Praying Honestly
Are you honest with God when you pray? Lots of people struggle with being completely honest with Him. Instead, they pick and choose the things they pray about. They hide certain sins and confess others that aren’t as embarrassing.
But Scripture says that we don’t need to clean up our life before we come to God. God is the one who created us, and He knows everything about us. So there is nothing that we can hide from Him. He already knows the innermost parts of our thoughts and desires.
The writer of Psalm 139 prays for God to search his heart and mind, and to bring up anything that he might be unaware of that is hiding beneath the surface. This is a prayer that we’re all invited to pray.
We cannot be healed from the things we try to hide. In order to experience the grace and mercy of God, we must bring everything to Him. When He searches us and brings things to mind, He’s inviting us to humbly confess them to Him.
This prayer in Psalm 139 is an open and honest plea for God to continue to purify and sanctify our hearts. God can handle the heaviest parts of us, and He is not surprised by what happens in our thoughts.
Honesty before God is the only way we can grow into the people He wants us to be. We cannot grow in our spiritual life by hiding secrets or guarding our thoughts from God.
So take a moment today to make Psalm 139 your prayer. Ask God to search your heart and see if there is anything hiding that you’re unaware of. When He brings something up, take it to Him and ask for forgiveness. Ask for the power of His Spirit to lead and guide you through this time.
God is faithful and merciful to continue to love us in spite of our shortcomings. He will continue to walk with you and lead you into eternal life with Him.
Luke 16
“And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my Lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had ...
My True Identity
John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”
Many of us define ourselves by what we do. You might be a teacher, or a firefighter, or an accountant—“that’s who I am." But God’s plans often lead us outside of the very things we believe define us.
Our ultimate defining identities are not in what we do, but in who we are: children of God. It sounds simple, but it’s a deeply profound truth.
Receiving Jesus and identifying as a child of God isn’t passive. It’s not just slapping on a name tag and continuing life as usual. Taking on that identity is a daily, active decision. It means fully accepting Jesus’ love, authority, and call on our lives.
He gives us the freedom to live beyond labels, past wounds, and even seemingly good things that can hold us physically or emotionally captive. He breaks the chains of people living in poverty, addiction, or grief.
You are no longer a...