Today is our day to pray and fast together. The second major step in a person coming to the knowledge of God in their life is their understanding of sin. Most of us, right now, have a sin in our life that we are unaware of. Our understanding and accepting of this reality will help us remember what it is like for others in their journey of finding God. They are unaware that they are sinning every day. Pray for them to become aware. What causes the heart to become aware of sin? God’s commands! There are many commands given to us from God and sometimes we’re ignorant of these commands and so we become unaware of our guilt. As we go about our daily lives and are involved in acts or attitudes that make us feel guilty, the feelings lead us on a journey of exploring “why we feel this way? This can lead to rationalizing what we feel is not real and we do not have to pay attention to this feeling of guilt, or we often excuse ourselves and blame others for our wrongdoing. This is where the Bible is powerful. Just take the Ten Commandments? Most people will listen to the commandments and agree that they have broken one or two of the ten. They then rationalize that they are still a good person and the good they do is greater than the bad they do. Here is a real cruncher to this process; Jesus said the greatest command is to do what?… to “love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and all of your being”… do we? 24/7? If we fail in any part of this commandment it confirms that we are a sinner or violator of God’s greatest law! Paul grasped this when he called himself the greatest sinner of all men! Martin Luther also sank to the bottom of despair when he realized his guilt. Both men (and many others) found themselves filled with agony, wretchedness, aware that they had no ability to love God 24/7. This awareness was the door to their freedom and the beginning of a relationship and knowledge of God. As we pray today, let’s pray for those in our circle of influence and on our prayer lists to become aware of the enormous gap between a life of full obedience and a life full of sin! Pray that God’s Word pierces and cuts deep into the heart…resulting in…SALVATION! Amen.
