The prophet Jeremiah...

says these words in chapter 17:9-10, 14 about our hearts:

"Who can understand the human heart?

There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.

I, the Lord, search the minds and test the hearts of people.

I treat each of them according to the way they live, according to what they do.

Lord, heal me and I will be completely well;

rescue me and I will be perfectly safe.

You are the one I praise."

Being prayer week at Gateway, I have found myself going again and again into a time of confession, of letting God know that I'm acknowledging what he already knows and telling him I am sorry.

So, I pray for myself, in those secret places that only God knows about. Those things I don't want to say out loud, for fear others will hear. Those things that I dare not talk about. I think you know about those things too....

I pray, O God, for me and my friends, those of us caught up in lies and deceit, of self-absorption and self-righteousness, of scheming and coniving, of loving everything else but You.

O God, hear my prayer of confession and repentance.