“Keep Talking” (A Discussion of Prayer & Confession)

Pastor Mike
A wooden mannequin is standing next to a black telephone.

I have a friend who likes to talk on the phone. Many times, he responds to a text with a phone call. Many times, he calls out of the blue, saying, “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.” The conversation that follows is sometimes short, sometimes long, but always delightful. Rarely do we have important information to share with each other, but his desire to chat and shoot the breeze with me shows me where I stand. It’s his way of showing what kind of friendship we have.


Not everyone is the same way. Not every friendship needs constant communication to thrive. Some friends are as close as ever, sending each other memes on Instagram all day long, with hardly a word about their personal lives. Others can drop an email update here and there, and still feel like the best of friends. The way “close communication” looks will vary from person to person, but in any relationship it has to be there.


The applications to prayer are fairly obvious. Recently, I began a bible study on the topic of prayer by asking each participant to describe what it is. Not surprisingly, each answer had something to do with conversing with God. Wouldn’t you have said something similar? It is widely understood that prayer is as simple as speaking to God.


When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, this is exactly the way he described it. He said, “When you pray, say: Father…” (Luke 11:2). Open up the chat and start typing. Dial the phone and start calling. To begin to pray is as simple as beginning to speak to a friend. And when you do, you can address God as your “Father.”


This sounds so basic and familiar to Christians and non-Christians alike that the significance behind Jesus’ instruction can be lost. The Bible shows that our sins have separated us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Our natural, default stance toward God is nothing close to the warmth and friendliness that Jesus implies in Luke 11. When it comes to God, our sinful nature defaults to hostility (Romans 8:7-8).


So then, how do so many people get it in their heads that we have the right to talk to God? Clearly something has changed. In Romans 8, Paul chronicles the journey we have taken from being God’s adversaries to his friends, from enemies of God to his children. It is because God has set us free from our sin that he has also set us free from our own hostility toward him. God has ended the separation between us and him through Christ (Romans 8:1-4). He sends his Spirit into our hearts to bring us into this beautiful relationship (Romans 8:9-11). This relationship is expressed by our actions of thanksgiving for what Christ has done (Romans 8:12-13), and by our crying out to God for help and mercy (Romans 8:14-17).


We have the right to pray, to talk to God, expressing our needs, our desires, our anxieties, and our sorrows, because we now stand in a beautiful relationship of grace thanks to Jesus. Without this faith relationship with God, the separation our sins created would remain. Without Christ’s righteousness covering over us through faith (Galatians 3:26-27), we would not have the right to address God as anything but our Judge. That is why, without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and therefore impossible for the unbelieving heart’s prayers to be heard. But through this faith which is God’s gift to us (Ephesians 2:8), we pray confidently, knowing that for Christ’s sake, God hears us (1 John 5:13-14), and he will answer our prayers according to his gracious will (1 John 5:15).


While it’s true that God doesn’t necessarily give us exactly what we ask for, he does answer each prayer. He may determine that what we ask for is not what’s best for us (2 Corinthians 9:7-9). He may seem to delay in giving us what we ask for, because of his superior timing and wisdom (1 Samuel 1:3-20). Or he may give us exactly what we request (James 5:17-18).


This is why “talking to God” is still a great definition of what prayer is. Yes, we are invited to sincerely talk to God about our hopes and wants. And as we do, we are expressing what we believe about God. It’s not too far a stretch of logic to say that if you call upon God’s name in your troubles (Psalm 91:15), that means you believe he will help you in your troubles. Nor is it out of line to assume that if you pray to God for your daily bread (Luke 11:3), you’re saying that you believe he is the one that provides for your needs (Psalm 145:15-16). Each prayer that you pray is, at its core, an expression of your faith-relationship with him – an expression of what you believe God can do, and who you believe God is.


This is also why we have the ability to do something else that, when you think about it, is completely ridiculous. God hates sin. We’ve discussed this in previous devotions. God is holy and pure and cannot abide our natural unholiness and impurity. Yet Jesus commands that our prayers should include confessing our sins (Luke 11:4). If God were only just and angered by sin, this would be a trap! It would be as if Jesus were commanding us to call our local judge and confess to crimes we’ve committed, sending ourselves to prison!


Thankfully, God is not only just, but he is also gracious. He solved our sin-problem for us through Jesus. He has established a relationship of love with us through Christ, and part of that relationship is the continual forgiveness for our sins Jesus affords (1 John 2:1-2).


What a miraculous change, that we can bring the sins we’ve committed against God straight to God! Not only so, but we have the promise that he hears every confession and responds with merciful forgiveness for Christ’s sake (1 John 1:8-10)! God invites us into such a relationship of honesty, openness, and acceptance, that we are free to admit our deepest, darkest secrets to him, and trust in his forgiveness! We want to continue to confess our sins to God in our prayers, always remembering that we stand in the grace of Christ.


For a beautiful example of using God’s gift of prayer to confess deep and dark sin, read Psalm 51. In the first six verses, David expresses the full extent of the problem, essentially saying, “I am all wrong, and I have done wrong. I don’t even deserve to be praying to you right now, God!” But in the next verses (Psalm 51:7-12), he finds shelter in the merciful character of God. David trusts that God forgives him, because of the kind of God he is. Finally, (Psalm 51:13-19) David makes a plan to respond to God’s love by sharing the news of it with others, and by going to worship and praising God’s name with other believers. This is why we sometimes speak of confession, or “repentance” as a three step process: 1) opening up to God with a humble and “all-cards-out” diagnosis of our sin problem, 2) seeking refuge in God’s forgiveness and trusting in his love, and 3) making a plan to go forward in that love, showing our thankfulness to God for his forgiveness. Number 3 can include attempting to right whatever wrongs we confessed in number 1, as Zacchaeus did when he repented of his sins (Luke 19:8).


We have the right to confess our sins directly to God, but doing so out loud to one another is of great benefit (James 5:16). It can be hard to say a silent prayer of confession on your own and trust that you’re forgiven after you’ve said “amen.” This shows the wisdom and grace of God in giving us the privilege to pronounce forgiveness to one another (John 20:22-23). We become mouth-pieces of Christ himself whenever we have the opportunity to speak the tremendous comfort of sins forgiven (2 Corinthians 5:20). So, while confessing sins to a church leader or fellow Christian is not a new law, it is encouraged throughout the New Testament as a blessing to make use of, to give a brother or sister in Christ the chance to pronounce that beautiful forgiveness to you. This is also why each of our worship services begins with a group confession of sins and pronouncement of forgiveness (called “absolution”).


Above all, it’s about expressing what kind of relationship we believe to have with God. We believe in a God who listens (Proverbs 15:29). So, speak to him often! We believe in a God who answers prayer. So, present your requests to him (Philippians 4:6)! We believe in a God who is merciful, who forgives. So, confess your sins to him freely (1 John 1:9)! We believe in a God who gives us brothers and sisters to be his conduits of love to one another (Ephesians 4:11-13, James 5:16). So, make use of these gifts by talking about your sins to a brother or sister you trust!


In your relationship with God, be like my friend. Let your love for God and the confidence in what you know to be true about him resonate in frequent prayer.


Have more thoughts and questions about prayer and confession? Let us know by contacting us! Or join us for Bible Class any Sunday at 9am, and/or our worship service full of prayer and praise to God at 10:15am. God bless you!



Pastor Mike Cherney

The Art of Giving: Conclusion

By Pastor Mike • June 27, 2025
There! Now that we’ve cleared up all the misunderstandings above giving an offering, we are all ready to worship God in this way with regularity and joy! I’m just kidding. We’ve only touched on a few of the false conceptions that are possible. Because giving is an act of sanctification – a fruit of faith, thankfully offered to God in response to the gospel – it is something to “grow into.” There may still be misgivings, questions, and reluctance. Some readers may have been seriously hurt by church leaders who prevailed too strongly upon their debit cards and bank accounts. To those, one blog post will not be sufficient to restore the act of giving to its Scriptural, rightful place. For others, giving was never properly explained as a fruit of faith, not an act that earns goodness from God. To those, I pray this discussion has been helpful. I write this post as one who is himself growing in the act of giving. May God continue to shape our understanding of how to use our gifts to his glory. Giving to God is not a science. The act of giving looks differently among Christians, just as their acts of service and fruits of faith look differently. There are no hard-and-fast equations. We can’t say that giving an offering ensures that you’ll get rich in return (maybe God will choose to bless you in this way, maybe not). We can’t say that giving will come easy once you have a more stable income (your sinful nature will likely resist no matter how much income you have). We can’t say that you should never feel concerned or self-critical over your giving (is there ever an amount that will properly express your thankfulness to God?). So, I would say that giving is much more of an art. After taking in all of Scripture’s guidance about how to approach the act of giving, we proceed using our best judgment. We start with the gospel, meditating on what wonderful things God has done for us through Jesus Christ. We then look at the gifts God has given to us: our finances, our time, our personality gifts. We envision how to respond to God’s goodness with these gifts. While there are some acts of giving that will look very similar among various Christians (for example, we all give of our time when we attend worship and Bible study together), each one of us goes through our own process of deciding how best to respond to the gospel with our gifts. We submit our hearts to God for audit, recognizing that there are often mixed motives within them (Psalm 139:23-24). We rely on God to work within us and through us even as we thank him (Philippians 2:13). After all, this is about our relationship with God – not about securing it for ourselves with offerings, because it is already secure in Christ. Rather, it is about living out a relationship of worship with God, expressing to him and to the world what he means to us. To that end, let’s close with these verses from Hebrews: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16) God bless you as you find joy in God’s pleasure over you for Christ’s sake, and as you respond to this gospel with thanksgiving! Pastor Mike Cherney 

The Art of Giving: Misunderstanding #5 – We live under the Tithe Law (giving one tenth of one’s gifts).

By Pastor Mike • June 27, 2025
This is a very common conception of the offering, and up to this point it might appear that we also teach the tithe – the practice of giving one tenth of one’s goods as a matter of the law, and not to deviate from that percentage. This is commanded to the Old Testament Israelites in passages such as Leviticus 27:30. But Christ has set us free from the letter of the law (Colossians 2:14, Colossians 2:16-17, Galatians 4:4-5). When the New Testament commands the act of giving, percentages are not mentioned. What is mentioned, however, is that giving be proportionate (1 Corinthians 16:2), generous (2 Corinthians 9:6), done with joy (2 Corinthians 9:7), and a good work sprung from trust in the Lord (2 Corinthians 9:8-11). This is not as specific as the tithe rule. It requires one to spend time reasoning out what a manageable and reasonable gift looks like for them, while still reflecting the thanksgiving and generosity that they wish to communicate in response to the gospel. In many households, ten percent remains a useful benchmark for giving, but must not be treated as a law. Some households will not be able to afford that amount. For others, “proportionate” giving means giving much more than ten percent. It is a lot easier for church leaders to make hard-and-fast rules to “keep people in line,” rather than offer these general encouragements. However, if we remember that giving is an act of worship in response to the gospel, we will avoid strictly laying down ground rules that Scripture no longer enforces. Instead, we will focus on sharing the beautiful gospel with our members, friends, and community, and allow the Holy Spirit to create and nurture the gospel joy that inspires acts of thanksgiving. Likewise, if someone’s giving is “off-kilter,” we don’t want to address their giving with the desire that they “get those numbers up.” That would convey that our worth in God’s family comes from our works. Instead, we express concern over their connection to the gospel, and nurture their relationship with Jesus through Word and Sacrament. Then, and only then, can we discuss what a proper response to the gospel looks like in our giving. Go to next post in this series

The Art of Giving: Misunderstanding #4 – We give ONLY to keep the church running.

By Pastor Mike • June 27, 2025
This misunderstanding is based partly on truth, but becomes misguided when it is treated as the main issue. Like millions of churches across the world, our church is a not-for-profit organization. We rely solely on the offerings of members to keep the doors open and the air conditioner running. It would stand to reason, then, that we should encourage giving so that the work of the church can continue, don’t you think? After all, the Levites (ministers in the tabernacle and temple worship of the Old Testament) were to rely on the offerings of the rest of the tribes of Israel for their livelihood (Numbers 18:21). The Apostle Paul encouraged offerings so that Christians in dire financial need could be provided for (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). There is a practical side to giving an offering. However, this should not be divorced from the attitude of thankful worship described above. Above all, giving an offering is a fruit of faith inspired by thankfulness in response to the infinite grace of God. It is an act of worship. The opportunity to praise God in this way does not cease when the church’s bills are paid off any more than your need to come to worship services ceases when church attendance is up. Go to next post in this series

The Art of Giving Misunderstanding #3 – Giving an offering if optional.

By Pastor Mike • June 27, 2025
In Romans 12:4-8, Paul lists generous giving as but one example of service that God equips people to render within the church. This could lead to the thought that giving is optional for Christians. That would be misguided. Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.” Wealth takes many forms. For the Old Testament believer, their material blessings primarily took the forms of crops, flocks, and herds. For most modern Americans, God bestows wealth in the form of finances and material blessings. The directives in both Old and New Testaments to praise God by bringing an offering from our wealth are so thorough that one can hardly ignore or side-step the issue at hand. It is true that our whole lives are to be offered to God as thank offerings for what he’s done (Romans 12:1). It is also true that God is more concerned with the attitude of the heart than with the dollar amount given (see passages above as well as Mark 12:41-44). But it is also true that God’s design for showering us with material gifts is that we honor him in front of others by giving a portion back through this act of worship we have been calling “an offering.” As Psalm 50:23 says, “Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me.” Not all Christians are capable of giving the same amount, or even the same proportion of what they have (we’ll talk about this more in a second), but God’s Word is so full of directives about giving that it is hard for any one of us to exempt ourselves. To put it another way, God seems to be completely comfortable telling us what to do with our money. After all, we only have it in the first place because he gave it to us (see the response to Misunderstanding #1). Go to next post in this series

The Art of Giving: Misunderstanding #2 – God doesn’t care about your offerings.

By Pastor Mike • June 27, 2025
If the discussion is about how we’re saved, how we know that we have a good relationship with God, then offerings have no place in that discussion, nor any work that we do. But it does not follow that offerings have no significance whatsoever. Placing a financial gift into the collection plate or box, or donating through our online service, is a work. We are saved purely by God’s grace through faith, and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). God loved and saved you apart from anything to do with your potential to “pay him back” with a weekly offering. Jesus gave up his life as the atoning sacrifice for your sins without consideration of your cash flow or income bracket. But when the conversation shifts from “how we are saved” to “how do we thank God for our salvation” or “how do we live out our identity as God’s people,” offerings do have a part in that discussion. Offerings do not provide God with anything he needs, but they are expressions of our heart’s orientation toward him. In both Malachi 3:8-10 and Psalm 51:17-19, giving a sacrificial gift is presented as a way of demonstrating one’s repentance (sorrow over sin and seeking salvation only from God). Giving of what we have is also a communication of our confident trust that God will continue to provide for us. He may supply our needs extravagantly, far above what is necessary. He may only give us our daily bread (Luke 11:3). That’s for him to decide. What’s always true is that God will always provide in some way, shape, or form (Psalm 145:15-16). We have previously defined faith as a trust relationship with God. What better way to say, “I trust you, Lord, and I thank you,” than to give? Go to next post in this series

The Art of Giving: Misunderstanding #1 – God needs our offerings.

By Pastor Mike • June 27, 2025
Psalm 50:9-13 says, “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?” What did offerings look like before money was invented? The Israelites in the Old Testament worshipped God by giving of their crops, herds, and flocks. In these verses, God makes it clear that the purpose of these offerings was not because he gets hungry and needs to be fed. He is the immortal, eternal, completely self-sufficient God. Sometimes I really think of myself as an asset to God, as if I provide him with something to him that he otherwise would not have had. Or that God relies on my gifts and service to be able to “do his thing.” These thoughts are delusions that come from my (our) selfish pride. There is a part of our hearts (the sinful nature) that would love to assure ourselves of God’s love because of what we do. But to believe this would amount to believing that God’s love is for those who are worthy – who give enough, serve enough, and are generally good enough. The person who gives millions of dollars to their church no more deserves God’s love than the one who gives fifty cents. It is God’s grace (his decision to unconditionally love sinners) that has saved you, not your actions (Ephesians 2:8-9). Whenever we fall prey to these delusions in the equation of God’s salvation, we should remember David’s words. When his eyes feasted on the beautiful offerings the Israelites brought for the construction of the temple, “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chronicles 29:14). As the hymn goes, “We give Thee but Thine own.” Go to next post in this series
Show More