Text: Psalm 32:1-7
Once we’ve praised our Father, once we’ve put Him where He belongs and remembered who is Good, it’s hard to not feel like the spotlight shifts to our own ick. It is a beautiful truth that because of our standing with Christ Jesus, it’s not our confession of our sin that enables us to be saved. You’re not required to remember all the things that you’ve done or describe your transgressions in depth to be pardoned. Like all of the other beautiful parts of sanctification, our Father has given us wisdom regarding confession and repentance so that we can grow closer to Him and one another. It’s not a have to, it’s a get to.
But how to? Psalm 32 presents a beautiful picture. The first step – don’t keep silent. Don’t hide from Him, don’t avoid Him, don’t drown Him out. The days I regret most in this life are the ones where I’ve put my spiritual fingers in my ears and made enough noise or listened to enough chatter from others and refused to sit quietly with my ears tuned to the Spirit and my heart honestly telling the Lord where I’m at. Don’t keep silent. Be honest with Him about where your heart is at and what you’ve been up to. It’s silly really to hide from someone who sees all and whose love covers all. How much time does a child waste and how much more wrath will they store up for themselves when they run from a parent who longs to restore them to right standing?
Next, get honest and acknowledge your sin. How have you hurt others? How have you hurt yourself? How have you committed sin and what have you not done that should have been done? Again, it’s not about checking it all off. It’s about being honest. When the disobedient child finally faces His parent, is it wise or unwise to pretend like they have no idea what it is they’re being called to acknowledge? Hold your hands and your heart up to Him and show Him what you’ve got.
Lastly, we’d be missing the beauty of the gospel if our next step in confession and repentance involved “cleaning ourselves up” or “fixing what we’ve done.” David says, “you are a hiding place for me,” and that is absolutely the perfect response for a repentant heart. Remind yourself that you’re covered in the blood of Jesus and praise Him for letting you be there. Walk forward in the knowledge that you are justified and hidden in the covenantal love of your Redeemer.
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42 thoughts on "prayers of confession + repentance"
Oh, I love today's devotional! It is so true, why do we run away and hide from telling Him when He knows ALL things and still LOVES us unconditionally?
Gracious, I am loving this new plan so much!
@Ashley: Praying for you. You can do this girl!
Praying for you Ashley. Been there, done that! It’s not worth keeping it in. Literally will make you sick. Thanks so much Candacejo and Carolynmimi, I needed your comments today. He covered my guilt and shame! Thank you Lord for your Grace so undeserved!
You are welcome Hayley, God is so much more forgiving to us than we ever are to ourselves.
I am so ashamed to even type this, it is something that I have to confess.
About 4 years ago, I was fired from an internship for being late more that 3 times in my first 90 days. That alone is hard to admit – just some stupidity that lost me a good oppertunity. Then I lied about it for the rest of the summer and then used money that I inherited to cover that lie. It still hangs very heavy in my heart. I feel that I should tell my parents but I have a lot of shame. I don't know if I can do it. Since then I have had a strong career where punctuality has been a BIG deal for me – I am now turning this over to God, I will no longer keep silent. That means I will have to tell my parents – it is the right thing to do. It was a mistake and HE has forgiven me. Staying silent has held me almost 4 years later.
I just wanted to get that off my chest. Thank you so much ladies for being an outlet for me.
Praying for you Ashley. I have kept deceptions like this before and they eat away at me. God has taught me than confessing to him and being forgiven is the first step…covered by the blood of Christ and yet He also wants me to get things as right with others as it is within my power to do without harming anyone else. Your parents love you and may not even be as surprised as you expect.
Oh Ashley, bless your heart, you are forgiven that is true! The Lord loves you and will bless you for what you are going to do! I agree with Carolyn, your parents will admire you so much for making things right and it will be the biggest load lifted. If you feel you need to do that then God will be with you and then it is forever forgotten. Be blessed dear friend!
I'm really enjoying reading everyone's posts, as they are taking the words right out of my mouth.
I have scribbles and notes all through my Bible and in the back/front pages and wanted to share something written about this passage that was written awhile ago. In my NIV Bible, I see the word "Selah" 3 times throughout Psalm 32. I was taught years ago that Selah means "stop, pause, listen, take time to think about it." Look at where Selah is written in this passage: (1) v.3-4 where we see silence causing bones to waste away, our strength is sapped and the Lord's hand is heavy on us. Raechel's Step 1 in confession and repentance "Don't be silent." Selah. (2) v.5 we acknowledge and confess our sins to the Lord and He forgives (not only the sin but the guilt of the sin, as Allison pointed out above). SRT Step 2 in confession and repentance "Get honest and acknowledge your sin". Selah. (3) v.7 the Lord is our hiding place, where we are protected from trouble and surrounded with songs of deliverance. SRT Step 3 in confession and repentance "you are a hiding place for me.. Remind yourself that you’re covered in the blood of Jesus and praise Him for letting you be there. Walk forward in the knowledge that you are justified and hidden in the covenantal love of your Redeemer." Selah.
We are being guided through God's word not only on 3 "how-to" steps for confessing and repenting, but God is wanting us to stop/pause/listen/think about each step. Not only are the acts of not being silent and acknowledging our sins pleasing to God and creating opportunities for growth, but maybe the act of Selah provides an even greater opportunity for an even deeper growth?? I love these reminders through scripture. I read somewhere online (so it's obviously true, right?! :) ) that Selah is written 74 times in the Bible, 71 of which are in Psalms. I can't speak to the truth of this, but know that I've read it a lot in Psalms (I'm not sure what other books it is written). We've spent a lot of time in Psalms recently and we can all attest to the incredibly powerful scripture written there. So with God's reminder to stop, clearly there is something really good happening! When I see this word, I think to myself "God is making a point to say Stop, Pause, and Listen for me." I think I need to insert Selah into other parts of scripture so that I make a better habit of pausing and listening.
As I'm writing this, I'm thinking… "Hmmm.. 'listening for God'.. this coming from the same girl who, yesterday, was asking how to 'wait on God." :)
All of you, sisters, are truly a blessing. May God bless each of you today.
Looked it up. Three times in Habakkuk. I love the instruction to pause.
oh, this is so good and you are so right! Selah – take time, pause, be silent!! Very reflective!
That was just terrific, Lauren! I learned a lot today and will never look at Selah the same again!! Thank you!
@junebug, Your words resonated with me when you said, “God’s not afraid of my feelings. I am. So I come…with fear, or anxiety, or anger, or depression, etc. And God exchanges whatever feelings I have about my sin for His grace, freedom and confidence…that I am His.” I am afraid of my feelings but God already knows them. He still loves me warts and all. He wants me to come into His all-embracing hug to comfort me. I do love and cherish His hugs. I need to do it more often. Thank you for the reminder.
Wow, Haylee! Sometimes, we don’t feel forgiven! I needed that today! Oing I am feeling short with everyone right now and continually confessing it to God and yet I am not feeling the forgiveness! Thnk you!
You’re not required to remember all the things that you’ve done or describe your transgressions in depth to be pardoned. Wow! I’ve always thought, for some reason, you had to try and remember each and every sin and confess them one by one. Then, I’d get upset with myself because I’d draw a blank. This was so freeing for me today!
I also wanted to tell you all that I have started the boo “1”000 Gifts” recommended by many of you, and it has been life-changing. Every chapter is so full of nuggets! I read the chapter about time today and one thing I had to confess was I got so in a hurry I snapped at my husband this morning like I do all too often when he was trying to talk to me. Ouch!
Candacejo, I LOVE this quote!
"The devil IS a liar, the father of lies, the Bible says. John 8:44. He wants to bring up our past but it is HIDDEN, under the blood, God has forgiven us so we must forgive ourselves."
How right you are! It reminds me of that song (I believe it is by Casting Crowns, but don't quote me on that!) "Lord, can you show me just how far the East is from the West? And He said 'From one scarred hand to the other'." Gives me chills.
Father, thank you that you are good when there is nothing good in me! You are true even in my wandering. You are light when the darkness closes in. You are good, you have covered all my sin. And oh, I'm running to Your arms, the richness of Your love will always be enough!
I was thinking of the same song! It is Casting Crowns and gives me chills also.
I almost posted that song :) so here it is, LIVE just in case you want to listen to it again! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWMebzGZGZc
I also love what you posted Lindsay! You are good, you are good, when there's nothing good in me!! I love that song!!
Carolynmimi that is so true! I recently took a class on the Holy Spirit at my church, and I found out exactly what you’ve said. Conviction from sin does come from the Holy Spirit, and when we recognize that we are convicted, God gives us the power in that moment to repent of that sin & be reconciled immediately.
Conviction draws us closer to God, while shame over sin causes us to hide from Him and others.
I love that God let’s us come to him ‘dirty’. He doesn’t require us to clean up our lives or become perfect Christians before He accepts us. He wants us to come, just as we are, messes and all. Praise the Lord for His grace & mercy!
After what I felt was a steep fall from grace, the Lord stilled my heart and reminded me of his grace with one simple word. "Come." Really? I would expect a hand in the face, or for God to come only after I cleaned myself up. But no…He invited me come. Oozing with the negative effects of sin and self-condemnation. So I did. As tears flowed, I experienced an instant reprieve from working so hard to keep my sin from Him. I didn't want to bother God with my sin. Again.
When I feel the anguish over something I've done wrong, I hear the Lord whisper in my ear, "Come." If I feel ashamed? I come (clenching my gut) with my shame anyway. If I am angry. I come to Him angry. If I don't believe He will help me out, I come with my doubt. The sooner I come with an honest confession, the better. Immediately when it's still fresh, before I've even had a chance to stew or mourn over it. God's not afraid of my feelings. I am. So I come…with fear, or anxiety, or anger, or depression, etc. And God exchanges whatever feelings I have about my sin for His grace, freedom and confidence…that I am His.
That is it! In a word…COME! Don't wash up, just come. Thank you for focusing on that word from God. Blesses my socks off, JuneBug.
I love this and need to just come to him. Thank you also for pointing out that God's not afraid of our feelings. I had never thought about that! Blessings to you on this wonderful Friday!
The part of the Scripture that spoke the most to me was where it says "I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity….and you forgave the GUILT of my sin." Not only does God forgive the sin itself, he forgives the guilt of that sin! That really spoke to me this morning because I often times use that phrase "I'll forgive you but I won't forget…" and today this verse made me stop and wonder if that in essence is maintaining the "guilt" of sin. Once God has forgiven the sin, all of it is taken off your shoulders. Even if you can't physically "forget" the sin, all of the guilt that comes with sin is gone and maintaining an attitude of "forgiving but not forgetting" only pushes that guilt back on the person who sinned. I need to remind myself of this when I "oh so subtly" remind someone that I haven't forgotten or of what they did. And vice versa…if someone continually throws my past sin in my face, I need to remind myself that the guilt of that sin is forever taken away. Do not let it bring me down again!
I have heard pastors and teachers say..conviction of sin comes from the Holy Spirit…Guilt comes from Satan…that old liar and thief of joy.
Thank you for pointing that out. Despite reading this a few times, the notion of forgiving not just the sin but the GUILT of the sin, hadn't quite sunk in.
I LOVE this passage from scripture. And how timely – how often do we come off of a "spiritual high", such as one some of us may have experienced over Easter, only to finally settle back into how we were before. I don't want to lose this fire. It has awakened things in me that I have long forgotten I could ever have.
The fact that God is "a hiding place for me" makes me feel a lot less like I should be walking around with a scarlet A on display so that everyone can know all about my sins. Thank you God.
I felt the exact same way. I really got into Holy Week and it was a great spiritual high going through Easter! But I don't want to lose that fire either!! I just want to hide in Him – that blood that He shed for me COVERS my SIN!! Praises!
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:1, 3, 5, 7 NIV)
The word pictures in this Psalm ring so authentic for indeed forgiveness lightens the heart, allows transparency and laughter. It opens us to doing what the previous lessons have encouraged…it opens us to praising God with our whole being.
Over my life I have committed acts of sin that would make most people cringe, some became public, but the most insidious ones were the ones I covered up, well suffice it to say they ripped my guts out and are the ones the devil still likes to wave in my face anytime he gets a chance. So, when David writes "my bones wasted away" I really get that…unconfessed sin leads to mental and physical anguish, illness, and yes even death. The devil would love to keep us in his clutches, but when God forgives We are forgiven…as Candacejo says He doesn't remember them…He chooses to forget and doesn't bring them up.
So the dreams, images, sickness in the pit of the stomach memories DO NOT come from Christ. The one who would steal the joy of our salvation sends them..but Why? I mean he cannot touch us for we belong to Jesus. As much as God loves us, Satan hates us. His bold face lies are to isolate us from other believers, cause doubt, despair, render us ineffective witnesses, basically rip us to shreds. He wants to return our attention to ourselves, knowing that self focus draws us away from Jesus, His death, resurrection, His saving grace.
That is one reason I think we need daily confession– to return our attention and worship to God. Confession is an act of worship, an act of Praise.
“My bones wasted away” is such powerful imagery! What an excellent point that those ‘guilty’ feeling are not from Christ! Once we confess (and before), he forgives us, we need to believe him! Try to remember to give ourselves some GRACE.
David says, “you are a hiding place for me,” and that is absolutely the perfect response for a repentant heart. Remind yourself that you’re covered in the blood of Jesus and praise Him for letting you be there. Walk forward in the knowledge that you are justified and hidden in the covenantal love of your Redeemer.
And what a beautiful and restful place to be ~ hidden in Christ’s arms! Our sin must convict us, we must be sorry for it, acknowledge it, let the conviction do its work in our hearts so that we can learn, but that is where it ends because that is where the blood of Jesus takes over. We are free of sin, justified in Him.
Confession is the first step towards repenting (turning back to God). It is hard, but I love when God points out my sin. It makes me stop and face Him and myself. Conviction helps us to become closer to God and start making changes in our lives. I am so happy that He gives us a choice and that he shows mercy on me.
Amy Kelly, Lol! I am so sorry I didn't think of this scripture for you! Yes as soon as I read it just now I thought of you, sweet friend. Good is so good. "Where could I go, oh, where could I go? Seeking a refuge for my soul? Needing a friend to help me in the end? Where could I go but to the Lord?"
You are right Haley, the devil IS a liar, the father of lies, the Bible says. John 8:44. He wants to bring up our past but it is HIDDEN, under the blood, God has forgiven us so we must forgive ourselves!
When we keep asking forgiveness for the same sin over and over again, the Lord doesn't even know what we are talking about! He has already forgiven and cast it as far as the east is from the west! "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west." Psalms 103:12. And we know that east and west will NEVER meet! So He has forgotten them forever!
Thank God for His mercies that are new every morning! Great is thy faithfulness!
Praying for you Amy!
I love these verses! But I also know that sometimes we don’t FEEL forgiven. That is a lie from the devil to put toxic thoughts in our minds. But He has redeemed us and forgives us each time we confess our sins. He also gives us divine power to remove strongholds of toxic thoughts(2 Cor. 10:4-5)Let us get rid of guilty consciences and live in God’s freedom and Joy! (Hebrews 10:22)
Accepting forgiveness without the feeling, so true , Hayley. We torment ourselves unnecessarily. When we have confessed our sin, He is faithful to forgive our sin…that is what matters, not feeling forgiveness, believing Him.
Praise God!! His timing is everything!! Candace Jo, did you read this?? My mouth was on the floor just reading the psalm… Then I read the devotion!!! My heart and head were heavy last night, sisters, and God has spoken directly to me!!
There was no sense in hiding from God with my sin. It was too public. I couldn't have hidden from anyone if I tried. I turned to God immediately, and He was there for me immediately. And He hasn't left me. The devil has tried to lodge himself between us… And I've let him get a hand in here and there. But Jesus is holding me so tightly, so closely that the devil just won't win. Praise God!! I can start to wallow and He sends me sisters. I can start to worry and He sends me scriptures and devotions. God is good!! All the time!!!
Amen! So hard to rise above the devil's taunting or our own self recrimination, but with God as our refuge and the encouragement of fellow Christians we can. You inspire me with your image of Jesus holding tightly, protecting you not from your sin which is forgiven but from the poison darts of Satan. Hallelujah in Him we are forgiven.
Eye opener! Once again I was wondering is this devo going to touch me? I wasn't sure but the simple truth is I love the analogy of making noise so as not to hear the spirit of the Lord. I sin just like we all do….and want to think I don't. I am often selfish with my time.
I work hard and want time to just enjoy and be by myself to do what I want. Then I think I need to have the grand kids over or do something with my sons or friends…..but I become selfish and just want to be alone. So pray for forgiveness and that I will "be still" so that I may listen and obey the urgings of the Holy Spirit. I want to be more like Christ and give….give ….give!
Why did i tell you all that…
It all comes back to the cross… Without the cross where would we be?
Without the cross what chance would we have? Without the cross.. Without the cross.
. We needed the cross. We need the cross.
We needed the cross, that we can confess our sins.
We needed the cross that we can be forgiven.
We needed the cross that we can know Gods Love
We needed the cross so that we can sing of salvation.
We needed the cross. AMEN.
Amen and God's blessings on you for sharing with us all!
Sorry sisters pressed wrong button…
Fir the first time i was hearing something else, i was understanding….
I had just lost Julee, and was a tad lost ti say the least…but i kept going back to God for answers…. I had this picture then and i.m reminded of it now, of me holding onto Gods leg and telling Him i Will not let go, not even if He did…. Thank you Lord for the reminder of my promise to you…
God sacrificed his son fo me. ME. And you. Our children. Our friends. Our families.
I hurt every time i thought of. Jesus on the cross.
Having lost Julee… The pain. The loss. The hurt. The what’s the point of going on….i understood the magnitude of what the Lord our God had done for me/us. He had given his son that we might live and live to the full….forgiven. Free. Loved. Amazing love. Amazing grace. Amazing God.
Lord i pray you are our hiding place today, wherever we are at in our lives, and i pray your abundant blessings over us all. Have a God blessed day, ladies. X
A very Good morning to you all.
Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned…..
I.ll say an AMEN to that. Intact i.ll say it again…AMEN. And again…AMEN.
When my daughter passed away aged 27, i would have told you i knew the Lord…. How wrong…i picked him up when i needed him, run to him when all else failed… Amazingly He did walk with me… What a friend we have i Jesus, all our sins and grieves to bear… That just come to mind….
The magnitude of that did nite hit me until the Easte after Julee died…
I followed the Easter story and for the first time i read
I love today’s devo. I learned many years ago to run TO God when I sin, not away from him. But, we all have those putting our spiritual fingers in our ears moments. Times when we make excuses; times when we try to justify ourselves. I still have them from time to time, but I’m much more in the habit of crying out for mercy and grace to overcome – immediately – now, when the Holy Spirit’s conviction comes. And, while I may have a load of not-so-good habits, at least I know there’s one very good habit I have!
"Again, it's not about checking it all off. It's about being honest." Thanks for putting the perspective and focus back on the condition of the heart and not about being religious. This devo today is really needed because I think so often when we talk about asking for forgiveness, it also comes with condemnation. Thanks for showing that it's not a "have to" but a "get to" and that it's not necessary to list every one of the wrongs we have done.