Prayer of Confession based on 1 Peter 5:6-11

Oh God Most High,

Forgive us for the ways in which

We’ve minimised sin.

You are a God who opposes the proud,

But gives grace to the humble;

And we are a people that often celebrates the proud,

And hurts the humble.

When we deal with difficult circumstances,

We are quick to blame others,

Grumble about our circumstances,

Try to run away from them

Move to self-pity,

And question you, O King.

Forgive us for our arrogance O Lord.

We fail to see these difficult circumstances

as coming from you.

Or we see these as from you,

and accuse you of being not good.

You give these as gracious gifts for our deliverance,

for our exaltation,

Because you care deeply for us,

We think we know better than you.

Forgive us for our arrogance, O Lord.

Our prayer lives are a wonderful

indicator of our pride.

Lord, as a church, we have no real interest

in casting our anxieties on you.

We daydream during the prayers of intercession,

We dislike praying together on Sunday evenings,

And we forget to pray for one another.

And if we do, it is because of duty,

not delight.

Through our prayerlessness,

The fragrance of our pride rises high.

If you oppose us, O Lord,

We know we deserve it.

Have mercy on us, O Lord.

Forgive us for our arrogance.

Father, the devil roars and seeks to devour,

And we are drunk.

Not with wine, but with entertainment.

Our mind is renewed day by day with 30 minutes of the Bible

And hours and hours of

Youtube, podcasts, scrolling, shopping and shows.

Instead of being watchful,

We are just watching.

We’ve left the door open

And invited the devil in.

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father,

Forgive us for our arrogance.

Father, because suffering and persecution

happen in Lucknow and Malkangiri,

We aren’t very bothered.

As long as we don’t have to suffer,

we don’t care.

But we forget that you care,

And we fail to accomplish your purposes.

We call ourselves a gospel-believing church,

But our lives tell everybody

That we have forgotten

that you have called us to your eternal glory

in Christ Jesus.

Instead of giving us hope,

We use your call as an excuse

to escape and run away.

How often we have said that we wish for you to come soon,

And how often we have said so because

We don’t like our circumstances.

And so, our lives are frustrated, full of worry,

lacking in faith, lacking in hope and lacking in love.

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father,

Forgive us for our arrogance.

In all of this Lord,

It is clear to us that we have committed treason.

We want our names to be hallowed,

We want our kingdom to come,

We want our will to be done in heaven as on the earth.

We say you are sovereign in doctrine,

And we say we are sovereign in our daily lives.

Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us,

most merciful Father;

for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake forgive us all that is past;

and grant that we may ever hereafter

serve and please thee in newness of life,

to the honour and glory of not our own name,

But your Name,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Our assurance of pardon is found in 1 Peter 2:24–25

“and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross,

so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness;

by His wounds you were healed.

For you were continually straying like sheep,

but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”