“The desperate need of our time is not for successful Christians, popular Christians, or winsome Christians, it’s for deep Christians. And the only way to become a deep Christian is through the inner excavation called confession. The pathway of spiritual maturity is a descent, not an ascent. A maturing community is a confessing community, not a church without sin but a church without secrets.”
(From “Praying like monks, living like fools”)
Just spend a moment to ponder that statement.
Do we desire spiritual maturity? Are we willing to reveal our innermost secrets? Confession is our inner excavation. Daily.
Confession and repentance are central to our Christian faith. They remind us that our earthly natures are very near to the surface of our lives. It’s good to be reminded in prayer that we desperately need the presence of the Holy Spirit in us through each day because without Him we are going to stumble, because we have been stained by sin’s consequences.
Confession earths our lives in the love of God. It keeps us humble and enables us to be a blessing to others through the day.
How much we need uncluttered lives! Minds and hearts and wills constrained by love for Jesus and each other. And before we clutter up this new year and each and every day of it!
You might like to pray this prayer:
(Following from Wayside Presbyterian church in US, put into personal pronoun)
“Lord Jesus, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, and of neglect to seek you in my daily life. My sins and shortcomings present me with a list of accusations, but I thank you that they will not stand against me for all have been laid on Christ. Deliver me from every evil habit, every interest of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of your grace in me, everything that prevents me from taking delight in you. Amen.”
You might like to pray this again using ‘we’ and ‘us’….
In our confession and repentance we are washed clean because of the work of Jesus.
1 John 1:9 (RSV)” If we confess our sins He (Jesus) is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “
A final thought from “Praying like monks, living like fools”: If it’s the presence of the living God you want, confession is part of the deal, a really good part of the deal.
Listen to Philippa Hanna “My hope is in the blood”
Pray & Worship Together at CBC
Tuesday 2nd January – Prayer time 7:30pm
Wednesday 3rd January – Prayer time 2pm
Saturday 6th January – Intergenerational Prayer Breakfast 8:30am
Sunday 7th January – Prayer 1st 7pm
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