Prayers of Confession on Identity
Dear Lord, You are the King of the world, the Creator of all things, and the Giver of life. You have made us in Your image and invited us to be Your children—the heirs of Your Kingdom—and we give You our thanks and praise. We confess that we have sinned and fallen short of what You would have us be. We have found our identity in earthly things like work, money, family, reputation, our homes, our friends, even our country. We have worshiped them more than You. We have turned away from being part of Your Kingdom work to satisfy our own agendas. We have broken Your heart with our sin, and we are sorry. Please forgive us. Help us open our hearts to receive the gift of forgiveness that You offer through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Create in us clean hearts and fill us with Your presence. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
O Father of all creation, who hovered over the deep at the beginning, who spoke light into darkness, who split the heavens open and descended upon the Son of God in the waters of the Jordan, who created us in his image, who declared that each one us is fearfully and wonderfully made; we have forgotten. We have forgotten who we are. Our identity as beloved children has been obscured by a multitude of wrong-doing and wrong-thinking. We have exchanged the truth for a lie. Nevertheless, you have not forgotten us. You have cued up in the baptismal line yourself and entered into the waters with us, to show us our true humanity, our true identity. Forgive us, we pray for our forgetfulness of who we are. Let us not forget our own baptism and that which it signifies. Cleanse us by the power of your Spirit so that we may once again walk in the understanding of that truth.
Scott Bullock
Dear Lord, You are the King of the world, the Creator of all things, and the Giver of life. You have made us in Your image and invited us to be Your children—the heirs of Your kingdom—and we give You our thanks and praise. We stop now to confess that we have sinned and fallen short of what You would have us be. We have found our identity in earthly things like work, money, family, reputation, our homes, our friends, even our country.
We have worshiped them more than You. We have turned away from being part of Your Kingdom work to satisfy our own agendas. We have broken Your heart with our sin, and we are sorry. Please forgive us. Help us open our hearts to receive the gift of forgiveness that You offer through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Create in us clean hearts and fill us with Your presence. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, we lower our heads before you and we confess that we have too often forgotten that we are yours. Sometimes we carry on our lives as if there was no God and we fall short of being a credible witness to You. For these things we ask your forgiveness and we also ask for your strength. Give us clear minds and open hearts so we may witness to You in our world. Remind us to be who You would have us to be regardless of what we are doing or who we are with. Hold us to You and build our relationship with You and with those You have given us on earth.
(Prayer of Adoration)
Father God … our Abba:
You seek us with relentless love – coming after us in Your Son, Jesus.
When we are in the pits – You draws us up and out;
When we are broken – You fix us.
When we are lost – You find us.
When we are confused about who we are –
You call us by name and calls us Your own.
With hearts stilled and filled with Your love:
We bring our thanks and praise to You today.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet – how often we forget who we are as Your children.
We live like we are not Yours but someone else’s;
Like we are not created in Your image,
redeemed by the blood of Your Son,
indwelt by Your very self in the Holy Spirit.
Forgive our wandering hearts, our lusty spirits,
Our self-centered attitudes and selfish actions.
We have been created by God, to be loved by God, and to receive our identity from God. But in our everyday lives, as we go about our work, school, interacting with our family and friends, we don’t always behold God and receive our identity from him. We call other things holy. So as we come before God in worship this morning, we acknowledge that and we pray that our whole lives will be formed in worship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, there are parts of our lives where we don’t acknowledge you as Lord:
Often we are unsatisfied with who you have made us to be
We seek validation from others more than we seek it from you
Lord Jesus, there are parts of our lives where we don’t acknowledge you as Saviour:
Often our first response to challenges in life is problem-solving rather than prayer
Instead of being shaped by your cross, we try to avoid pain and suffering
And this disconnects us from our neighbours
Holy Spirit, there are parts of our lives where we don’t look to you for hope:
Often we fear the unknowns of the future
Or we put our hope in technology, education, or celebrities
And don’t believe that you are working all things for good
Father, we come before you and acknowledge our weakness and our distraction.
We believe and trust you Lord, help our unbelief.
Renew us through your Holy Spirit
And give us the same heart as Christ Jesus
To love you with all our heart
And love our neighbour as ourselves
Amen
Jacob Traeger