If you were to look at my time with the Lord after falling into sin, you would see me avoiding eye contact with my heart. I have realized, the importance of going before the Lord and addressing my heart.

Going to the Lord after I sin is not easy. The weight of the committed sin weighs heavy on me as I think of how the Lord abhors sin. I forget that while He hates sin, He loves me. I am not the sin I committed, so the Lord does not hate me.

Sin is not a "me" problem, "Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5 NRSV), for we were all born in sin, but sin is a heart problem. I have to ask myself, what does this sin say about what is in my heart?

Maybe my desires are misplaced, maybe there was something in my past that planted a seed of sin I have not addressed yet, maybe there is a lie about myself or the Lord I am believing. Maybe I am selfish, maybe I am prideful? Whatever the reason, I have to look past the sin itself and at what is in my heart.

Sitting down and addressing that is not always easy, but if I really want to be freed from sin I must sit and do the work, I must be willing to address my heart.

In Matthew it reads, "The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:35 NRSV). Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, what is in my heart comes out of my mouth and can influence my actions.

What does this mean? It means I need to spend time with the Lord addressing the issues of my heart so the things coming out of my mouth would represent a healthy heart, not a heart filled with sin.

In order to heal and overcome  sin I must address the wound. Avoiding it allows it to get worse, eventually leading to infection. An unchecked heart will lead to a heart infected with sin.

I will leave us with a prayer,

Abba, Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for the ways you love me. I pray that as I begin to do the heart work, you would lead me. Would you increase my willingness to really look inside my heart and see what is there? Would you help me to open my eyes to the truth that I need you more today than the day before and I will need you even more tomorrow? I pray that you would begin to bring up the things that are in my heart that draw me to sin. The things in my heart that draw me to turning my face in the opposite direction of yours, would you show me?  I pray that you would help me to address these things when I spend time with you and that I would no longer avoid them. Would you help me see that freedom comes when I address that I am bound or shackled in some way? Would your peace and comfort blanket me as I come before you?

I pray all of these things in Jesus' name, Amen.