A prayer of confession, forgiveness, and renewal

A prayer of confession, forgiveness, and renewal

 Father,

 we have spent our days seeking fulfilment

 only to discover we have an emptiness within;

 we long to know that our lives have a purpose

 but we lose our way in our assertion of self-sufficiency;

 we invest our time and our energy in things of no value

 and we arrive empty-handed at the throne of the King.

 We confess often our focus has been on the things of earth

 and we have forgotten to lift our eyes to heaven.

 Our plans and dreams, our hopes and our aspirations

 have pleased no one but ourselves

 and we have abandoned our walk of faith

 to the side streets of our lives.

 Father,

 come forgive, cleanse, renew, and reclaim us as your own

 that we, by your grace, might once again enter your presence with joy. Amen.

Source: David Clowes, 500 Prayers for the Christian Year. 

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A prayer for forgiveness of sins

The apostle John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, KJV). Here we find the promise of God to forgive our confessed sins. To ignore or to neglect this promise is to steer a perilous course. God commands us to confess our sins and promises to forgive our sins. That we should confess our sins daily is clear. What confession means and what it involves are matters that need some elaboration.

We can distinguish between two kinds of repentance: attrition and contrition. Attrition is counterfeit repentance, which never qualifies us for forgiveness. It is like the repentance of a child who is caught in the act of disobeying his mother and cries out, “Mommy, Mommy, I’m sorry, please don’t spank me.” Attrition is repentance motivated strictly by a fear of punishment. The sinner confesses his sin to God, not out of genuine remorse but out of a desire to secure a ticket out of hell.

True repentance reflects contrition, a godly remorse for offending God. Here the sinner mourns his sin, not for the loss of reward or for the threat of judgment, but because he has done injury to the honor of God.

 

(R.C. Sproul:  Does Prayer Change Things?).

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Lord, help us to truly confess our sins that we may experience true forgiveness of our sins.

Help us make it a daily and regular discipline to reflect on our lives, our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Help us to be open and honest with You to let you reveal to us any sin in us that we may confess and experience forgiveness.

Psalm 139:23–24: 

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

In Jesus' Name

Amen

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A prayer to remind us to see life from God's perspective

Luke 22:40–42 (ESV)

40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Luke 23:34 (ESV)

34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Mark 11:25 (ESV)

25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Lord Jesus,

In the greatest challenge of your life, when you became a human being, your experiences with your creation were bitter and cruel. Yet you still chose the will of Your Father to suffer and die for my sins. You chose to forgive those who crucified you. 
Help me to see your perspective and not be chained by my limited perspective and experiences.
Help me to experience your example of submission and trust in God, your Heavenly Father.
Help me to see your perspective, and let your experiences and teachings guide and transform my life, and bring you glory!

In Your Name, I pray

Amen.

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To Pray is to Live (open your hands to God)

To Pray is to Live

Maybe someone will say to you, “You have to forgive yourself.” But that isn’t possible. What is possible is to open your hands without fear, so that the One who loves you can blow your sins away. Then the coins you considered indispensable for your life prove to be little more than light dust that a soft breeze will whirl away, leaving only a grin or a chuckle behind. Then you feel a bit of new freedom and praying becomes a joy, a spontaneous reaction to the world and the people around you. Praying then becomes effortless, inspired, and lively, or peaceful and quiet. When you recognize the festive and the still moments as moments of prayer, then you gradually realize that to pray is to live.

Taken from "You are the Beloved" by Henri J.M. Nouwen

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a prayer to be patient with myself

Dear Lord,

Help me to be patient with myself.

Teach me to be kind and generous with my failings.

Cause me to accept imperfections and mistakes.

Lead me in paths of forgiveness as I reconcile with my past.

Guide me as I deal with my frustrations and self doubt.

Bless me with love for myself.

I confess that you are Lord.

In your name I pray.

Amen

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a prayer to forgive myself

Dear Lord,

It is so hard to forgive myself because I feel like I don't deserve it.

Help me to remember that you love me and have forgiven me.

Teach me to forgive myself and thrive in that forgiveness.

May I be free of the burden of my guilt and find peace in you.

I pray all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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help us not to judge

God of all Forgiveness,

Your Son told us about casting stones.
He said that judgment begets judgment.

Help us to resist the urge to have opinions about others.
Bless us to look on others with love and not judgment.

Give us hearts full of compassion for those not like us.
Cause your spirit to rise up in us and follow him.

Mostly, make us people known for encouragement.
We praise your name and give you thanks.

Amen.

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A Prayer at the Cross

Blessed Lord Jesus,

Before the cross I kneel and see the depth of my sin: 

the way it took You to the cross 

and the way Your love for me drove You to Golgotha.

Convict me of my guilt by

    the crown of thorns,

    the pierced hands and feet,

    the bruised body,

    the dying cries.

Your blood is the blood of incarnate God,

its worth infinite, the value beyond understanding.

Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light,

    the air supply me breath

    the earth bear my tread

    its fruits nourish me?

Your compassion yearns over me

    your heart hastens to my rescue,

    your love endured my curse,

    your mercy bore my stripes.

May I, both a saint and a sinner,

    find You as the power to my salvation,

     Your death the center of all relief

      and the source of all gospel blessings.

May Your shed blood make me

    more thankful for Your mercies,

    more humble under Your correction,

    and more contented in my circumstance.

May Your love bind me forever to You,

who died and rose for me.

(adapted from The Valley of Vision)

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forgiving past mistakes

Father of all mercies,

It is often so hard to forgive myself because I fail so much.

Bless me that I might see myself through your eyes of love.

And help me to remember that you have used each mistake that I have made.

That you are working all things together to make me like you.

Teach me how to be easier on myself and learn to forgive past mistakes.

Help me forgive myself and find peace with the person you made me.

Lastly, use me to help others forgive themselves.

I pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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a prayer of contrition

Lord, I want to lay before you all that weighs heavy on my heart.

Reveal even the sin I am not aware of, Lord.

I lay these at your feet and pray for your forgiveness on me.

I believe you when you say that you wash us whiter than snow.

Thank you, Lord, for your unending love for me!

Help me start fresh right now to make choices that honor you.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

- Rick Warren  

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when we are tempted

Dear Lord,

Each day seems to bring a new temptation.

Help us to turn to you instead of our lusts.

When we are tempted to act unrighteously,

Remind us that we are yours and that you are ours.

If we give in and sin against you,

Bring us to a place where we can repent and be forgiven.

On this trying day, we pray for deliverance from evil.

We praise you and worship you for who you are.

We love you Lord.

Amen

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loving those who have hurt us

Dearest God,

I come to you in prayer, asking for help.

I have allowed bitterness to grow in my life.

Jealousy and envy have taken hold of me.

Please guide my heart to love those who have hurt and harmed me.

Though my wounds are deep, help me to forgive and to love.

In your name I forgive and release those who have sinned against me.

I declare your love for them and ask that I might love them like you love.

All glory is unto you Lord.

Amen

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letting go of the past

Lord, 

I kneel before You in humble submission and pray that in Your mercy and kindness You would help me to simply let go of all the fears and worries, problems and doubts, guilt and disappointments that seem to be filling my heart and mind so often, during the course of a day.

Fill my hurting soul with Your love and peace I pray. Fill the emptiness and pain that is tearing my life asunder. Lord, You know what is in my heart and why I am going through this time of fear and worry. Help me Lord, to take every thought captive, to hand it over to You as it rears up in my mind, and help me to replace it with thoughts and words of Scripture that tell of Your great might and wonderful power.

Lord, You have told us to think about whatever is lovely and pure and holy and good, and I pray that You would help me to turn the eyes of my heart upon Jesus and look to Him day by day. In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen.

-Author Unknown

to forgive as we are forgiven

Father of all Mercies,

We come with open hearts and open hands.

Give us the grace to forgive all who have offended us.

Bless us with the grace to let go of our offences and pains.

Help us to walk in the forgiveness we have in you.

Encourage us to love unconditionally.

Teach us to forgive as we are forgiven.

In all our ways enable us to be merciful soldiers of the cross.

Amen

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forgive us

Dear Heavenly Father,

When we were dead in our sins and trespasses, you raised us to new life in Christ. We praise you for this salvation, for this glorious hope, and a firm place to stand in grace. We humble ourselves before you today, in gratitude and repentance. 

Forgive us for our attitudes that deny your grace.

Forgive us for our words that violate people.

Forgive us for our habits that sabotage beauty.

Forgive us for our passivity that accepts the unacceptable.

Forgive us for our greed that fuels our idolatry.

Forgive us for our pettiness that robs people we love.

Forgive us for our unbelief that robs You of glory.

Have mercy on us, Lord. 

In the strong and loving name of Jesus,

Amen

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help me to forgive

I am struggling to forgive Lord.

Enlarge my heart that I may have compassion and mercy.

Each day bitterness tries to take hold of me.

Teach me to let go of the past and forgive people who have wronged me.

Help me to remember to forgive as you have forgiven me.

And find a way to love others the way that you love me.

Amen

 

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a prayer for extending the kindness of God to others

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  Titus: 3-4-7 

Dear Heavenly Father,

I praise you for being so gentle, kind, and patient with me. You don't love me to the degree I love others; you love me to the degree you have hidden my life in Christ, which is completely. This Good News is my peace, my hope, and my joy. 

This kindness is always the basis for my repentance. Even as your kindness continues to lead me to repentance and leads me to more of Jesus, so I repent, Father. I repent of lingering resentments. Of withholding kindness, of holding on to hurts, and of not being quick to forgive as you have forgiven. 

 May I learn to rejoice in the grace you give to others, and not just in the grace you give to me. As I sit in the truth of your grace, Lord, show me the ways to extend this grace to others so that I may proclaim your glory. 

Amen

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a prayer of confession

Dear Heavenly Father,

We come boldly to your throne of grace today because Jesus went gladly to the cross of Calvary for us. We praise, bless, and worship you for so great a salvation and so loving a Savior. Even as we confess Christ, so we also confess our sins and rebellion.

Forgive us for attitudes and actions that sabotage beauty and intimacy. 

Forgive us for speaking words that have labeled, shamed, and harmed others.

Forgive us for covering our sins while exposing the sins of others. 

Forgive us for wasting our pain in self-pity and our fears on worry. 

Forgive us for spending ore time king a name for ourselves than relishing the new names you've given us: "Forgiven, Beloved, Mine."

We offer our prayers, humbly and gratefully, in Jesus name. 

Amen

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prayer of confession

O thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being.

We humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us.

We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ.

We often give in order to receive, we love our friends and hate our enemies, we go the first mile but dare not travel the second, we forgive but dare not forget.

And so as we look within ourselves we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against thee.

But thou, O God, have mercy upon us.

Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be.

Give us the intelligence to know thy will.

Give us the courage to do thy will.

Give us the devotion to love thy will.

In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

- a prayer of Martin Luther King Jr

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Ravensbruck Prayer

O Lord, 

Remember not only the men and women of good will but also those of evil will.

But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us; remember the fruits we have borne thanks to this suffering –

    our comradeship,
    our loyalty,
    our humility,
    our courage,
    our generosity,
    the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this;

And when they come to the judgement, 
let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness.

Amen.

Written on a piece of wrapping paper found near the body of a dead child
in Ravensbruck where 92,000 women and children died in the Holocaust.

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