A Prayer of Confession
If you are anything like me the aspect of confession is often lacking in your prayer life. Sometimes maybe we don’t feel like we know where to start or what to confess. Here is a simple prayer of confession written by Philip Ryken for his church which he posted over at the Reformation 21 blog. Hope its helpful.
Father, we have sinned. We confess that we do not listen to your Word. We read it and hear it, but we do not obey it. We say, “That was a great sermon!” but it doesn’t make a difference, because we are not willing to change.
We confess that we do not worship you the way you deserve to be worshiped. We are more concerned about what we get out of it than what we put it into it. We are often distracted. Our lips keep moving, but our hearts are cold and still.
We confess that we do not love one another very much. We do not want to be bothered with other people’s problems. We think the worst about others, rather than the best.
We confess that we do not always fulfill our responsibilities to one another. We are harsh when we should be gentle, and when we need to be firm, we lack the courage to say or do what is right.
We confess that we are not willing to pay the high cost of discipleship. We try to be as worldly as we think we can get away with. We prefer to squeeze our faith in around the edges of life, rather than to let you stand at the center to control everything we are and have.
We confess that we lack passion for evangelism. We think of missions as something someone else does, somewhere else, rather than something you have called us to do right here and now. We lack the courage to proclaim the gospel. We are afraid to talk about spiritual things, for fear of what others will think.
We confess that we lack compassion. We think it is important to help the poor, provided that someone else actually does the helping.
In the name of Jesus, we ask forgiveness for these and all our sins.
May 30th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
What I find I struggle with in confession isn’t an upfront refusal to confess, but rather an avoidance of thinking of what I have done wrong. I know full well that God knows my actions and my thoughts yet subtlely I refuse to acknowledge my sin, as if somehow not thinking about it negates its existance.
I know if I don’t want to think about something then 99 times out of 100 I am wrong, yet it still takes so much of God’s grace to bring me to confess.
nick-