‘I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God; He bears them all, and frees us from the accursed load: I bring my guilt to Jesus, to wash my crimson stains White in his blood most precious, till not a spot remains.’
All-seeing, holy, righteous God, the God who knows and hates our sin,
We would humble ourselves before you.
We would not in the pride of our hearts strut before you, congratulating ourselves on our own endeavors to keep the law of God and to please you.
We have sinned.
We confess that to you.
In our hearts and in our lives we would exercise repentance,
we would turn from all that is hateful to you,
and we would pray that every sin that you,
the all-seeing God, detect, it would please you to blot out.
Create in us a clean heart, we pray; renew in us a right spirit.
Against you, you only, have we sinned.
Blot out all our transgressions
And restore to your people the joy of our salvation.
How we thank you that we can come and make such petitions on behalf of ourselves knowing that though you are so awesomely holy, and in righteousness abhor all that is sinful, yet you are a most gracious and merciful God. You love the sinner, and you love when the sinner cries from the depths and confesses his sin.
Gracious, righteous God,
you have provided in the cross of Calvary for our cleansing,
for our renewal,
and our ultimate perfection.
We thank you for the love that moved you to give your Son to the death of the cross.
We thank you, Son of God, for loving us and giving yourself for us, and for the promise that your blood is able to cleanse from all sin.
We would enjoy that cleansing and that renewal,
And we pray that your Spirit, O God, would be mightily operative in the hearts of your people,
subduing sin,
transforming us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
We thank you that that is your purpose in predestination.
You have foreknown us, called us, and justified us, that we might be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ; and we thank you that, having begun a good work in us, you will carry it on until it is complete.
We pray that you will use this gathering,
The means of grace, the hymns and psalms that we sing,
The Scriptures read and studied,
And the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper
to help us heavenward,
to work in us holiness,
to deepen our love for you,
our gratitude for your grace,
and our abhorrence of all that is sinful.
Lord, put your finger, we pray, upon our sins if we are blind to them.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts;
see if there is any sinful way in us, and point us in the way everlasting.
Lord, as we experience the blessings of redemption,
We pray that all over the world today those same blessings would be enjoyed.
May they be experienced by those who have never tasted of your goodness in salvation before.
May be they be experienced again by your own beloved people who have sinned and who need once again to be forgiven.
We thank you again for this time together.
We seek most earnestly your blessing to be upon us as we join together.
We pray that this would be indeed for our spiritual benefit
but we pray that supremely it would be for the glory, praise, and pleasure of our great triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
David Campbell and Sara Leone
Intentional Faith 