Child, your heart is not capable
Of telling you the truth.
It either speaks flattery
That is clouded by hopeful delusions
Or it sucks all hope
By offering only bleakness and despair.
So you need to hear my words of truth
Spoken over you once again:
You are my beloved child
And I am so pleased with you.
Though your sins have made a mess of your life
My Son’s death has paid your debt in full.
And though your life’s efforts are inconsistent at best
My Son’s life accomplished every good deed in your place.
As a result, you are as perfect and as holy in my eyes
As Jesus is to me!
And so I don’t just tolerate you
Or even overlook your offenses one more time.
Rather, my heart rejoices over you with singing.
I am enamored with your beauty
And can’t stop obsessing over your beauty.
I have taken your darkness and your despair
And I long for you to rest in the promise
That I will never give up on you.
I will never grow tired of you.
I will never let you go,
Until, once and for all
You will see my face
And you will KNOW that you are loved.
Father, who are we that you would be mindful of us?
Who am I that you would pursue me today?
You are a holy God
And my heart is a dreadful mess.
I can sit here today
And try to convince my heart
That you are my God
And I am your child.
But everything inside me screams
That I am a broken mess
And I can’t seem to lift the weight
Of the guilt and shame that grips my heart.
Lead me to see that honest confession
Is not the door to hopeless despair
But rather the pathway to healing.
Help me to see that either
Boasting in my supposed goodness
Or wallowing in my deep shame
Are both strategies of hopeless self-improvement.
And lead me now to the only place
Where my heart can experience
The deep cleansing it needs
To stand before God
And know that I’m still loved and forgiven.
Child, surely your sin is a dreadful disease
And I know its effects continue to weigh you down.
But the legal debt for all you have done
Have been paid in full by the life and death of my Son.
As a result, I am now a God who is on your side.
All the power of the universe stands
To declare you holy and righteous as my dear child.
What, then can separate you from my love?
Shall the foolish trouble you bring upon yourself
Or the hardship of living in a broken world
Or the persecution of those who want to bring you down
Be able to put a wedge between us?
No, in all these things you are more than conquerors
Because of my love for you.
Child, hear this! I long for you to be convinced of this:
That neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
Neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate you from my love for you.
Father, I know that you a good Father
And that you provide me
With everything I need to flourish in this life.
But I have to admit
There are days that it seems like you’re not there.
There are days that my prayers
Feel like they’ve blown away on the wind
And nobody is listening – nobody cares.
And at times my heart grows bitter
When the good things I want,
And the bad things I’m praying you’ll take away
Don’t work out the way I had hoped.
At other times, my heart feels guilty.
Because my heart tells me
Those unanswered prayers are MY fault
Because I’m NOT living right.
And I don’t deserve your provision.
Father, help me to see that you ARE my Father
And as such, you long to provide for your child
Like any good father would.
Help me to see that – no matter how I view life
You are working everything in my life for my good
In fact, grow my trust in you to such a degree
That I can honestly pray:
Father, give me what I would have asked for
If I knew everything you knew.
For my whiny heart
And my guilt-ridden fears
That you will not provide
I now bring and confess to you...
Child, I need to remind you once again today
That you ARE a child.
And as such, you don’t always know what’s best.
You can’t always see what brings
The kind of life that heals you
From the many things that weigh you down.
You think you need things.
You think you need more.
But what you need is my good wisdom
That is directing every detail of your life
To bring about your greatest good.
And what you most need is my Son
To live the life of perfection you could never live
And then die the death your rebellion against me deserved.
And that is what he has done!
Even more, I have credited that life and death
To your spiritual account.
So that every good thing he did, you did.
Every payment he made for sin, you paid.
The result is that – those who ARE my children
Are now a new creation!
The old nature of self and death is gone.
And the new life of joy and belonging have come.
You are my child – my joy – my delight.
I rejoice over you with singing
As I delight in the beauty you now have in my sight.
Rejoice in my grace.
For those mercies are new every morning!
O Father, your love for me is indeed great.
And I am humbled once again
By how extensive your provisions for me really are.
You have given me everything I need for life and godliness.
And you have sent your Son to live and die in my place,
In order that I might have the eternal provision
Of your presence for all eternity.
And yet I’m often confused by your responses
To my prayers of petition to you.
There are days that I don’t feel worthy
To ask anything of you.
And there are other days that all my asking
Seems to fall on deaf ears
As my prayers feel more like wishes on the wind
Than a request made to the King of the universe.
Father, forgive me for forgetting that you are my Father
Who longs to lavish me with every good and perfect gift.
Forgive me for presuming that my understanding of my needs
Is the same as your understanding of my needs.
Forgive me for failing to look beneath my requests
To see how I run to these things for my life instead of you.
And forgive me for believing the lies
That if I can just get the things I want from you
That I will be less needy, less dependent upon you
And more worthy to stand on my own strength.
Father, help me to see that prayer is not about getting things
But it’s about getting you.
Give me the eyes to see that prayer is designed
To increase my daily dependence upon you
Rather than gaining the strength and security
That make me stronger to stand on my own
Teach me what it means to approach you as my Daddy
Who loves and cares for me
So that I can humbly ask with complete trust
That you give me what I would have asked for
If I knew everything you knew.
For the arrogant presumptions
And whiny complaints
Of my limited and self-serving requests
I now bring before you and confess…
Father, there’s nothing more unsettling
Than to have to confess what a mess I really am.
Everything in me wants to minimize its effects upon me.
And I certainly want to convey to others
That I’m fine – that all is well.
Even though deep down, I know it isn’t.
It’s hard for me to own up to the depth of my sin.
Because if I’m honest, I fear that you will reject me.
And I know that those around me
Will think less of me.
And I can’t stand that kind of exposure.
And though you promise me forgiveness
The risk of grace is just too much
For my fearful heart to really believe.
Just give me some task to do
That will make up for my indiscretions.
Point me to acts of mercy
That can atone for what I have done.
Let me beat myself up with misery for the things I have done.
But to confess?......that takes the death of my heart.
Father, help me to believe that dying to self
Is really the beginning of life.
Give me the heart to believe
That when I stop trying to justify and defend my actions
You can cover them completely.
Father, teach me to trust
That repentance can be joyful
And confession a sweet and freeing experience of your grace.
Help me to exchange the bitter work of penance
With the free embrace of running into your arms.
Lead me to that place even now, Father,
As I confess to you...
Child, hear and understand
The depth of the forgiveness that I offer to you today.
If you are resting in Jesus for your hope
My forgiveness is far more than merely mercy.
My attitude is never the disappointment that says
“Ok, I’ll forgive you this time, but don’t do it again!”
Nor am I looking for enough genuine sorrow
To satisfy my anger against what you have done.
I don’t want your promises to do better next time.
Nor am I impressed with any labors
That are done to atone for the things you have done.
Listen! Your big Brother, Jesus,
Has already paid your debt in full!
He lived the perfect life that you owe to me.
And he paid the ultimate sacrifice by dying in your place.
What this means is that my forgiveness of you
Is not just the mercy of “letting it go”.
But it’s the justice that demands you be forgiven.
It would be unjust of me
To hold anything against you today
That your Brother has already paid in full!
It would be unjust for me to even be disappointed in you.
Because when I look at your heart,
All I see is the beauty and perfection of my Son, Jesus
Applied to your spiritual account.
Never forget that my love and acceptance of you today
Is rooted firmly in what Jesus did for you.
It is he who receives all the honor and glory
For purchasing you back from death
And making you my sons and daughters!
Father, though I know and believe
That Jesus is my only hope in life and death,
My heart reveals over and over again
That I believe life can be found
In the many things my heart chases after.
And I confess today that I have placed my hopes
In many of them.
I dream of more pleasant circumstances,
I long for agendas that fit with my plans,
There are changes to my life
That would bring about such joy!
And though it’s not wrong to ask you for such things,
I know deep in my heart
That I believe life would come to me
Were I to get them
And it feels like a death when they don’t.
Forgive me for believing something could satisfy my heart
In ways you designed for me to experience only in you.
And teach me that good things can only be safely enjoyed
When they point me beyond them to the true source of life.
And Father, grant that my heart
Would find a deeper satisfaction in you
And a greater rest in your goodness
Than my own visions of glory apart from you.
For the many things I’ve turned to instead of you,
And for the ways I’ve tried to use you
To give me the things my heart really wants,
I now bring and confess to you...
Father, I confess that my heart often strays
To find comfort and satisfaction in the things of this world.
And as empty and dissatisfying as those pursuits have been
The even greater sin is that deep down
I still believe they might provide the joy and comfort
That I probably won’t ever receive from you.
It’s so hard for me to give up the lies
That what joys and satisfactions I’ve not yet found
Might still be had if I just try harder
Or turn to the next thing.
I’m amazed at how hard it is for my heart
To truly believe and rest in the promise
That you are the real draw beneath everything I pursue.
And that everything I long for
Is there for the taking in You.
Father, give me the eyes to see the real source of joy
Beneath all the things my heart is drawn to.
And give me the heart of faith
To believe that when I turn to you
I will find greater satisfaction
Than if I were to achieve my wildest dreams.
And lead me to the joy and rest
That I know can only be found
When I pursue You as the joy of my life
Instead of the empty remnants of your image
Scattered across the vain pursuits of my day.
For the many lies my heart has believed
And the twisted reality
That my passions have convinced me are true
I now confess to you...
Child, I know how hard it is
For you to believe
That true life and lasting joy
Are found only in me.
And so I remind you once again
That for the joy set before him,
Your brother endured the cross
And scorned its shame.
And that joy was YOU!
Out of love for you
I sent my Son to live the life you owe to me,
And to die the death your rebellion against me deserves.
And out of great joy, he gladly did it,
To rescue YOU!
So consider him and what he did
As you ponder your life
Your hopes and dreams
Your disappointments and failures.
And be amazed at the kind of love
That would pursue a rebel like you
To make you my child
And call you my own.
Behold what depth of love
That your God would bestow on you
That you would be called children of God
For that is what you are!!
Father, there are many worries and cares
That lay heavy on my heart this morning.
So many fears about my future,
So much anxiety about what’s unknown.
And I confess that I have allowed those fears
To rule my heart and control my actions.
And rather than fighting back with the truth,
I’ve allowed the lies of hopelessness
To imprison me with tales
Of life apart from you.
Father, forgive me for trying to control
The things I was never designed to manage.
Forgive me for seeking life
In hopes and aspirations
That are nothing more than the vanishing mist
Of unkept promises and empty dreams.
And teach my unbelieving heart
That what I cannot manage or control
You have always held in your loving hands.
Remind my fearful heart
That you are not only powerful enough
But also loving enough
To work everything in my world
According to your perfect plan for my life.
For my many doubts
And my and stressed-out fears
I now come and lay them
Before your more-than-capable hands.
Child, before you were ever born
Or drew your first breath,
I have been holding your life
In my loving hands.
Despite your foolish choices
And wayward actions
I have been working to redeem each one of them
In order to lead your heart exactly where I want it to be.
Not a circumstance has come into your life
That I did not design and plan for your good.
Not even the hard things you face
Have been outside of my control.
In fact, I love you so much
That I orchestrated the death of my only Son
So that all the lies that separate you from me
Might not only be paid in full
But might free you from the need
To pursue life and joy and satisfaction apart from me.
And child, this is my promise
I will not stop the good plans that I have for you
Until the day we see each other face to face.
I will oversee your life down to the tiniest detail
Until you are renewed fully
To be made like your brother, Jesus in every way.
Father, I thought I understood what it means to follow Jesus.
I confess that I’m a sinner,
I acknowledge my need of Jesus to be my Savior
I pray to him to ask for help and guidance...
So why do you seem so distant to my heart at times?
Why does it seem that the more I try to follow you,
The more pain and brokenness I see and feel?
At times, it almost feels like you’re against me,
Like you’re purposely trying to tear me down.
I’m often confused and discouraged
By the ugliness and inconsistency of my heart.
And how far your rescue seems to be from my experience.
Father, help me to understand how a God of love
Can lead me through the valley of the shadow of death.
Help me to grasp how the path to life
Always comes through death.
And give me the eyes to see
That your goal is to make me like Jesus
And not merely to make my life easier.
Give me a growing hatred of my sin
And a deeper love for pursuing Jesus
That I would hate what you hate
And love what you love.
In fact, Father, give me such a deep passion for pursuing Jesus
That I welcome any struggle, any pain
That is used to strip away self
And make me more like Jesus.
For the many complaints I’ve uttered
And selfish demands I’ve expressed
I now come before you and confess.
O child, if you only knew how deeply I loved you
And how perfectly I am guiding every circumstance of your life
To remake you into the image of my Son
To restore you to the original glory that I created you with,
You would rest in the comfort of my hands
No matter what you are facing today.
But since you can only see today through a dim glass,
Let me reassure you once again with my words of promise:
Child, you are my beloved treasure!
I sent my Son to earth
To live the life that you owe to me
And to die the death that your rebellion deserves.
And I have credited that perfect work
To your spiritual account.
That means that right now – as I look at you here
You are as beautiful and holy and righteous
As my own Son, Jesus is.
And I am guiding every moment of your day
For the redemptive purpose
Of destroying that which is killing you
And springing to life
That which lead you to eternal joy and unending happiness.
Child, I know your sin and struggles today are great,
But rest assured that my mercy is more!
Father, though you are my Rock and my Salvation
I must confess that there are days when my weary heart
Struggles with the narrow path of obedience.
I often feel alone and overwhelmed
By the hardness of the path you have laid out for me.
And there are days my heart just longs to take a “me day”
And walk the easier, broad road of less resistance.
My heart is easily fooled by the promises of rest and freedom there
Even though everything in my experience has been
That the easier road always leaves me feeling flat and empty.
Father, help me to believe
That the narrow path of pursuing hard after you
Though hard at times, is the only path that leads to life.
And like the disciplines of my physical life
Help me to see that my spiritual disciplines
Are leading me to a fuller and richer life in Jesus.
Father, give me a deeper love for the disciplines that bring life.
And especially draw my heart
With the promise of your continued presence along the way.
For the lazy days of self-indulgence
And the compromises my heart is so easily willing to make
I now come and confess before you.
Child, you have no idea how deeply I love you.
Because my concerns are about far more
Than making things easy for you.
I am remaking you into a creature
That is filled with indescribable light and unending joy.
It would not be loving for me to leave you
In the miserable state of selfish ambition and petty desire.
Not when I have the ability
To transform you into a creature of great glory!
And that is what I am doing!
Child, you are the joy and delight of my heart.
And everything I’m doing in your life
Is to move you toward becoming all that I designed you to be.
So rejoice that the curse of self-satisfaction
Is daily being replaced by the promise of new life in me.
Rejoice that the chains of self have been broken
And are continually being broken
As I walk with you along this path of life each day.
Father, in those short seasons
where I am able to turn my eyes toward you
My heart is filled with an inexpressible joy
And a deep confidence that rests in your love for me.
But Father, those moments are brief
And fade all too quickly
As my eyes move away from what you have done for me
And begin to focus more on all the things that I need to do.
I feel the weight of a heart that fails to love others as I should.
And I see so much evidence of just how little I actually love you.
And it’s in those seasons that the obsession with me takes over
As some days I beat myself up for simply not being better
And others where I try to justify how I did my best.
But no matter how my eyes become fixated on me
It never leads to any healing or joy.
The introspection only heightens my failures
And makes me feel broken and worthless.
Father, refocus my eyes right now on Jesus
Who lived the perfect life that I owe to you,
And who died to pay for my rebellion against you.
Lead my heart to such joy and assurance
That it reminds my fearful heart
That I am loved - I am treasured - I am your delight!
Because all my broken mess has been paid in full!
For the many ways my self-focus has kept me from seeing this
And for the ease with which I have believed the lies
That I’m worthless and unlovable
I now come and confess to you.
Child, on your own,
You have every reason to feel worthless to stand before me.
You truly are a mess!
But if you have placed your hopes in Jesus
You have every reason to come with confidence
And approach my throne of mercy.
For my Son has paid your debt in full!
And you have been made holy and righteous in my sight
He has perfectly lived the life you owe to me
And I have credited it to your spiritual account.
And he has paid the ultimate sacrifice
To die in your place upon the cross.
Because of what Jesus has done,
You have full assurance that you will receive mercy
And will find grace to help you in your time of need.
Like any other child walking into the presence of their Daddy,
You can be assured that I will hear you, and I will receive you
And you are precious to me!
Child, remember my deep love for you!
Rise up - shake off your guilty fears!
And sing for joy that you now belong
As a child of the King!
Father, I trust that you are my only hope in this life.
And I believe that nothing can rescue me or bring life
Apart from my brother, Jesus.
And yet I find my heart continually being led astray
By the promises of life and joy and happiness
In distractions that vie for my attention.
And I find that my heart often believes those lies.
And when I do, they mess with my head
And fill me with anxiety and fear.
Father, remind my fretful heart
That Jesus is a faithful and trustworthy Savior.
Captivate my heart once again
With the promise of his life lived for me
And his death died in my place.
And lead my heart to deeper levels of trust
In your goodness and mercy
With which you have promised to follow me
All the days of my life.
For the many ways I have failed to trust
And have opted for fear and lies
I now confess...
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