Clean the Slate

By Dana Olson

The young, 20-something recent seminary grad, engaged to be married and pulling a small trailer with all his earthly belongings, pulled into town in Nebraska to take up his first pastorate. After a kind group of church members helped unload the trailer and the very first sermon was prepped, that first weekend an official met with the church board to explain that the deed on the property was being seized due to the church being far behind on its loan payments.

What a way to begin! Quickly, a plan took shape—to pray and communicate a giving opportunity called Clean the Slate! By God’s grace, soon not only was the arrears status reversed, but the little church family was ahead on their loan. The church grew, the loan was paid off, and the testimony of the church improved.

That young pastor was me, and my memories of Clean the Slate! are precious to me. More than 40 years later, that phrase comes to mind when I think of prayers of confession and repentance. Every believer must make it a regular practice to prayerfully clean the slate of his or her heart of any sin.

It’s dangerous to neglect this practice. We can easily become desensitized to “the sin that so easily entangles” (Heb. 12:1) and even “deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth” (Heb. 10:26).

Instead, let us regularly clean the slate.

 

Scripture Prayer Prompts

How do we keep a clean slate? Pray God’s Word! The Bible confronts our sin, warns us of its dangers, and promises cleansing through the precious blood of Christ shed on the cross. Scripture guides us into confession and repentance so that our walk with God is not hindered.

For example, pray through Galatians 5. Ask God to help you walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh (v. 16). By prayer, step through the works of the flesh (vs. 19–21), asking your heavenly Father, “Do you find this in me, Lord? Do you find sexual sin in my life or in my thoughts? Is my heart free of anger and its companions like strife and dissension? Am I jealous or envious of others, Father? Am I free of things that might control me?”

Take your time. Ponder each word because this list is a gift from God to help you discern the presence of sin and not become desensitized to it. Sin will separate us from fellowship and peace with God.

Continue on by prayerfully working through the fruit of the Spirit, one at a time, asking God to reveal areas of your life that need attention: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (vs. 22–23). After all, the presence of sins from the first list (vs. 19–21) will prevent the fruit listed in the second.

Truly, all of the sins in the first list will keep us from being the people of love and faithfulness that God intends for us to be. Now pray something like this:

Heavenly Father, today I crucify my flesh because I belong to Jesus Christ. I set aside sinful passions and desires, any inclination that is contrary to Your will for me, because I want to keep in step with Your Holy Spirit by living in the Spirit today. Please guide me, Father, in living fruitfully this day, bearing the fruit that is in keeping with repentance and trusting You for every step.

 

Clean the slate! What a joyful relief to be free, to be clean, to have nothing hindering your walk by the Spirit today.

 

Going Deep

Of course, Galatians 5 is not the only Scripture to guide us in prayers of confession. Psalm 51:1–7 uses David’s example to give us words to pray that describe our grief over sin:

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

 

Why not begin right now to clean the slate?

DANA OLSON, veteran pastor and prayer leader, is director of Prayer First Heartland, part of the Converge family of churches.