Prayers, Part 2: Confession, Supplication, Assurance

Continuing the series begun yesterday, here is the next prayer. These were purposely composed for public use in a worship service, and are therefore meant to be inclusive and communal (although they will also serve for private prayer) -- therefore, join me, if you will, in praying:

A Prayer of Confession and Supplication, Followed by an Assurance of Pardon

(To admit our sins and ask for God's forgiveness and help, and remember that He has promised to give it)

[Prayer is based on James 1:2-17]

[Assurance of pardon is almost a direct quote from Col. 1:11-14, 19-20]

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1:8-9)

Therefore let us confess our sin to our God and Savior:


Father of lights, our Father
With whom there is neither variation
Nor shadow due to change
Every good and perfect gift comes down from You
And yet we have been deceived
Both in ignorance and wilfully:

We have not believed your power and wisdom
We have not trusted your goodness and love
We have not relied on your faithfulness
And we have not obeyed your word.

And although you would give wisdom to us
Generously and without reproach,
We have instead sought and trusted worldly wealth
Which passes away in a moment.
And because we would not trust and follow you
We have instead been driven by our own appetites,
Emotions, and whims,
And we have been tossed about by the lies of the world,
Of the enemy, and of our own confused desires.

And lacking the wisdom to follow you
And endure the trials of our faith, both large and small,
We have been led astray by our own desires
And have fallen into sin --
In thought, word, and deed
In what we have done
And in what we have left undone --
And have turned away from the way of life
Into the way that leads to death.

O gracious Father, who gives us every good and perfect gift --
And above all the gift of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ --
For the sake of your Son have mercy upon us
And turn us back to you!
Forgive us our transgressions
And grant to us true and abiding faith in you
And the wisdom to hold fast to you, no matter the trial or temptation --
The wisdom even to count our trials as joy --
That by the grace and power of your Holy Spirit
Those trials might make us steadfast in our faith
Unwavering
And grow us into the completeness of your perfection
Through your perfect Son, Jesus,

To whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
Belong all wisdom, power, goodness, and love,
Now and forever. Amen.

Now may our God strengthen us with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.

Let us give thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light! He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins... For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Amen.