Monday January 3

I received permission to pass on to you this great prayer tool. I think you are really going to enjoy it. It is by David Powlison, a gifted counselor. The article is called A Personal Liturgy of Confession. I'm going to split it up Nugget size over the next several days. I'll be going through it along with you.

May the Lord meet us all.

Here is the intro:

When I counsel with people who struggle with deep feelings of shame, guilt, and regret, I

sometimes suggest that they design a personalized liturgy. In what follows, I walk

through the example of a woman who has had an abortion, and all that led up to that

choice, and all that follows in someone whose conscience is alive. But you can tailor it to

whatever struggle you or another person needs to deal with. Where is your struggle? Is it

temper or bitterness? Sexual immorality? Amnesia toward God? Gluttony, laziness or

greed? Judgmental words or thoughts? Gossip? Obsessive worrying? God welcomes all

who are weary with sin.

* * *

Designing your own liturgy of confession will help you to think through exactly

what you need to bring to God, and what you need from God. It will give you serious

words to express your sorrow, regret, guilt and pain over your abortion. It will lead you

by the hand to God’s mercy and to his washing away of your sin and guilt. The parts of

this liturgy in italics are taken and adapted from the General Confession of Sin in The

Book of Common Prayer. Even when your thoughts and feelings are chaotic, these words

can serve as your guide. They are a channel for honesty. Instead of wallowing in misery

and failure, these words help you to plan how you will walk in the direction of honesty,

mercy, gratitude, and freedom.

I suggest that you pray out loud. It helps you to remember that you are talking

with someone who is listening. You aren’t just thinking things inside your head. Use this

prayer to express the gravity of what happened. Use it to remind yourself out loud that

God’s mercies are deeper than what you did or failed to do. Read through this prayer and

meditation first. Then go back through it, writing out your own words to personalize it.

Express your honest story to God in response to hearing what he says to you.

I'm going to stop here for the day, and encourage you to try this one thing. Pray out loud. It is kind of weird at first, but I think if you fight through the initial awkwardness you will find it pretty stinking powerful.

Tomorrow we'll begin.