Catholic Prayers of Confession are very different from Christian Prayers. This particular Prayer of Confession is geared towards one of the Christian ways to pray.
God is close to those whose hearts are willing to turn back from sin and run to Him. He never gets tired forgiving His beloved and giving them another chance — a clean slate to begin once more. A Prayer of Confession is an essential part of getting your prayer answered.
(Psalms 66:18-20)
If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But God did listen!
He paid attention to my prayer.
Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
or withdraw his unfailing love from me.
Many times, our hearts become calloused because of repetitive sins and we are deeply inundated by negative mindsets, attitudes, habits, addictions, and bondages. But, in our heart of hearts we long to break free from them permanently but fail to know how. God has engraved the natural law, His commandments, in our spirits and hearts and no matter how depraved or sinful we become, there is this inner prompting within telling us this is not the right way, traverse this other road.
God will relentlessly call us back to Him, no matter how far we have gone. If God is already prodding your heart right now, reminding you of any secret or hidden sin or disobedience, open your heart now to His voice saying, “My child, come back to me now. My arms are open to you. Repent and leave this sin and choose Me.”
You may now confess with your mouth whichever area God is bringing to your remembrance. Is there any thought, emotion, speech, action that violates God’s instructions in His Word? Is there any disobedience, or sin of omission (failing to do what should have been done) or any meditation of the heart that could have displeased God? Is there anyone or anything that displaced God in your life or took precedence over Him?
Here is how to pray to God. Let me pray for you now –
Our Abba Father, I pray for anyone reading this that you meet him or her at their deepest need. May Your Holy Spirit continue to minister to him and convict him of things that have been holding him back and drew him away from You. Go deeper, our God and search his mind, heart, spirit and his entire being for all traces of sin. Do a mighty cleansing over him right now. You said in Your Word, that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) Uproot those things that are unlike you God and do an overhaul—spirit, soul, and body. Cleanse his mind and eyes from any images and his ears from any ungodly sounds. May the Living Water wash away all the filth, uncleanness, and any perturbations in his soul. Affirm him of his identity in Christ and who You are in his life. Make him open to the work of the Cross, of Jesus’ sacrifice to save him from sin, sickness, and hell. Nourish him with the Word of God and give him a hunger for You, Your presence and Your Word. Cancel all the effects of his sins upon his life and his destiny. Thank You, Father God for this opportunity to pray with and for him. Seal everything that You have done today in his life. This we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer, be assured that God has already begun His wonderful work in your life and He will bring it into completion. (Phil. 1:6) Our prayers to God are being heard in heaven. Do not be afraid of coming to God in prayer, He listens to you and will always be there for you. Meditate on Scriptures and declare them out loud daily, believe and act on them. When you are fully saturated on His Word, He will put His laws in your heart so that you might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). But if you fail, always seek Him and ask for forgiveness again and invite the Holy Spirit to empower you to say NO to sin and say YES to God. Remember that even as a saved individual we still sin as long as we are in this sinful fleshly body and therefore we do need to confess our sins. You can always return to this Prayer of Confession at anytime that you feel you need it.
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