Prone to Wander

Prayers of Confession and Celebration

Barbara R. Duguid, Wayne Duguid Houk, Iain M. Duguid

• Publisher: P Publishing
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781596388796
• eBook ISBN: 9781596388802
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Inspired by The Valley of Vision, these short prayers are designed for private or church use. Trinitarian and Christ-focused, they provide gospel comfort on many specific topics.

Love for Enemies (1)

Call to Confession: Matthew 5:43–45

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Prayer of Confession

O Lover of the unlovely,

It is your will that we should love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that we should love our enemies and our neighbors as ourselves. We confess to you that we are not sufficient for these things. By nature, there is no pure love in our souls, and every affection in us is turned away from you and others and toward ourselves. We are prisoners of our own lust and self-worship until you set us free. We fear and despise our enemies, hoping for their ruin and at times causing it. We break covenants with our friends carelessly, and fail to keep the promises we have made. Father, forgive us for our many sins.

Lord, thank you for your perfect Son, who loved his enemies even as he was punished for their sin and tortured in their place. He showed tender love to the most evil and ungrateful people, those who were just like us in every way. When Jesus sought refuge in you as he was dying, you looked away and allowed him to be utterly crushed by the mountain of our sins. He was stripped so that we might be clothed in his righteousness; he was wounded so that we might be healed; he was tormented so that we might be comforted; he was shamed so that we could inherit eternal glory; he entered darkness to be our light; he was made an enemy so that we could be your friends. Thank you for the cross and for our great salvation!

Father, help us to become kind and merciful lovers of our friends and enemies. Open our eyes to your amazing love and generosity toward us until we are transformed into your image, to love as you love. When we are sinned against, cause us to cherish your great mercy to us and then extend it freely to other wretched sinners like ourselves. May we always see ourselves accurately as helpless sinners in need of grace, so that we never move beyond the cross or consider ourselves better than our worst enemies. Thank you for loving us when we hated you, and for abandoning your precious Son to welcome us into your family forever. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Romans 5:8–10

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Hymns

“Amazing Grace”

“Rock of Ages”

Hypocrisy

Call to Confession: Matthew 6:5–8

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Prayer of Confession

Holy God,

We come before you now to confess to you our sin of hypocrisy. Many of us have loved to hear words come out of our mouths, words that often sound profoundly religious. Others of us have retreated into a world of silence in order to cover up the inward turmoil we desperately want to hide. Both of these behaviors come from hearts in need of your grace. We pray that your Spirit would awaken us to our great need for you in this, our sin of self-love.

We have viewed our conversations with others as opportunities to show off our knowledge. Bible studies, classrooms, offices, homes, and even our prayers have become forums in which we love to be seen and heard by others. At other times, we remain sinfully silent when we should be using our words to build up your body and confess to others our weakness and need for you. In both of these situations, we have sought the approval of others, and not of you, committing the greatest offenses against your holy law—we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not loved you.

Savior God, we thank you that you have not left us in this state of sin. We look to the cross, and thank you that Jesus never once uttered a prayer that was not perfect in motivation, intent, or content. His conversations were characterized by love for others, and love for you. Yet for the joy that was set before him, Jesus was crucified for our foul tongues, our love of self, and our hypocrisy. He, the true Word, was put to death for our false words. Lord, thank you for giving us to him, as a gift for this sacrifice, and thank you that in his sacrifice we have been set free from the sin that nailed him to the cross. Thank you too for his continued faithful intercession for us as our heavenly High Priest.

Father God, we ask that you would continually turn our eyes upon the deep love you have displayed to us in Jesus, and that out of gratitude for the amazing grace we see there, our hearts and lives would be changed. Continue to conform us into the image of your Son, so that our relationships would be characterized by love and our prayers be characterized by honesty. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Hebrews 4:14–16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus,...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Captivated by Sin
• God’s Promises
• Loving the World
• God’s Good Gifts
• Parents and Children
• Forgetting Our Hope
• Blessing
• Christ the King
• Mercy, Purity, and Humility
• The Helper of the Hurting
• Stubborn Blindness
• Our Hope
• Delight in the Lord
• God’s Faithfulness
• Be Still
• The Wilderness of Sin
• Seeking True Blessing
• Covenant Faithfulness
• Building Our Own Houses
• Suffering
• Patience
• Hope in God
• Trusting in Men
• The Fear of the Lord
• Wisdom
• Cleansing from Sin
• Unclean Lips
• Trust
• Worshiping the King
• Forgetting God
• Wandering
• The Beatitudes
• Anger
• Sexuality
• Lying
• Love for Enemies (1)
• Hypocrisy
• Forgiveness (1)
• Fasting
• Treasure
• Eyes
• Conflicting Masters
• Anxiety
• Judging Others
• Loving Others
• Following Christ
• Mercy
• Compassion
• Forgiveness (2)
• Servanthood
• Behold the Lamb
• Love for Enemies (2)
• Great Forgiveness
• The Cross
• Pride
• Light of the World
• Love (1)
• Troubled Hearts
• Doubt
• False Worship
• Bondage to Sin (1)
• Bondage to Sin (2)
• Prayer
• God’s Provision
• God’s Sovereignty
• Sloth
• Unity
• Love (2)
• Forgetting the Gospel
• Reconciliation (1)
• Dead in Sin
• Reconciliation (2)
• Grace
• Love (3)
• Truth
• Sexual Impurity
• Foolishness
• A New Will
• Pressing On
• Contentment
• Knowing God’s Will
• Heavenly Mindedness
• Forgiveness (3)
• Peace
• The Heart
• Holding Fast to Our Confession
• Dead Works
• Faithlessness
• Running the Race
• Trials
• Repaying Evil for Evil
• Humility
• Sacrificial Love
• Index of Themes
• Index of Calls to Confession
• Index of Assurances of Pardon
• Index of Sermon Texts for Which the Prayers Were Written
• Index of Musical Resources