Confession, Praise, and Testimony

Psalm 66: 16-20 NLT, "Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what He did for me. For I cried out to Him for help, praising Him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer, praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw His unfailing love from me."

Are you familiar of the story of David in the Old Testament? Israel as a country, wanted a King. God did not have plans for them to have a human King, because He was their King.. however, He did what He does sometimes, and gave them what they wanted.

The King chosen was Saul. At first, Saul was doing things God's ways. Then, he got full of pride, and starting living for himself.

God then pulled His blessing from Saul and told the prophet to go anoint a new King. That new King was David. 

David was best friends with Saul's son, and married to one of Saul's daughters.That did not stop Saul from trying to kill David.

A lot of the Psalms were written by David as he was running and hiding from Saul to stay alive. 

Later on, David did something horrible. He saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof. He thought she was beautiful. She was married. But, he let lust get the best of him and he brought her to his house and slept with her. She got pregnant. Her husband was at war. David had him brought home, thinking he would go be with her and they could pretend the baby was his.

That didn't work. So, David had him moved to the front lines and killed in battle.

Adultery and murder... but he is described as a man after God's own heart. 

In the Scripture above, we see that David confessed his sins, and God listened to his prayer. We also see that David praised God and told people all that God had done.

This is a great example for us to follow. It is proof, that no matter what your sin is, God loves you and He will forgive you.

There are consequences to our sin. That is something we will endure. However, it's not a "punishment" as in God trying to get us back. It really is the fact of consequences. You can't touch the flame of a fire and expect to not get burned. That's your consequence for touching the flame. Ya know?

Confessing our sin to God seems weird, because He knows all... however, it is necessary for us to acknowledge. Praising God is us putting Him in his rightful place, above ourselves. And telling others what He's done is how people come to know, love and trust Him too.

It is my prayer that you will understand this and live it out. I am trying to do it in my own life.

God bless you today and always.