A horrible tragedy occurred some years ago at a mission agency base station in North Carolina. A mechanic who was servicing a plane was called elsewhere just as he was tightening the nut on the fuel line. When he returned he forgot to complete the tightening and went on to the next phase of servicing. As that plane took off the nut came loose and aviation fuel began to spill out. In the ensuing fire and crash all seven people aboard were killed.
        Wives were widowed. Children rendered fatherless.
        The mechanic knew these people. They had been good friends.
        He attended the funeral, but was overcome with remorse and found himself unable to talk to them.... even to be with them....
        It was an honest mistake. He never intended it to happen.
                But it did. And HE did it. He knew he did it.
                The guilt froze him.
It built a huge wall between him and those families, tearing apart their relationship.

Walls also went up in the home of Jennifer and Ron.
        Looking back she’s not sure how it happened. They’d seemed so happy. But oh, it was so incredibly wrong and stupid. The evening at the office. Overtime. The other man. It began then. Only a few more times. But enough. "For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health I pledge you my troth" – was shattered.
        Oh - they’re seeing a counsellor. Maybe there’s a chance.
        But thing’s just aren’t the same.

Things aren’t the same for Judy, either. Every time she walks into school it’s as if every teacher looks at her with suspicion. That began in October when her fingers were found in a teacher’s purse with no reasonable explanation. Where once she’d been trusted, even given extra responsibilities - now the looks.

In all three cases - by horrible accident or willingly - relationships were broken.
                Violations had occurred. Pain had been inflicted. Walls were up. Communion and interaction were down. The links were shattered.

You probably have your personal stories, from both ends of the equation. Most people have: between partners at home or in business, friends, neighbours.
        Experiencing hurt, and inflicting it.
        If you have, then you know how huge the walls can become between yourself and the other party. You may as well be living on different continents.

We’re spending the first weeks of 2000 talking about prayer, communication between a human being and God.
        It’s one of the most amazing, powerful, life-enriching and freeing elements we can have in our lives. Joined together with heaven. Free, unrestricted entrance into the throne room of the Lord.
        Time to be together.
        Relationship time.

We’ve considered the foundation of prayer, discerning prayer, praying when we’re down, and what’s appropriate material for prayer times.
        Today I want to backpedal a bit. Before we get involved in all kinds of different prayers, listening and speaking and communing with the Lord, there’s something we need to check.

It is this ----
        How ready are we to pray?

Specifically - are the communication channels between heaven and earth, between our heart and the heart of God.... are those channels open?
        Is the relationship active, or broken, blocked?
        Is the way free, or has a wall gone up, has the curtain been drawn?

We can learn all we want about prayer, and even enter into the practice and experience of praying, but if we don’t consider this question and deal with it, right up front, we’re just blowing hot air.

The mechanic, Jennifer, Judy --
        They had violated and broken relationships. And until those violations were acknowledged, confessed and forgiven, things were on hold.
        Similarly – there is a break between a person and the Holy Creator God, Lord and Master of the Cosmos —
                barriers go up when we violate our relationship with Him.

And until we address that violation, that break, that barrier – until we do that
first – there is no sense with moving on in prayer.

Psalm 66:18:
        "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened...."

And just in case we’re ready to write that off as poetic license, as some sort of singular overstatement, hear this very blunt echo of the same theme, this time from the prophet Isaiah:

"Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." [Is 59:1-2]

When you’re in this position there’s no sense carrying on.
        No sense trying to hold a conversation until you put a new battery in the hearing aid. No sense scheduling an evening to watch TV until the tuner is fixed. No sense heading to the backyard for some neighbourly rapport until the wall is torn down.

John Calvin puts it this way -

"People pray in wrong ways and in vain unless they begin by seeking forgiveness of their sins. The right and proper order of prayer is to ask, at the very onset, that God would pardon our sins."
[commentary on Psalm 25:7]

Perhaps we don’t always think about it.
Perhaps the depth of violation of the relationship between God and ourselves doesn’t keep us awake at night, or stare us in the face while we’re at our work station during the week.
Perhaps we’re so busy with making car payments or getting through school that we don’t stop to think about it
- maybe not much; maybe not at all.

But it’s there, building the walls, throwing out the static, blocking the way.
In all of us. The bible says:
        "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves...." [1 John 1.8]

In Psalm 51 you can read the confession time of a spiritual leader, King David of Israel. Right at the very beginning he says,
        "Blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin...." (V.1-2)
Did you catch the words there?
        Transgressions: rebellion, breaking away from and setting up oneself against lawful authority.
        Iniquity: that which is twisted and bent
        Sin: missing the holy mark set for our lives.

Every time we knew god wanted us to behave in this way, and we went that way - our rebellious transgressions.
Every time we had a warped or twisted thought - our iniquities.
Every time we honestly wanted to be good and behave ourselves, but one day found ourselves looking back at a week that really had been a moral or spiritual or social mess - we missed God’s mark for our lives. We sinned.

Those are the building blocks of the wall that hinders prayer.
Those are the items that need confessing.

Confession - It sounds simple enough, but can actually be one of the toughest things for a person to do. You see, the temptation is there - boy, it is always there - to take the easy route out, to cover it up in some way.
        Perhaps we try to explain it away.
        Or we minimize it in some way.
        Or we try to blame someone else.

Explain it away - like the little child coming to mother, "the vase fell as I just walked by." Or the employee, "In my present condition, how could I be expected to do otherwise?"

Minimize it - "It’s not that bad... it’s all in your head... stop getting down on yourself.. Lighten up, everybody does it...."

Shift the blame - "If she hadn’t gone and tried to..... If they had remembered... if he had avoided pressuring me.... if my parents only....."

Confession is admitting the wrong as simply that - wrong.
That is where it needs to begin. Unless we do, the garbage remains. The walls stay up. The impediments to prayer remain firmly in place.

The mechanic understood that. He didn’t try to cover up his negligence. He named it for what it was, and went to the families. "I was wrong. What happened was my fault."
        Confession.
        As in his case, it can sometimes be terribly difficult to do.
        And - in his case, the family was able to receive the confession and offer forgiveness, painful but offered. Relationships were restored in time.

Painful – but it needs to happen.
        A colleague was dealing with someone who had a whole load of rotten stuff in her life – hurts, sins, resentments, fears, mistrusts. Many sessions, much prayer and a boatload of tears later the pastor received a small model garbage truck in the mail from this person. The accompanying note read, "the Lord is a gracious garbage collector, but, like on the streets of our city, you have to put the garbage out before it gets taken away."

My mind goes to Psalm 32:

"When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.... Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin."

It is removed because we gain the benefits of the most aweful time that a true and huge curtain was drawn between heaven and earth. The sky turned dark. God turned His back and stopped listening...... He stopped listening to His one and only Son - Jesus.
        Jesus cried for help. And no reply was given.
        Jesus looked for comfort.
        He was totally, utterly, universally and horribly alone - on the cross.

And because Jesus was abandoned, because Jesus was rejected - we won’t ever be!!

Psalm 103:12 says "As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us."
Micah 7:19 says "God will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

God looks at those who put their trust in Jesus and sees a pure person.
No more walls.
No more distance.
No accusations.
No remembering of wrongs.
Just a full, unhindered right to enter the presence of God at any time.
And the strong guarantee of the presence of God’s Spirit....always.

"He who covers his sins will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." [Prov 28:13]

Choose confession.
Choose mercy.
Choose forgiveness.
Choose freedom.
        And then - pray!

Most merciful God, I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done: __________________________

and by what I have left undone: __________________________

I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbour as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.