On Sunday, August 2, 2020, Ben Taylor prayed a Prayer of Confession and Matthew Williams preached the message, “Pray and Pursue″ as part of our interim sermon series A Faith that Works. To listen to this message again, click here.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION:

Father, You have searched and known us; our hearts are not a mystery to You. We want to confess our sins to You now, trusting that You are faithful and righteous to forgive us.
We have been slow to pray when You have commanded us to be constant in prayer.
We have respected and feared man instead of respecting and fearing You.
We have been self-loving and stingy instead of giving freely like You do.
We have been boastful and proud, instead of numbering our days.
We have been wise in our own eyes, forgetting that Your foolishness is wiser than our wisdom.
We have leaned on our own understanding instead of trusting and acknowledging You in all our ways.
We have been self-indulgent and greedy instead of thankful, forgetting that godliness with contentment is great gain.
We have allowed impure thoughts and actions when You have commanded us as sojourners to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against our souls and to flee immorality.
We have had angry outbursts, not imitating Your slowness to anger.
We have been jealous and bitter when You have told us to put these things off.
We have fretted over money, forgetting that Your hand gave us the power to make wealth, and You will never leave us nor forsake us.
We have let our tongues loose without controlling it when You warn us how dangerous and powerful the tongue is.
We have seen specks in our brother’s eye and tried to remove them, while ignoring the logs in our own.
We pray too with the Psalmist: “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.”
As we confess, thank You for cleansing us from all our unrighteousness. Lead us now in the way everlasting. We ask it in Jesus’ name.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

How does knowing that God desires you to come to him like a little child encourage you to pray?
When was the last time you asked someone for prayer for things that are very personal and hard?
Are there parts of your heart that you are withholding from God in prayer?
Do you pray with confidence knowing that "the prayer of the righteous person has great power"?
In whatever situation you are currently in, how can you turn toward God?
In whatever situation you are currently in, how can you turn toward God's people?

Sunday Review: 8/2/20