*****  From TODAY *****

If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear"  Psalm 66:18

This verse can be misunderstood; it almost seems to say that we can't pray if we've sinned. Some who have stumbled into particular sins might feel wrong about praying to a holy God with the memory of those sins still fresh. God couldn't be expected to listen, they reason. But that is just when we most need prayer. Far from keeping us from God, our sins and failures should drive us to Him.

In order to understand this verse we must remember what it means to "regard wickedness in my heart." To regard a thing is to esteem it highly. If sin is held in such regard by us, then it will have come between God and us. It has then endered itself to us, and then that sin interferes with both God's hearing and our praying. But sin may never be regarded that way. Sin must be abandoned. And anyone, no matter what the sin nor how often committed, may be heard by God the moment he repents and confesses before Him. Jesus died to make it possible for God to hear confessions.

So keep praying; no feeling of unworthiness should keep you from casting yourself upon God. If you have stumbled into a sin that seems especially grievous, do not wait to pray until you begin to feel holy. Such feelings of holiness apart from prayer are deceptions. Pray with your sense of guilt and need still heavy one you.