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Bible Study - Foundations of Faith
The Confession of Sins
Confessing Our Sins and Receiving Absolution
- As we pray the Lord's Prayer, we offer to God a general confession saying, "Forgive us our sins" (Luke 11:4). Sometimes however, when we pray this prayer we are praying only with our mouth and our head, and not with our heart and soul. We may not have a clear remembrance of every individual sinful act. But as God hears our prayer He also searches our heart. He knows if we are truly sorry for our sins in general, as well as knowing if we have intentionally overlooked specific sins. So the act of confessing individual sins is important to God and for our forgiveness.
- In public worship there is generally a part of the service in which there is a public confession of sins. In this penitential act, the group of believers assembled together make a "general confession." The following is an example of a public, general confessional statement:
"Oh, Almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor miserable sinner confess to you all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended you and justly deserve your punishment now and forever. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray you of your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter suffering and death of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me a poor sinful being. Amen."
In a general confession like this one, each individual has the responsibility to feel in their heart and soul the heavy weight of their actual sin. You and I, sinners, must be humble to acknowledge our sin and sinful lives and to seek His forgiveness, bringing our sin out in the open to our all-wise, all-seeing, and all-knowing God.
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