Prayer Topic
That God will lead His people into true repentance for sin.
Prayer Focus
Prayer for forgiveness of hidden and presumptuous sins.
Scripture Reading
“Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptious sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, adn I shall be innocent from the great transgression” (Psalm 19:12-13).
Devotional
Sin is deceptive. It blinds us to our true spiritual condition. When we assume or pretend that we have no need of repentance, our spiritual blindness remains. Jesus said to the Pharisees, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:41). When God gives us the gift of true repentance for sin, we will recognize both our “secret faults,” the sins that only we know about, and our “presumptous sins.” Presumptous sins can be either private or public in nature, but they always presume on God’s grace to overlook something that we know to be wrong. Ellen White explains, “[P]resumption is Satan’s counterfeit of faith. Faith claims God’s promises, and brings forth fruit in obedience. Presumption also claims the promises, but uses them as Satan did, to excuse transgression” (Desire of Ages, p. 126). Pray today that God will keep you from both secret and presumptous sins.
Prayer Promise
“Our prayers are to be as earnest and persistent as was the petition of the needy friend who asked for the loaves at midnight. The more earnestly and steadfastly we ask, the closer will be our spiritual union with Christ” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 146).