This is an opportunity to focus on God and helps us leave the cares and pressures of the day behind. Read Psalm 139 prayerfully, noting what you see about God's abilities and character. Write down what you observe and then silently respond in prayer, praising God for who He is.

Allow God to use verses 23, 24 to shine His spotlight on your life. As He reminds you of areas and actions that have grieved Him, confess each one as sin and repent (never intending to intentionally carry out that sin in the future). Request God's cleansing. After you express your gratitude for God's cleansing, ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit in the cleansed area.

Purity Vital to Answered Prayer

He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.(Proverbs 28:9).

In commenting on that scripture, Dwight L. Moody responded,

Think of that! It may shock some of us to think that our prayers are an abomination to God, yet if any are living in known sin, this is what God's Word says about them. If we are not willing to turn from sin and obey God's law, we have no right to expect that He will answer our prayers. Unconfessed sin is unforgiven sin, and unforgiven sin is the darkest, foulest thing on this sin-cursed earth. You cannot find a case in the Bible where a man has been honest in dealing with sin, but God has been honest with him and blessed him. The prayer of the humble and the contrite heart is a delight to God. There is no sound that goes up from this sin-cursed earth so sweet to His ear as the prayer of the man who is walking uprightly.

How much better that we deliberately and regularly ask God to search our hearts. When He points out something that has grieved Him, we need to respond in gratitude. He is showing us mercy by revealing our sin. Repent of that sin and invite the empowering of the Holy Spirit to so fill that the area is full of God's holiness. Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD ? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:3-4)

If I regard [to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider] wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear (Ps. 66:18) is a warning that we need to take seriously.

Biblical Waiting

Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14). The word for wait can also mean look for, hope, expect. The writer encourages himself that he can depend on God, since He has always been faithful. We, too, can wait with prayerful expectation that God will meet us.

The following scriptures give a fuller understanding to how and why we wait for God. We can wait on God for:

1. Guidance on how to live a life that honours Him.

a. Ps 25:5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.

b. Ps 119:147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.

c. Ps 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.

d. Ps 39:7 And now, Lord, for what do I wait ? My hope is in You.

2. His provision

a. Ps 37:9 For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.

b. Ps 104:27 They all wait for You to give them their food in due season.

c. Ps 147:11 The LORD favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness.

d. Ps 119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your word.

e. Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

f. Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.

While we wait, we are encouraged to be:

1. Peaceful - Ps 37:7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him.

2. Courageous - Ps 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.

3. Thankful - Ps 52:9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.

4. A good example to others:

a. Ps 119:74 May those who fear You see me and be glad, because I wait for Your word.

b. Proverbs 20:22 Do not say, 'I will repay evil'; wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

The encouragement from Hosea is a challenge we need to heed: Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually (Hosea 12:6).

May the response of Micah be ours as well, But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)