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First Prayer-Salvation | Second Prayer-Confession | Third Prayer-Guidance

Second Prayer - Confession

"Dear Lord, I know that I’ve sinned by (specific areas of sin in thought life, word or deed should be confessed openly to God). I acknowledge my sin and the broken fellowship that has resulted with You because of my sin. I accept Your promise that if I confess my sins, You are faithful and just and will forgive my sins and purify me from unrighteousness. Thank you for the forgiveness you provided for all my sins when Christ died in my place. Please restore the joy of my salvation and fellowship with You. Strengthen me to forsake every area of disobedience. Guide me with Your wisdom so I will know how to avoid temptation in the future and how to be reconciled to those I have offended. Amen."

Once you have received Christ, you are a child of God (see John 1:12) and are no longer estranged from God by your sin. Your relationship with God is eternal, which means it will last forever. But before we go to be with God in heaven, God wants our lives to be transformed more and more into the image of Christ. This happens when we live our lives according to the will of God rather than the desires of our old sinful nature. However there are times when we sin in our thoughts, words or deeds.   

When we miss the mark of Christ-likeness, your enemy will be ready to compound the problem: “Now you’ve done it. What kind of Christian are you? A real Christian would never do, think, or say such a thing!” Be careful not to succumb to feelings of despair when you do sin. It’s OK to be sad and to grieve over sin (see Psalm 32). We may even feel distant from God at these times. That’s because our fellowship with God has been interrupted by sin. Broken fellowship doesn’t mean that God has stopped loving us or that we are no longer His children. We must understand that God understands that we are weak and that we will fall short. Because of His love, He has made a way for us to restore our fellowship with Him and rejoice in His presence again. This way is through confession and a spiritually bolstered resolve to forsake our sin. To confess sin means to uncover it and to agree with what God says about it. This honest confession results in experiencing God’s forgiveness and cleansing. What a gracious God we have!  

It’s good to take time regularly to allow God’s Spirit to examine our lives (see Psalm 139:23-24) and for the Spirit to gently point out areas of disobedience. When He does put His finger on an area of our life, that’s our opportunity to humbly confess and to experience a new joy in our relationship with God.

Remember this promise from God’s Word:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.   1 John 1:9