Text: Romans 8:1-2
Praise God for the deep, wide, sweeping promise of these two tiny verses from Romans!
From wherever we sit today – in whatever state or country, in whatever state of mind or heart – let’s thank God for the unfathomable gift of His redeeming, non-condemning grace as we pray this prayer of confession together.
Prayer: Continual Repentance
O God of Grace,
Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
and has imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
deking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.
from The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan prayers and devotions, ©2001, The Banner of Truth Trust, p.76.
Counterexample for your conjecture:(Assuming that x is horizontal and increasing right, and y is vertical increasing down.)I suspect, though, that every time you subtract the next greedy quad from the current figure, you reduce (horizontal edges) + (total genus) (connected components) by at least 1.
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Just WRECKED by these prayers.
I need to repent of my repentance….. O God, let it be so.
I am appreciating these prayers. I have lost my sight for some time now. I can see that I’ve lost my vision. I have become so shortsighted. The circumference around me is so tiny and small…and I can only see myself snd have thought far too much of myself. “I can change. I can do this. I am this. I need this.” I have said innumerable amounts if times. Today reading this. I stopped. God’s sight of me reflected back into my own vision and…I don’t know if I’m making sense….but I saw how small and weak I am and how powerful God is. I saw my thoughts, behaviours, my words as “tinctured with selfishness.” That even my repentance. ..any thing good in me…still just filthy…and then saw how the perfection of Christ covered me. How unfair! A psalm came to mind. “What is man that you are mindful of him?” David didn’t even dare to say who. He said what am I? And seeing all if this I just have to say: “the love of God is the highest order in the universe.” Who can fathom his love and goodness? I cannot. Nor will I ever be able to. The grace of God allows us, all of us, to move, to become like him. I do not want to move on my own anymore. I don’t want to take an inch, I don’t even want to look in a direction that he doesn’t will.
There is nothing perfect and righteous about me. My mind cannot even begin to behold the exceeding sinfulness of sin, exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness and the exceeding wonder of grace. Lord you are everything beautiful and wonderful. You are too good. I am not quite sure if I will ever understand why you are so good, but I will praise you at all times Lord. Please lord keep me. Never let me go.
" I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country, and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun." I don't even know what to say. Who but God would do this?! He refills our grace cup day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. He tells us not to do something, we do it anyways and He's still standing there with His arms open and ready to take us back. I'm overwhelmed by His grace and mercy. Sisters please choose to refuse any person, circumstance, or internal thought that tries to convince you that your aren't a precious pearl in His sight.
"But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness."
The song "Grace like Rain" by Todd Agnew comes to mind as I read this prayer. Lord, even in submitting myself to you, evil is right alongside me trying to wreck it all. Lord, only Your righteousness can save me. ONLY YOU can make me who You want me to be. Lord, I pray you'd help us all to submit ourselves to and trust you more. Thank you for washing our stains away and clothing us with your love and righteousness.
"I have no robe to bring to cover my sins" That's amazing.
I love how we're all finding different parts of this…. such incredible poetry I could spend a day on each line!
Just checked out your blog, really beautiful….. selfie no. 8 is usually my best too ;-)
Mmhmm…reminds me of Isaiah 64:6 – "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." So thankful that we are clothed in Jesus' righteousness instead.