Gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I come before you knowing my sin.
I come knowing what I have sinfully thought, what I have sinfully desired, what I have sinfully said, and what I have sinfully done.
I come desiring and wanting Your forgiveness.
In asking for Your forgiveness, I confess that I find this nagging sense that my request for Your forgiveness somehow lacking.
A great struggle rose up within me over this naggings sense and I was deceived.
As You know, I had allowed myself to be fooled into believing that for me to receive Your forgiveness and have peace with Your granting me that forgiveness,
I must have some equally great sense, whether it is my own contrition, my own sense of moral bankruptcy, my utter disgust and contempt with myself, or some other equally great sense of guilt and unworthiness.
I had foolishly come to believe that my sensation of self-condemnation must be equal to the greatness of Your gracious act of forgiveness.
In simple terms, my gracious and loving Lord,
I had been fooled into believing that I must merit, by my sensations, You and Your loving forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
In simpler terms, my God and my Lord,
I had been fooled into believing and praying, as I was equal to You.
Surely, You are a God who “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” Ephesians 2:8
Have mercy upon me, my God and my Lord, and save me.
Forgive me, forgive my sin, forgive me my all, not for the sake of my contrition or any sensation of it, but for the sake of Jesus Christ Your Son.
In Him let my sensations die with me and my sin that I may live through faith in Him and His blessed Word alone.
In Christ, and in His name, I pray. Amen.
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