Though Scripture contains many written prayers, like those found in the book of Psalms, and many teachings on how to pray, like the parables and sermons in Jesus’s ministry, this reading plan focuses on the prayers offered to God in the narratives of Scripture. Each day we’ll read a narrative that includes a prayer from an individual or group. Their prayers vary in length, type, posture, purpose, and God’s response. The secondary passages explore how the rest of Scripture speaks to the themes demonstrated in the main reading.
While each account is different, every prayer recorded in Scripture teaches us about the unchanging God who invites us to speak to and hear from Him. These prayers model for us what it can look like to be in conversation with God. As you read, notice the posture and emotions present each day.
Reading Scripture together is the centerpiece of what we do at She Reads Truth. As we spend time as a community reading Prayers in Scripture together, we encourage you to start by reading the daily Scripture on your own. Then join us here to engage and encourage one another as we respond to what we’ve read in the comments.
Prior to today’s reading, have you ever considered how prayers, specifically confession, can be communal, or offered on behalf of a group or community? Share with the global community your experience with this type of prayer.
Leave a Reply
67 thoughts on "The God Who Hears Our Confession"
i pray for other people but have never considered communal confession. praying with others is so special!
I feel this right now. My groups is in need of prayer and this is just what I needed to understand that!
Yes I have; interceding, which is when you pray on behalf of another which I’ve done. And I’ve heard prayers being lifted up to God on behalf of our sins in church. I also prayed for the cops and everyone who were involved in the whole George Floyd incident.
I’ve never done confession as a group but knowing others go through struggles as well helps. We are not alone. I do more confession with me and God but it is something to work on.
I have never considered communal confession. I feel communal can be considered between a couple, family, or church body.
I haven’t really prayed on behalf too much of a group. Praying numbers is powerful, so in terms of events that happen in the world collectively as a church we pray. However, I can intercede for groups – the only time I have done this was for my rugby team.
Communal confession is important so that you have other people to walk with you in struggles and keep you accountable when needed. The devil loses his power when sin is brought to the light.
We pray together as a church and confession is part of the prayer. Confession is a community and can bring people together.
Yes, I believe In the power of communal prayer . Especially in the Bible where it says where there are two or more there I am. The holy spurt always lives in us and God always hears our prayers even in silence but with a large group is even more powerful.
That’s am amazing idea Savannah! God bless you! Praying for you from Gainesville, Florida!
Prior to today’s reading I did know that confessions could be communal. In receiving Christ as my Lord and savior and renewing my vowels to Him, my church had like a corporal prayer and we all confessed our sins and received Jesus.
❤️
I pray for myself, my husband, I pray over our marriage. I pray for my family, friends, church family, and co workers
Yes. We do need to remember confession in a time when sin is so often justified by ourselves or our society. I’m in my 30s and don’t have near the closeness to my community as I used to. And I think that was unfortunately not intended by the Lord. I’m committed to changing that.
I pray for my family, friends, classmates, and coworkers because those are the people I interact with the most.
❤️
if is a general thing so we pray using umbrella terms that might mean something different for everyone but we pray like that because we all need it and us as a community/ church need it
We pray together as a church and confession is part of that but also general outcry for the suffering and marginalized or pleading for wisdom and understanding. It can be intimidating to pray together but it’s never been a bad experience. Always very uplifting. The Spirit is definitely on the move when we pray.
We pray together as a church and confession is part of that but also
@Megan Dormond I too struggle with singing and being punished for it with unanswered prayers. This has been a struggle to the point that I’m crippled with anxiety. We have a good God who loves us and fortunately for us knows we will mess up several time. Yet we are forgiven! Praying that everybody can have a happy thanksgiving
Yes, I’m always trying to keep not only myself or family in my prayers, I’m trying to keep other people or groups in my prayers too. Haven’t thought our about a confession for a community of people before. But I guess that is what Pastor’s and other religious leaders do. I don’t think in my recent memory of prayer I’ve confessed on behalf of a group, but it makes sense to do so since us human do communal sins along with individual sins. Or enough of us sin in the exact same way. Always learning something new on SRT! something to try in the future.
❤️
Ah, Dear Shes. The Book of Common Prayer. Confession of Sin. Communal. Individual. The Prayers of the People. “Forgive! Listen! Act!”. Acknowledgement & Absolution. Appeal & Supplication. A reassuring rhythm & repetition. Every Sunday. Lifting voices to the One who is faultless, faithful & unfailing. Tomorrow at your Thanksgiving table, whisper prayers & offer blessing to SRT sisters around the world. Connected in compassion. Bound by belief. Thanks be to God! (And pass the gravy!!)
What beautiful & raw intercessory prayers we have today of government leaders such as Daniel and Nehemiah! And they did not just pray, they fasted for their fallen nation. I am sure there are still godly men & women out there in government leadership. God is always sparing the remnants even though there seems to be none, like He reserved with the 7,000 who didn’t bow to Baal in Isaiah’s time. The Lord did it back then and by His mercy it is still the same. We might not know these godly remnants and their silent tears and battles being in the lion’s den, being called evil when they are good, and their suffering in the face of such fierce persecution through social media (a stronghold of the devil). BUT GOD. BUT GOD!! Is anything too hard? He is good and faithful. May we pray for the Daniel and Nehemiah of our time, who pour out their hearts for the sin of the nation. It is not easy. Praise God for godly leaders. On another note, our God is addressed today by Daniel as the great and dreadful God (Daniel 9:4 KJV), and by Nehemiah as the great, the mighty and the terrible God (Nehemiah 9:32). Why do they both call God terrible and dreadful? They know that side of God, yes He is terrible and dreadful. Strangely that gives me great hope, because God is not a pushover God, He is a terrible One. He is terrible to His enemies and to His children’s enemies. Who can escape His wrath? With the terrible God on our side, the evil force must tremble.
@Dorothy: praying for the warfare going on. What an ordeal! May your sister and nephew be set free from all the cruel bondage the devil has set on them. And may you find new strength, much needed rest and victory from the mighty and terrible God!
@Traci: praying for upcoming holidays and an improved relationship with your step daughter & husband’s families.
Be blessed dear sisters.
I have many times felt lead to pray for and over our great nation…to repent and confess over it because we serve a faithful God who looks to perform His Word. I will speak words of life & light, believing He will bring it to pass! It’s intercession on behalf of many!
My thoughts exactly!
I have never thought of prayer for a community but in many instances I believe it would be good.
Sisters please pray for my sister, I found out yesterday my nephew is out of jail and she is letting him live with her. This is a very toxic situation because if and when he stops taking his meds, he has schizophrenia, he become destructive. Also my sister, Carol, tends to drink more. Carol text me some very hurtful things in the middle of the night last night. I was awake because I work until 10:30 pm and I was winding down. I told I will always love her and I will.
Be blessed and know you can talk to God anytime, anywhere.
Confession for a community, like a nation, a church, a family is like a beginning. It’s like saying that I am going to be a part of repentance and renewal in that community.
Good morning sweet SRT sisters! Another cold Fall of 39 degrees and I’m OFF staring today for the rest of the week! PTL! The first thing that came to my mind, after reading the question, were my kids. As I’ve mentioned they’re older. Adult son, and teenage daughter. I pray for them EVERYDAY and sometimes those prayers consist of asking the Holy Spirit to convict them of anything that does not please our God whether it be movies, music, etc. I pray and ask GOD to remind them WHO they represent and to WHO they belong too. I also pray that GOD would protect their minds. I often have said to both my kids that once you see something it’s there forever.
Please continue to pray as I navigate through this Child Development class as this week, because of the Thanksgiving holiday, I have double the homework plus an Exam. Thankfully I already completed almost half of it!
Jennifer Loves Jesus – Such a beautiful comment that spoke volumes to me today. Thank you!
“He will act faithfully, while we act wickedly.”
Lord God I pray for humility. That I will recognize my sins and pray for forgiveness.
I have felt a softening towards my husbands daughter that was so hurtful towards me. I am beyond thankful for this. It is easy to hang onto the acts that someone has committed against you and harder to forgive. I pray that I can truly learn forgiveness as God continues to forgive me of my sinful nature.
Prayed for your dad
Praying for the United States to turn from our sin and follow Jesus.
*confession ☺️
What a blessing it is to read through all of these comments, seeing how you lift up and pray for one another. You are all inspirations everyday.
I do pray for others sins. God is loving and merciful and I like to believe that when one of his believers is praying for another sinner He takes special notice and works a little harder on opening their eyes and heart to His goodness, beauty, and blessings. :-)
I am overwhelmed with joy and warmth for all my blessings…may you be also! Thanksgiving Blessings coming your way!~~
To forgive and be forgiven is a beautiful act of love. Our merciful Saviour only needs our convession and our heart. From there the clouds of sin and darkness part and the Light of Christ begins its cleansing and clearing power in us. But confession must continue. Because sin continues to live in us. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) AND “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us…” (v. 9). Thus the battle between wanting to do right yet failing continues as Paul wrestles with in Romans 7. As long as we remain in the world we will wrestle with the spiritual battle that rages all around us, and in us. And, nothing and no one can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38). We are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (v. 37). Confession is not a weakness, but strength through honesty. Humbly repenting of our weakness to sin and being strengthened through the grace and mercy of forgiveness. It is a mysterious dance of give and take. It is the way to freedom and peace with God. I am only just beginning to understand the power of repentance and confession as a sacramental life practice. Just as the sin of Adam and Eve pushed them to hide from God in their shame, so their eventual confession reslulted with a covering afterward when God made them clothing. We can’t return to the original Garden of Eden, but we are on our way to the new one. As we “walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin” (back to 1 John 1:7) This is the adventure we find ourselves in. There is pleasure, and there is pain, but God is love, and so we can love one another here through the power of Jesus. Forgiving eachother as we go. This is the light, this is the hope, this is the life we share… Until… Maranatha.
Please keep my dad in prayer he was diagnosed with AML in January and its been a long road. He had a stem cell transplant in June and had an infection in September, his platelet count is low and we are asking for healing prayers. We are asking that God completely heal him.
I have been in prayer groups that pray the ACTS prayer.
A – adoration of God
C – confession
T – thanksgiving
S – supplications
Confession is usually silent but not always. Praying this way in a group when time is limited works so well. I use it in my personal prayers sometimes too.
As Daniel prayed for his people and confessing their sin and God’s righteousness, we too can pray for our country. People say the words, “God bless America”. Of course, we want God’s blessings and Divine protection, but we as a nation have sinned. We call evil good and good evil. As a nation, we ignore God’s Word. There are laws to allow and protect sin. Some of our leaders stand in defense of acts that are an abomination. Please let’s pray for our leaders and anyone that has power, influence, or a platform to, by God’s mercy, have an encounter with Him. May they/ we see our sin rightly and see Him rightly. May their/our depraved minds be removed, so we can see and think rightly and know the truth. May we all truly confess and repent and be overwhelmed by His mercy and forgiveness. May they/we hate what God hates and love what God loves and care more about what God thinks than man. May laws and statutes change based on God’s Word. May He heal our land and May His Name be glorified and praised throughout the earth! Amen!
Megan…I remember a time that I felt much like you, but the more I studied the more I found the depths of God’s love mercy and grace. He hears our hearts and prayers when we come to him in sincere confession/repentance. I remember having a particular sin that would set me back over and over. But, God knew how to draw me back and gave me the the Word from Scripture to arm me for the battle with that sin. Never give up on your pursuit of Him. He loves you SO much.
I remember a time that I felt much like you, but the more I studied the more U
I remember a time that I felt much like you, but the mores
I grew up in a denomination that would have a time of communal confession every week. We would read aloud the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:1-19 or pray the prayer of confession from The Book of Common Prayer that KELLEY FULLER shared or read aloud the Apostle’s Creed. Before the Lord’s Supper, we would have the time of communal confession and then have a time of silent confession for our individual sins. As a young child, this helped to remind me that my Christian walk was not just an individual thing. We are a body of believers, a community. What one person struggles with affects another person.
Times of public confession helps to solidify unity within a church. We realize even more that all Christians do indeed struggle to continue to obey God. Although we want to obey and our hearts are willing to obey, our flesh is weak. We fall short of obeying in our thought, words, and actions. We praise God for the faithfulness of His compassion, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and justice.
Yes, I also have previously considered how prayers of confession can be for a group or a community. I have at times prayed this for my church and have often prayed a prayer of confession for our country – which desperately needs Jesus Christ! I pray that our nation might humble itself and pray and seek God, that He might heal our land.
@Megan Dormond – you are not alone in thinking those thoughts, the key is not letting the thoughts consume you but replacing them with God’s truth – He loves you, Jesus died for you, if you confess – He will remember your sins no more! Satan wants you to believe the lies, but put him in his place – give God the glory, for something He’s already done – forgiven you! Prayers for you that God will give you His blessed peace and assurance.
“We are in great distress.” Waking up this morning and seeing the daily mass shooting in the States — YES, prayers are communal. We ARE in great distress. We are killing our people daily; we are letting our people be killed.
“Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act!”
During Bible studies there are communal prayers that go out. One person speaking on behalf of the sins and pain of all the others.
Good morning ladies. I’d like to recommend the book praying like monks, living like fools by Tyler Staton who was on the week 1 podcast. The first chapter has set me free of the need to “get prayer right” and by the end Gad me in tears. My biggest takeaway was “pray as you can”. If you can’t pray for 40 minutes, don’t. Pray for one. If you are distracted sitting, then pray while walking. Etc. It made me realize that God sees our efforts, no matter how lacking they are. Have a blessed day!
@Megan, yes I echo what these women had said to you. Don’t believe the lies of Satan. Did you see in Daniels confession that God does not forgive us because of “our righteous deeds” but because of who He is. God is merciful based on Himself, not you. And as 1 John 1:5 says– there is no darkness/wrong/evil in the heart of God. Refresh yourself in reading these words and trying to believe them for yourself. I have often felt like you but read Psalm 103 to remind myself of God’s kindness towards us.
Here is some of it:
“He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.”
May God redirect your thinking in believing He isn’t kind, because He is the kindest person you will ever know. No matter how much you sin, His love and mercy will always follow you.
Confession – acknowledging when I/we have missed the mark or willfully turned from it. I do not belong to a church tradition the regularly does this, but some days after hearing a newscast I cannot help but to pray that the Lord would have mercy on our corporate waywardness and that His righteousness would prevail.
Reflecting on Daniel’s confession on behalf of Israel, I was reminded of one of our readings from last week where Abraham asked God to spare a city if there were just a few righteous men there. Here we see God’s mercy and compassion in action where the confessions of one man, Daniel, are accepted on behalf of an entire nation who were not yet ready to acknowledge and confess their sin. What an incredibly personal and loving God we serve! I don’t often think to confess beyond what has been in my sole power and control, but what we see today is that confession of just one righteous man can move the heart of God for an entire group of people. May I learn to be that one.
As I was reading Daniel’s prayer, I started writing down various aspects – to pray humbly, thankfully, faithfully, honestly, boldly, reverently, acknowledging our sins, asking for His mercy, grace and forgiveness. Daniel knew his prayers were heard (confirmed in Chapter 10) and prayed for a change in the hearts of God’s people.
Our congregation has always prayed for various groups of people, not from a confession standpoint but asking and believing for them to turn their hearts to the Lord (the lost), for protection (especially women in dangerous relationships, lifestyles or being trafficked), for wisdom (local, regional and national leaders), for disaster situations, outreaches and mission trips, etc. This brings to mind the needs of the people (again, especially women) in the Middle East and also the Ukrainians as they continue to fight the intruders and work to salvage and repair their country.
Praying for all of us with empty chairs at our holiday tables.
Thank you for your testimonies of faith in times of loss – CARDIFF, LYNN P, SYDNEY SMITH.
NATASHA R – thank you pointing out the importance of our receptivity to God’s answers
CANDY MICHALSKI – thank you for reminding us that children are learning from us in church
Praying for:
MELANIE – healing
GRAMSIESUE – Steve’s pain
LYNNE FROM AL – you, and Jack’s healing
ALISA W – faith that He hears you
SHARON JONES – miraculous healing your friend Abbey, for strengthened faith for her and her boys/family
LAUREN GW – you, your husband and marriage
TRACI GENDRON – your husband’s family’s salvation. There are those around my own family table who don’t know the Lord (and as you mentioned, think our faith is a crutch or no different than believing in whatever)
DOROTHY – you and Carol
MARI – healing for you and daughter’s health, and completion of homework
MEGAN DORMOND – As humans, we all sin in some ways even after salvation has washed away the previous sins. God’s grace and mercy are there for us as we acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness and strive to grow closer to Him and walk in His will. We may still have to face consequences of our sin, leaning on Him for strength and wisdom to deal with the messes we make. Keep the faith, Sister!
Sweet Megan, I encourage you to read again 1 John 1:9 from today’s reading, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In the name of Jesus, I break that fear off of you! Our God does not punish. He loves us more than we can comprehend. And He always answers our prayers, as this group alone has shared. Often, not as we might expect, but He always answers. Praying encouragement over you! That even when you sin, because we all will as a fallen people, you’ll remember to confess it accept the forgiveness Jesus died for you to have. All the love to you, sister! You’ve got this! And He’s got you!
Hello! I followed what you said however, I think what you are really getting at is that we cannot REPENT for someone else, but if we are going to pray that they see that they have sinned it means we recognize the sin in their life and confess it to God as that we can pray for that person. Confess
My church has also participated in the call to confession for the world and our community, as well as for our individual confessions. I’ve tried to follow that in my own prayers, since becoming a mom nearly 42 years ago, the conditions of the world became much more important to me!
I love that Daniel prayed for a sinful nation that was continuing in sin…..it seems very relevant today.
I think there is a difference between confessing the sins of my nation, my leaders, the general direction of my country, town, Church, Etc, and praying specifically for forgiveness of another person’s sins.
The verse that really touched me in today’s reading was the second half of verse 18…..
“For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”
Dear sweet Megan, God hears your prayer. More importantly, you are humbly coming to Him based just on your words. It’s about faith and trusting that God’s will be done. We will fail and fall short. That’s why Jesus died for our sins, for reconciliation. We will never be perfect. I mess up so much, but God knows my heart. I keep seeking and praying, reaching out believing, trusting, hoping. God loves you. He is a teacher and guide. I’m praying for you to be released of the guilt and shame so that you will know and experience God’s unconditional love.
Our church does a prayer of communal confession each week using “we” and “us” statements, but there is also a time of silent individual confession. I like this practice at my church because it reminds us not only how far we have fallen short, but how much farther God’s love and mercy meets us in our sin and brokenness and calls us to life!
The church denomination I grew up in, and participated in most of my life, followed church liturgy that including a “call to confession.” Sometimes it was intended to be more individualized (confessing each our own sin), although other times a collective confession (sins of the church, the world, etc). The church my family now attends has many strengths (fantastic youth programs), but I do very much miss the structure of the liturgy and reminder to confess my sins to the Lord regularly.
I find it so interesting that Daniel confessed on behalf of his nation, who at that time had no interest in doing it for themselves. And God listened and responded! I love the reminder of the stark divide between sinful man and holy God. Righteousness is HIS, and shame is ours. Remembering and confessing that truth for sure shifts my thinking and can shift an entire community if we let it!
I work for a church and each week we come together as a staff and walk through ACTS prayer in small groups of 4-8 and pray out loud. Sometimes the confessions are made silently but some are shared aloud. It’s a gift to do that in community with others.
Most Merciful God we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways to the glory of your Name. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer
I am struggling this week. I am afraid that if I sin God will punish me and not answer my prayers.
Yes! I love that at our Leaders’ meetings.
Interesting question. I’ve been taught that I can not confess FOR someone else, but praying for unity, or our community, as Karen said, yes we do that in our church. I don’t believe my praying for someone else’s sin is appropriate. However, I do pray that others see their wrong doing. I hope that makes sense!! Blessings!
❤️
Our church prays a prayer of confession together each Sunday. I hope it really helps people to practice confession in their daily lives as well.
Love Daniel’s prayer. Very well said. If I was in the same situation it would just be me crying like, “WAAAAH”. haha I realize I am very bad at verbalizing what I am feeling/ needing to say to God.
Yes – prayer meetings at church where we all pray in unity