"The Connection"

 "Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth." (John 9:31 KJV)

  "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." (Psalm 66:16-20 NLT)

 I know that I don't need to explain this, because anyone that is a child of God, already knows how this works, and when it does not work: God hears our prayers when we have clean hands! As it says above, "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." And, more real than ever, if God hears you, you know it! 

 Any questions? Like that one question asked over and over, "How do you know He heard you?" Well! In a strange and absolute sort of way, all is well! You will know because there is peace in your heart over whatever it was that you were previously concerned about or fearful over. Not that anything actually has to change with what was wrong, but if God is on your side, it is all alright!

 We might not think that we need to keep confessing our sins; as if, that was settled when we came to Christ, and when all of our sins were washed away. Yes, it is true that Jesus died on the cross for every sin; but we are still prone to sin, which means that we will also still have consequences for the sin, in one form or another. 

 One such consequence might just be a failure to connect with our Heavenly Father! Not that we are no longer His child, but more like a time-out, due to iniquity in our heart, which is pretty much the same as rebellion, which is wickedness!  

 Any way you might look at that, you must always come His child, in need of a Father's love! You will know that love when you feel it, because there is nothing better than coming into His presence... 

"If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts." (1 John 1:8-10 NLT)