A Full Confession.

This weekend, I preached from 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul gives the church at Corinth some important directions regarding the Lord's Supper. During the middle portion of the sermon, I camped out on verses 27-32, which challenge us to carefully examine our lives before we receive the bread and the cup. As I preached, I tried to draw our focus to the importance of consistently and honestly examining our lives, humbly confessing our sins to our gracious God, and turning in repentance away from our sin and towards our Savior, Jesus. I challenged our congregation to do this on a daily basis - not only as we prepared to receive the communion meal, but as an ongoing, sometimes minute-by-minute part of our life with Jesus.

This morning, I read this encompassing prayer of confession from the puritan prayer book, The Valley of Vision. These words, along with 1 John 1:8-9, stirred my heart and led me into a time of personal confession - I pray that as you read these words, that the Holy Spirit would convict your heart, lead you to honestly and humbly confess your sins to Jesus, and graciously enable you to turn away your sin and turn more fully towards Jesus.

Sins

Merciful Lord,

Pardon all my sins of this day, week, year,
all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle and advanced years,
of omission and commission,
of morose, peevish and angry tempers,
of lip, life and walk,
of hard-heartedness, unbelief, presumption, pride,
of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ,
of deficiency in outspoken zeal for his glory,
of bringing dishonor upon thy great name,
of deception, injustice, untruthfulness in my dealings with others,
of impurity in thought, word, and deed,
of covetousness, which is idolatry,
of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered,
not consecrated to the glory of thee, the great Giver;
sins in private and in the family,
in study and recreation, in the busy haunts of men,
in the study of thy Word and the neglect of it,
in prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld,
in time misspent,
in yielding to Satan's wiles,
in opening my heart to his temptations,
in being unwatchful when I know him nigh,
in quenching the Holy Spirit;
sins against light and knowledge,
against conscience and the restraints of thy Spirit,
against the law of eternal love.

Pardon all my sins, known and unknown,
felt and unfelt,
confessed and not confessed,
remembered or forgotten.
Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive.

May Your church, by Your grace and Your enabling power, daily embrace and live out Your Words in 1 John 1:8-9:

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Amen.