to be hampered by pesky temptations or bogged down with an
extended time of confession—and you’re actually enjoying
momentary progress—make it a point to humbly admit your
continuous, never-ending need for God to keep you strong and
safe, alert to temptation or pride.
Though I didn’t consciously design an order to my
conversations with God, He did.
I didn’t realize until years after I had been following the
Praise-Admit-Request-Thanks pattern that requests of God are
best made from a confident, bold, and clean heart. Therefore,
when talking to God, your Request prayers should strategically
follow the Admit section of your prayer time, or in your prayer
notebook. This assures you that you will have more power in
prayer (James 5:16). (That would be the goal, right?)
In addition to many other Bible verses, the following verses
from the book of Psalms confirm this integral connection
between a clean heart before God and the release of God’s
power in prayer:
Psalm 66:18: “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would
not have listened.”Psalm 84:11: “No good thing does he withhold from those whose
walk is blameless.”Coming to God with a pure heart and clean mind gives you
confidence to talk to Him about the needs of others, while
simultaneously giving you boldness to talk to others about
Him.
Admission of sin is a willing act of humility that instantly
transports you into the presence of a holy God.