Teach Us to Pray, Part 3

To maintain healthy relationships, we must sometimes have hard conversations. And that’s precisely what we are learning to do in penitent prayer. Confession is the means of unhindered fellowship with our Heavenly Father.

Nothing But the Blood
Andy Cherry

Fountains
Josh Baldwin

As You Find Me
Hillsong UNITED

You Gave Your Life Away
Paul Baloche

Confession is the key that unlocks unhindered fellowship with Jesus.

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Confession is agreeing with God about my sin. Repentance is choosing a gospel-motivated response toward my sin.

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3-Part Circle of Confession
1. Who God Is

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Psalm 51:1
Have mercy on me, O God…

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Psalm 51:1
…according to your steadfast love;

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Sally Lloyd-Jones
“God loves you with a never-stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”

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3-Part Circle of Confession
2. Who I Am

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Confession became the key that unlocked unhindered fellowship with God.

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3-Part Circle of Confession
3. Who God Does

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Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

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Psalm 51:11
Cast me not away from your presence.

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Sin affects your fellowship with God but not the Fatherhood of God.

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John 6:37
Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

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Dane Ortlund
“Fallen, anxious sinners are limitless in their capacity to perceive reasons for Jesus to cast them out. We are factories of fresh resistances to Christ’s love. Even when we run out of tangible reasons to be cast out, such as specific sins or failures, we tend to retain a vague sense that, given enough time, Jesus will finally grow tired of us and hold us at arm’s length… But we cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep. No such reason exists.”

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Confession is the key that unlocks unhindered fellowship with Jesus.

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1 Corinthians 11:23-30
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

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WHO GOD IS
Heavenly Father, You are merciful. You are rich in steadfast love. You love me with a never-stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.

WHO I AM
Lord, I am wretched and wicked. My heart is disordered and broken. I am a sinner from birth. And I desperately need Your forgiveness.

WHAT GOD DOES
Jesus, wash me clean, blot out my sin and give me a clean heart. Thank you for the blood that poured from your body when You offered Yourself as a sacrifice for my sin.

Holy Spirit, I walk in the freedom of sins forgiven, soul stain removed, and Jesus’ resurrection life pumping through my veins.