heartfelt confession of sin.

In the prayer that I read this morning from The Valley of Vision I was captured by the heartfelt sorrow and sincere lamentation of this man over his sin in his life. I encourage you to read his prayer of repentance.

Save me from myself,
from the artifices and deceits of sin,
from the treachery of my perverse nature,
from denying thy charge against my offences,
from a life of continual rebellion against thee,
from wrong principles, views, and ends;
for I know that all my thoughts, affections,
desires, and pursuits are alienated from thee. . . .
O, thou Father of my spirit,
thou King of my life,
cast me not into destruction,
drive me not from thy presence,
but would my heart that it may be healed;
break it that thine own hand may make it whole.
—Anonymous Valley of Vision Prayer, p.38

This prayer reminds me of the old adage that the Puritans used to repeat: repent of your repentance. So often our repentance turn into pithy, sort of 'half-hearted' "sorry's" to God. And how much of a different picture is represented by this prayer of earnest confession of sin.

God used this to convict me this morning of my own sin and my own sin in heartless confession at times. May we learn from this and heartfully, sincerely, and seriously repent of all known sins in our lives.

Praise God for his grace.