Likewise in Nehemiah 1 we see a similar situation. Nehemiah was told of the plight of Jerusalem and he spent some days mourning and praying before God. Then eventually in verse 5 he began praying about Jerusalem and confessing the sins of the nation.

Both Ezra and Nehemiah could have prayed their prayers of confession immediately. They chose not to but instead to mourn and ponder the sin that God’s people had committed. And after that they both prayed powerful prayers of confession.

Perhaps there is a lesson here to be learnt about the importance of preparing ourselves to do serious business with God. Maybe in preparing both men really were able to grasp and appreciate the graveness of the sin and this influenced their prayers of confession accordingly.

It occured to me that there is a spiritual lesson for us to learn here. When we expose the light of Christ to our life we will see sin that needs to be destroyed.  If we bring our sin to the light of Christ and ask for His forgiveness and turn from our wrong ways we will know the joy of His cleansing touch.

Sometimes bringing sin to the light can be painful. We may not want to admit what we have done and would prefer that it remained hidden. However the more we allow the light into our hearts the more cobwebs we can see destroyed!

The whole article can be found here.

Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they should offend against God…… It is sadly true, that even a Christian may grow by degrees so callous, that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him in the least. By degrees men get familiar with sin….. At first a little sin startles us; but soon we say, “Is it not a little one?” Then there comes another, larger, and then another, until by degrees we begin to regard sin as but a little ill….. So we palliate sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names. Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall by little and little. Sin. a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness?….. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Saviour, and you will see it to be “exceedingly sinful.”

Say to them, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?

This wonderful verse challenges us to turn to God and forsake our sin. Even though sin may sometimes seem attractive in the short term it always ultimately leads to death. Why would we choose death instead of life? It’s crazy to do that yet sadly we often do.

God takes no pleasure in our death He would rather we turned and lived. Let us then give Him pleasure by turning back to Him!

Prayer ” Dear Lord, please give us the grace to turn from our wicked ways and truly return to you and live. Amen”

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come. (Matthew 12:32 NIV)

This is obviously a very sobering verse and I think many of us, especially if we are prone to worrying, ask ourselves “Is it I?”

I have this week come across three very good articles on the unpardonable sin and if you are worried that you might have committed this sin then I would recommend you read these. Please note I have not posted these to scare anyone but to shed some light on this subject especially for those of us who like myself tend to worry.

The Unpardonable Sin by Ed Welch looks at the passage in Matthew 12

The Sin That Will Never Be Forgiven by Geoff Thomas looks at Mark 3:29-30 and then goes on to also look at Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-29

The Sin That Won’t Go Away by William Smith looks at Mark 3:22-30 and Hebrews 6:1-9

If you have any thoughts on this feel free to contact me via Twitter

A.W. Tozer said, “Every one of us is the sum of what we secretly admire, what we think about and what we would like to do most if we become free to do what we wanted to do.” Think about that. If money, jail time, conscience, family, friends, and God were not constraints, would you spend your time following Christ, learning of Him? Be honest, because the way you truthfully answer this question will reveal to you a lot about where you are in your walk with God. What do you want to be exposed to when you have the opportunity? What is lighting your fire, and where is the light going out?

Food for thought!

I’m convinced that without the fear of God, we cannot experience lasting deliverance from sin. Yet, in many churches the fear of the Lord has become a taboo subject. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the fear of God?

Read the full posting entitled “Victory Over Your Besetting Sin.”

“We have to recognise that sin is a fact, not a defect; sin is red-handed mutiny against God. Either God or sin must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue. If sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed. There is no possible ultimate but that.”