January 18: Nehemiah 1:1-11

The Confession of the sin of God’s people (verses 6-7)

The prayer acknowledges the depth and seriousness of the sin against God and identifies all involved, even the one praying. Confession begins with the recognition that we are a part of the problem. How have we contributed to the problem?

I am sure that many who have been following these prayers have grown weary of the repetition of these confessions. Nehemiah’s prayer is essentially the same one Daniel prayed 94 years before. Sadly, sin continues to proliferate and to do great spiritual harm, until God’s people cry out in confession. It was needed in Daniel’s day, it was needed in Nehemiah’s day, and it is still needed in our day.

“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Proveerbs 28:13, ESV)

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1John 1:7, ESV)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9, ESV)

Many Christian leaders today warn devotees that to continually confess sins is tantamount to cheapening God’s unmerited favor or, worse, mocking Him. Do they have a point, or not?

First, we should note that the apostle John urged his “dear children” in the faith—those who have been “forgiven on account of [Christ’s] name” (1 John 2:12)—to continually confess their sins (1 John 1:9). Far from cheapening God’s grace, confession purifies our hearts and restores the joy of our salvation.

Continuous confession brings with it the certain promise that God is “faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Hank Hanegraaff’s Daily e-Truth, Christian Research Institute

REVIVAL IS NEEDED:

• When the Church cares more about what the world thinks than about what God’s Word says
• When Christians find it easier to sit on hard benches for hours to be entertained than to sit on padded pews for an hour of worshipping God and hearing His Word, in other words, when worldliness so captures the hearts of believers that we are consumed by our selfish desires
• When Christians value entertainment in their meetings more than edification and instruction, in other words, when there exists a serious decline in the church’s appetite for spiritual things
• When the Church is more concerned about finances than about ministry, more about attendance than about the salvation of souls
• When Christians see Bible study and prayer as optional in their lives rather than mandatory to their spiritual health
• When political discussions consume more time, attention, conversations, and emotions than the world’s need for Christ
• When Christians think that society’s problems can be solved by political and economic means rather than through moral and spiritual transformation
• When Christians desire the comfortable, the status quo, the familiar more than the passionate pursuit of the power, presence, and blessing of God
• When the Church is more committed to worldly principles, values, and solutions than to following Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, by faith into the uncharted territory of obedience, sacrifice, and service
• When there is more world in the Church than Church in the world; when we are more interested in getting our way than we are in making an impact on the world
• When more time is spent combatting apathy, indifference, divisions, and fighting in the Church than is spent in seeking to reach the lost
• When Christians have lost reverence for God, His gospel, and spiritual matters and trivialize Christianity by their lack of respect
• When wickedness triumphs in the culture while the Church sits by observing, seemingly helpless to counter it
• When Christians have lost their first love
• When sin in the Church is overlooked, excused, or hidden rather than dealt with through the Biblical principles of rebuke, correction, repentance or removal, forgiveness, and restoration (Church Discipline)