing a spiritual cleaning, it may not be a pleasant experience but it is a necessary step we must take to if we are to be confident in our prayer as we approach a most Holy and awesome God.
Prayer:
Lord I confess my sin before you, you said if I confess that you would forgive me (1John 1:9) and cleanse from all my unrighteousness. Lord I want to be in right standing with you because there is a world that needs me. I want to see things and people the way that you see them. Align my heart with yours. As my physical body begins to crave the things it desires let my spirit also begin to crave you, let the sweetness of your word fill me today. Thank you for renewing my mind, body and spirit. I belong to you and you are the strength of my life. Read Daniel 9