Praying in true repentance

Lately I've noticed that I rarely recognise and truly repent of my sins. If I am to be truly honest, I have a pretty poor perception of how sinful I really am. Often my sins are not overtly noticeable to others - I sneakily make sure that my actions seem pure on the outside - so it's easier to get away with it. Often I can't even see them in myself! But at the heart level, my motives can be so repulsive to God. And to be honest, I rarely acknowledge this.

We are so frequently told that Jesus died once for all of our sins - which is true - but I think this allows me to settle into a level of complacency that is unhelpful, if not destructive. When was the last time you actively sat down and listed your sins to God? Sins of omission, or commission, of actions, of thoughts, and of motives? While Jesus has died and risen in our place, paying the penalty we should have paid for our sinfulness, we still need to be repenting daily in order to grow in righteousness and to develop a deeper and richer relationship with the Lord.

So even though it's not as attractive as praying in thanks, praise, and petition, we should not neglect the important step of confession as we fall at our Heavenly Father's feet. Perhaps the best place to start is by asking the Spirit to reveal the repulsive things in us that we can't necessarily see.