Lord Jesus Christ, speak to me.

Daniel 9:4-7: I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.”Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.

The letter “C” in ACTS stands for “confess” or “confession.” It makes sense to me that when I am in the presence of greatness, it comes naturally for me to being to express adoration or praise. The same is true with confession. When we are around someone that is better than us in some way, we begin to realize our inadequacies. If I’m playing basketball with Michael Jordan (or Kobe Bryant or my brother (just kidding!)), I will quickly realize that I am outmatched. I don’t have the skills. I think the same holds true with connecting with God. As we enter His presence, we adore. It’s natural. He’s awesome. He’s amazing. But at the same time, we become increasing aware of how not awesome we are. We realize that we are not what He is. He is holy, pure, just, righteous. We are not. And we have to confess. We need forgiveness. We need restoration. So as we approach God in prayer, begin with adoration. Follow with confession. Just be honest with God about your screw-ups, your failures. Just admit it. You don’t measure up. Confession is good for the soul.

Take some time today in prayer to adore, to worship. Follow that up with a time of confession. Be real with God. Confess. Ask His forgiveness.