How can we return to God and find forgiveness and mercy? Prayer begins with praise, but Jesus moved from praise to another important component of prayer. In His model prayer He continued, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” (Matthew 6.10 ESV).
Why did Jesus pray for the kingdom to come and the Father’s will to be done? The kingdom of God is mentioned 103 times in the Bible and is a very important concept. When you think of a kingdom, your mind immediately goes to geographic boundaries and territories, but God’s kingdom isn’t about land and boundaries. When questioned by Pilate, the Roman governor, Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world,” (John 18.36 ESV).
God’s kingdom is something different.
Here’s a definition: The kingdom of God is the rule of God in the lives of His people. To be part of God’s kingdom is to do His will, and those who do God’s will are part of His kingdom. So when you pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” you are praying: “Father, right now I want you to rule in my life. Just for today, I submit my life to your loving leadership. I surrender my will to your perfect will. I acknowledge and come under your authority because you know what is best for me. I don’t want to go my way; I want to go your way, Father. I want to fulfill your purpose for my life.”
Unfortunately, the truth is that we often don’t live that way. There are many areas of our lives where we go outside of God’s will. We sin. We fail. We struggle. We wander. That’s why we need to return to the Lord.
Returning to God and finding forgiveness and mercy.
In (Psalm 51 ESV), King David is returning to God. Though his secret sin entangled him, and his choices sent him drifting far from God, David was making his way home. Take an honest inventory. David said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me,” (Psalm 51.5 NIV). David understood that there was a natural tendency in him to sin. That sinful tendency is in all of us.
In (Psalm 139.23-24 NLT) David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Returning begins with asking God to show you the areas of your life that veer outside the loving boundaries of His will.
Confessing your sin to God.
Confessing your sin means to see it the way God sees it. Listen to David’s words: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge,” (Psalm 51.3-4 NIV). David’s not minimizing, he’s not making excuses, he’s not blame shifting — he’s owning his sin. He is beginning to see that his sin is an affront to a holy God who loves him! (Proverbs 28.13 NIV) says, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
Asking God to forgive you.
David prays, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions,” (Psalm 51.1 NIV). The whole Bible can be summed up in one word: forgiveness. We all have sinned against God. We all deserve God’s judgment. But, God loved you so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross in your place to pay the penalty for your sin. If you will look to Jesus, confess your sin and return to Him, He will forgive you.
Accept God’s cleansing work in your life.
Look at David’s description of a forgiven person: “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin,” (Psalm 51.2 NIV). “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow,” (Psalm 51.7 NIV). “Create in me a pure heart, O God,” (Psalm 51.10 ESV).
A forgiven person is clean on the inside. (1 John 1.8-9 NIV) says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
This blog features an excerpt from one of our books, Walk With God.
