{"id":40181,"date":"2026-05-01T09:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=40181"},"modified":"2026-05-01T09:11:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:11:58","slug":"26-0501","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/26-0501\/","title":{"rendered":"Confession Reveals our Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\">by Max Lucado<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-40182 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/260501_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/260501_1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/260501_1-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We can\u2019t live with foreign objects buried in our bodies, or our souls. What would an X-ray of your interior reveal? Remorse over a poor choice? Shame about the marriage that didn\u2019t work, the temptation you couldn\u2019t resist? Guilt lies hidden beneath the surface. Festering, irritating, sometimes so deeply embedded you don\u2019t even know the cause of your pain.<\/p>\n<p>And you can be touchy, you know. Understandable, since you have a shank of shame lodged in your soul. Would you like an extraction? Here\u2019s what you do: confess. Ask God to help you. Psalm 139:23-24 is a model prayer. \u201c<strong>Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Confession. You see, confessors find a freedom that deniers do not. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins! He will cleanse us. Not might, could, would, or should. He\u00a0<em><strong>will<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-39891\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/unnamed-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Read more\u00a0<a title=\"Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine\" href=\"https:\/\/maxlucado.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=bed511e434184985961d50fcb&amp;id=6a2f9c636d&amp;e=0716428f80\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/maxlucado.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u%3Dbed511e434184985961d50fcb%26id%3D6a2f9c636d%26e%3D0716428f80&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775798206909000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1zMo3KJB1WgbHUeXiXIIkl\"><em>Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We can\u2019t live with foreign objects buried in our bodies, or our souls. What would an X-ray of your interior reveal? Remorse over a poor choice? Shame about the marriage that didn\u2019t work, the temptation you couldn\u2019t resist? Guilt lies hidden beneath the surface. Festering, irritating, sometimes so deeply embedded you don\u2019t even know the cause of your pain.<\/p>\n<p>And you can be touchy, you know. Understandable, since you have a shank of shame lodged in your soul. Would you like an extraction? Here\u2019s what you do: confess. Ask God to help you. Psalm 139:23-24 is a model prayer. \u201cSearch me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Confession. You see, confessors find a freedom that deniers do not. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins! He will cleanse us. Not might, could, would, or should. He will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-upwords"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40183,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40181\/revisions\/40183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}