Confession

CONFESSION

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A MEASURE OF DILIGENCE IS PLACED UPON ME

…FATHER, I live in unbroken fellowship with You in CHRIST JESUS (Rom 6:11). Your divine power has granted me life and godliness and I am a sharer of Your divine nature (2 Pet 1:3-4).

With such bestowment a measure of diligence is placed upon me to keep myself from falling away. I am not to willfully run into temptation, or expose myself to the power of the enemy (ref#61, Oct 4th). I must put my energies into keeping myself holy by letting CHRIST keep me holy.

You have chosen me for salvation. That is the end. But the means to that end is sanctification. Sanctification is accomplished by the operation of the Holy Spirit and by faith on my part; “faith and holiness must be joined together” Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (ref#18, [2 Thes 2:13]).

So You, FATHER, throw a measure of responsibility upon me. You charge me to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life (Titus 2:12).

Since I was bought with a price, it becomes my desire to glorify You in my body (1 Cor 6:19-20). You, FATHER, through CHRIST has caused me to be born again to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven (1 Pet 1:3-4).

Let that cheering prospect keep me from slothfulness, unwatchful-ness, and prayerlessness. Encourage me FATHER, to work out my own salvation cheerfully by leaning entirely on You (Phil 2:12).

CONFESSION

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UNCONSCIOUS USEFULNESS

…FATHER, caution me against my human nature that is so set on being consistent and useful to You. As long as I’m choosing the way to glorify You, You are not glorified. Governing my activities is a sure indication that I am not pleasing You (ref#7, May 18th).

I know that love is not premeditated but spontaneous. “We do not set the statements of Jesus in front of us as a standard; but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without knowing it” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, April 30th).

“If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we do not love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love…” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, April 30th).

FATHER, I pray for the spontaneity loving You brings. No wonder CHRIST gave over half of His example prayer (the Lord’s Prayer) to adoration and thanks (Matt 6:9-13) to You; He was reacting to Your love.

CONFESSION

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NOT SUCCESS BUT FAITHFULNESS

…FATHER, keep me from the desire for success. In my base nature I want You to come and revive my church, my town, my country. I want everybody to witness Your power so I can be proud of Your accomplishments—so everyone can see how wise I am to follow You. I want You to prove Who You are and what You have done for me (ref#83, p118).

But JESUS did not turn the world upside down in a great show of power. When He was on earth after performing a miracle he would not let the news be spread (Matt 9:30). He didn’t succumb to the devil’s temptation to make Him a household word (Matt 4:6). He was not interested in being admired by men.

Move me FATHER, to settle on CHRIST as my example to follow: “The one dominate note in His life was to do His Father’s will. His way was not the way of wisdom or of success, but the way of faithfulness” Oswald Chambers (ref#83, p120).

CONFESSION

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LIVING IN THE SPIRIT LONGER

…FATHER, the presence of the SPIRIT instantly causes a conflict in me. His presence is so satisfying I am tempted to seek Him simply for the feelings His closeness creates. He comes, though, to bring me sanctification through my obedience to His leading. The conflict is, do I obey the SPIRIT or just enjoy His presence?

I know from experience that as soon as I focus on the happiness the SPIRIT brings, He leaves. Haven’t revivals through the ages been short-lived because men have sought SPIRIT-filled joy instead of obedience? Hasn’t the enemy freely imitated the SPIRIT because men have longed for only the blessings the SPIRIT brings?

This life with the SPIRIT is not about happiness although He enables me to experience unimaginable joy. It is about submission—letting You, FATHER, do as You please. The SPIRIT provides Your sanctification for me—He provides what is needed for my holiness; I simply must follow Him.

I pray for the SPIRIT to conquer my life. Send out Your SPIRIT, FATHER, to take me to Your habitation—the place where Your glory dwells (Ps 26:8).

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VAIN ILLUSIONS

“…the way in which we repent to God or apologize to someone show that we have not truly judged ourselves. We betray the fact that we feel the wrong is only an unfortunate slip, and that we have on this occasion acted out of character with our true selves. What deception” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p77)!

FATHER, I do not have the ability to take honest stock of myself. You say my heart is desperately wicked (Jer 17:9) but it doesn’t seem that bad to me. I live in the realm of illusion just as the Pharisee in the temple (Luke 18:10-14).

“The Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as other men were, honestly thought he was telling the truth. He was, however, just as covetous, unjust, and adulterous as anybody else, but his own heart had deceived him” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p50).

FATHER, I want to know the truth about myself. I am suffering from sin much more than I know. Shatter my vain illusion about myself:

“If the moment the Holy One took our place and bore our sins He was condemned by the Father and left derelict in the hour of His sufferings, what must our true condition be to occasion so severe an act of judgment! The Bible says He was made in ‘the likeness of sinful flesh’ (Rom 8:3), which means that He was there as an effigy of us. But if the moment He became that effigy, He had to cry, ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ (Matt 27:46), what must God see us to be? It is plain that God was not forsaking the Son as the Son. He was forsaking the Son as us, whose likeness He was wearing” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p52).

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GROWING TO HATE MY FLESH

…FATHER, many times You confronted Moses with impossible situations. And many times he felt as if it was his job to make the situation possible. One of those times was when the people asked for meat to eat (Num 11:4-6).

“Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?…I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me” (Num 11:13-14 ESV).

FATHER, You have put before me such impossible situations. And, like Moses, I easily forget that You do not demand I find solutions to those situations.

You, LORD, actually allow me to be defeated and fruitless in order that You may destroy my natural life containing my self-wisdom and abilities (ref#101, p84). In defeat You show me more of the sin and frailty of my flesh in order that I may be aroused to an increased indignation toward myself (ref#33, p91,92). With these situations You corrupt my confidence in my natural virtues (ref#7, Dec. 30th).

My natural life must not rule, You must rule in me (ref#7, Dec 28th). What I call strengths, You call weakness. When I trust my strengths and depend on them I make it impossible for Your will to be accomplished.

FATHER, You will not grant me increased strength to meet impossible situations. Guide me, instead, toward maintaining an affirmative attitude toward You and a negative response toward my flesh (ref#33, p 106). For, if I trust in my wits instead of You, I produce consequences for which You will hold me responsible (ref#7, Dec. 28th).

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MY RESPONSIBILITY IN SANCTIFICATION

…FATHER, I praise You for giving to me the weapons that can triumph over satan—precisely Your Son and the SPIRIT. Though they overcome, it is necessary that I be responsible.

You, FATHER, make me “holy in the sense of innocence.” My responsibility is to participate in making my character into a holy character by a series of moral choices (ref#7, Sept 8th). I am inclined to cater to my undisciplined nature and many times attribute my failures to satan’s influence when the problem is my unwillingness to restrain myself.

I must strengthen myself to not submit to actions that stem from my physical condition. Prejudices and moods are two such things that I must destroy by neglect (ref#7, May 20th, Sept 8th).

“Many of us prefer to stay at the threshold of the Christian life instead of going on to construct a soul in accordance with the new life God has put within” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, May 20th).

FATHER, I want to be responsible. With my will and the SPIRIT’s power I desire to refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against Your true knowledge (2 Cor 10:5). For You know, FATHER, I’m in a fight all day long. Rouse me to reject comfort with its unwillingness to exercise the holy qualities You have placed in me.

CONFESSION

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I CANNOT DO WHAT YOU DO BUT YOU WILL NOT DO WHAT I CAN DO

screen-shot-2017-02-21-at-2-26-03-pm…FATHER, I am a member of Your household, through CHRIST.   I am no longer a stranger and an alien but a citizen of Your kingdom (Eph 2:18-19).

You have drawn me to Yourself, I am unable to draw myself to You. I cannot do what You do, but You will not do what I can do. You, FATHER, save and sanctify, but You will not give me good habits or make me walk aright. I, by faith, must work out the salvation You worked in (ref#7, May 10th). I am responsible; You will judge me according to Your justice.

You have given me the power to make personal decisions, yet You control the actions I choose. You have conferred responsibility on me for my thoughts, words, and deeds (ref#56, p1221, “God Reigns: Divine Sovereignty”) yet You are continually sovereign.

“Numerous biblical passages integrate the sovereignty of God and the moral responsibility of human beings without allowing the predeterminate will of God to be used as an excuse for moral evil (Esth 4:13-14; Joel 2:32; Matt 26:24-25; Acts 2:23)” The Reformation Study Bible (ref#56, p1159, [Ezek 14:9]).

FATHER, compel me not to think that because You have chosen me that I have no responsibility.

CONFESSION

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WORKING OUT MY OWN SALVATION

screen-shot-2017-02-21-at-1-58-12-pm…FATHER, move me to work out my own salvation—but not on my own. Keep me always accepting what You give. I wish to let You set me apart.

“The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, July 23rd).

FATHER, Your mystery of sanctification is JESUS. All His sinless perfection You pour into me. And as You pour, I continually change slowly and surely into holiness (2 Cor 13:4).

If there is any effort on my part to be exerted it is to seek to know CHRIST better—“in His divine nature, in His human relationship, in His finished work, in His death, in His resurrection, in His present glorious intercession, and in His future royal advent” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Jan 4th AM). The reason You have made me one with JESUS is so His disposition will rule my disposition (ref#7, Feb 8th).

This “working out my own salvation” is to let You, FATHER, more quickly change me. Allow me to experience the closeness of JESUS, FATHER, so that His presence pushes anxious thoughts away that I may see clearly Your direction before me.

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HUMILITY

screen-shot-2017-02-20-at-3-46-01-pm“The head must be bowed low to the dust to admit that we are no better than what Jesus had to become for us” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p77).

FATHER, let me daily review my total inability to help myself. You do not help me occasionally, like picking up a just-learning-to-walk child when he falls, no, I am in the troughs of an enemy who labors day and night to devour me (1 Pet 5:8). I need to envision myself daily in the middle of a ring of fire needing You to reach Your hand down and pluck me out.

“The bedrock in Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possession; weakness, not strength of will; infirmity of character, not goodness; a sense of absolute poverty, not decisions for Christ…(Matt 5:3)”  Oswald Chambers (ref#83, p90).

“If we grow down in humility and up in worship—leave off all sin and the diverting pleasures of this world and persevere because we desire Christ supremely—we could not fathom doing anything to grieve One so infinitely glorious—One who saves to the uttermost and ever lives to intercede one as vile as me” Dan Cummings (ref#141, April 9, 2006).