Have you noticed that when you have been overtaken in a fault, or have been indulging in some sinful pleasure, that you feel less like praying than at any other time? It doesn't seem to you then as though you dared to pray; you feel ashamed to come into the presence of the Lord.
Well, fix it in your minds that when you feel least like praying is when you most need to pray. Do not let Satan keep you back from it, by any feeling of shame or unworthiness.
You are in the presence of God anyhow, because you cannot possibly go from the presence of His Spirit. You cannot hide from Him; why not then freely confess the sin, and receive forgiveness; that you may stand clean before Him, and not with the shamefulness of sin?
Our need is our recommendation to mercy. "For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity; for it is great. ... Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in the way." (Psalm 25:2,8) "I am poor and sorrowful; let your salvation, O God, set me up on high." (Psalm 69:29)--Present Truth, September 20, 1900--Original title: Back Page.