Category: NIV First Person

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Bewail your Anger, Love of the World, and Love of the Flesh

Confession 2.8 | NIV

The breaking out of passion and rash anger.

I have lacked self-control and have therefore been like a city whose walls are broken down. Proverbs 25:28(NIV)

I have been quickly provoked, and anger has resided in my lap. Ecclesiastes 7:9(NIV) And when my spirit has been provoked, I have spoken rashly with my lips, Psalm 106:33(NIV) and have been guilty of that brawling and bitterness which I should have gotten rid of. Ephesians 4:31(NIV)

My covetousness and love of the world.

My life has not been free from the love of money, Hebrews 13:5(NIV) nor have I learned to be content, whatever the circumstances, with what I have. Philippians 4:11(NIV)

Who can say that he is clean from that love of money which is a root of all kinds of evil, 1 Timothy 6:10(NIV) that greed which is idolatry? Colossians 3:5(NIV)

I have sought great things for myself when you have said, “Seek them not.” Jeremiah 45:5(NIV)

My sensuality and flesh-pleasing.

I have set my mind on what the sinful nature desires more than on what the Spirit desires, Romans 8:5(NIV) and have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence, and have fattened myself as in a day of slaughter. James 5:5(NIV)

I have thought about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature, Romans 13:14(NIV) even those sinful desires which war against my soul; 1 Peter 2:11(NIV) and in many instances, I have acted as if I had been a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. 2 Timothy 3:4(NIV)

When I was eating and drinking, was I not just feasting for myself? Zechariah 7:6(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Bewail your Many Actual Transgressions, Especially your Pride

Confession 2.7 | NIV

I must likewise bewail my many actual transgressions, in thought, word, and deed.

I have sinned, Father, against heaven and against you: Luke 15:18(NIV) All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23(NIV) for the God who holds in his hand my life and all my ways, I have not honored. Daniel 5:23(NIV)

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; Psalm 51:4(NIV) I have not obeyed the LORD my God or kept the laws he gave me, Daniel 9:10(NIV) though they are holy, righteous, and good. Romans 7:12(NIV)

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Psalm 19:12(NIV)

I stumble in many ways, James 3:2(NIV) and my sins are more than the hairs of my head. Psalm 40:12(NIV)

As a well pours out its water, so does my heart pour out wickedness; Jeremiah 6:7(NIV) and this has been my way from my youth up: I have not obeyed you. Jeremiah 22:21(NIV)

Out of the evil stored up in me, I have brought forth many evil things. Matthew 12:35(NIV)

I must confess and bewail the workings of pride in me.

I have every reason to be humbled for the pride of my heart; 2 Chronicles 32:26(NIV) for I have thought of myself more highly than I ought, and have not thought of myself with sober judgment, Romans 12:3(NIV) nor have I walked humbly with my God. Micah 6:8(NIV)

I have leaned on my own understanding, Proverbs 3:5(NIV) and trusted in myself, Proverbs 28:26(NIV) and have sacrificed to my own net. Habakkuk 1:16(NIV)

I have sought my own honor more than the honor of him who sent me, John 7:18(NIV) and have been proud of that for which I should have been filled with grief. 1 Corinthians 5:2(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Lament and Confess your Sins of Omission

Confession 2.6 | NIV

I must lament and confess my omissions of duty, my neglect of it and triflings in it; and that I have done so little since I came into the world of the great work I was sent into the world about, so very little to answer the end of my creation or of my redemption, of my birth and of my baptism; and that I have profited no more by the means of grace.

I have been as a fig tree planted in the vineyard, and you have come many years seeking fruit from me but have found none; and therefore I might justly be cut down and thrown into the fire for using up the soil: Luke 13:6-7(NIV) You have come looking for good grapes, but behold only bad ones; Isaiah 5:4(NIV) for I have been an empty vine bringing forth fruit for myself. Hosea 10:1(KJV)

I have known the good I ought to do, but have not done it. James 4:17(NIV) I have hid my Master’s money, Matthew 25:18(NIV) and therefore deserve the doom of the wicked and lazy servant. Matthew 25:26(NIV)

I have been an unfaithful manager who has wasted my Lord’s possessions, Luke 16:1(NIV) for one sinner destroys much good. Ecclesiastes 9:18(NIV)

Money has been put in my hand to get wisdom, which I have had no desire to get; Proverbs 17:16(NIV) or like the fool my heart has been inclined to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2(NIV)

My youth and vigor were meaningless, Ecclesiastes 11:10(NIV) and I am finishing my years with a moan. Psalm 90:9(NIV)

I have not recognized or improved the time of God’s coming to me; Luke 19:44(NIV) have not stored provisions in summer nor gathered food at harvest, though I have had commanders, overseers, and rulers. Proverbs 6:7-8(NIV)

I am slow of heart to understand and believe; Luke 24:25(NIV) and though by this time I ought to be a teacher of others, I am yet to learn the elementary truths of God’s word: I have need of milk and cannot bear solid food. Hebrews 5:12(NIV)

I have undermined piety and hindered devotion to God; Job 15:4(NIV) have not called on your name or striven to lay hold of you. Isaiah 54:7(NIV)

I have come before you as your people come and sat before you as your people sit and listened to your words, when my heart at the same time has been greedy for unjust gain. Ezekiel 33:31(KJV) And thus have I brought the torn and the crippled and the diseased for sacrifice; have offered that to my God which I would not have offered to my governor; Malachi 1:8(NIV) and have vowed and sacrificed to the Lord a blemished thing, when I had in my flock an acceptable male. Malachi 1:14(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Lament and Confess the Corruption of your Entire Being

Confession 2.5 | NIV

The corruption of the whole man: Irregular appetites towards those things that are pleasing to sense, and inordinate passions against those things that are displeasing, and an alienation of the mind from the principles, powers, and pleasures of the spiritual and divine life.

I am born of the flesh; I am flesh. John 3:6(NIV) Dust I am: Genesis 3:19(NIV) I have borne the likeness of the earthly man; 1 Corinthians 15:49(NIV) and nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out; for what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Romans 7:18-19(NIV)

I have a law at work within the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members; Romans 7:23(NIV) so that when I want to do good, evil is right there with me, Romans 7:21(NIV) and most easily entangles me. Hebrews 12:1(NIV)

My whole head is injured, my whole heart afflicted; from the sole of my foot to the top of my head there is no soundness – only wounds and welts and open sores. Isaiah 1:5-6(NIV)

There is in me a determination to turn from the living God: Hosea 11:7(NIV) My heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9(NIV) It starts aside like a faulty bow. Hosea 7:16(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Lament and Confess your Vain Thoughts and Carnal Affections

Confession 2.4 | NIV

The vanity of my thoughts, their neglect of those things which they ought to be conversant with and dwelling upon those things that are unworthy of them and tend to corrupt my mind.

Every inclination of the thoughts of my heart is evil, only evil, and that all the time, Genesis 6:5(NIV) and it has been so from my childhood. Genesis 8:21(NIV)

O how long have I harbored wicked thoughts! Jeremiah 4:14(NIV) Those schemes of folly which are sin! Proverbs 24:9(NIV) From within, out of the heart, come evil thoughts; Matthew 15:19(NIV) which plot mischief on the bed, Micah 2:1(NIV) and carry the heart with the fool’s eyes to the ends of the earth. Proverbs 17:24(NIV)

But God is not in all my thoughts; Psalm 10:4(NIV) it is well if he is in any of them. I have deserted the Rock, who fathered me, and have forgotten the God who gave me birth: Deuteronomy 32:18(NIV) I have forgotten him days without number, Jeremiah 2:32(NIV) and my heart has followed worthless idols and become worthless itself. Jeremiah 2:5(NIV) My inward thought having been that my house will remain forever; Psalm 49:11(NIV) this my way is my folly. Psalm 49:13(NIV)

The carnality of my affections, their being placed upon wrong objects and carried beyond due bounds.

I have set my heart on earthly things, which should have been set on things above, where my treasure is, Matthew 6:21(NIV) where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; Colossians 3:1-2(NIV) these are the things which I should seek.

I have clung to worthless idols and forfeited the grace that could have been mine; Jonah 2:8(NIV) have forsaken the spring of living water, for cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:13(NIV)

I have panted after the dust of the ground, Amos 2:7(KJV) and have been full of care as to what I shall eat and what I shall drink and what I shall wear, the things which the pagans run after, and the righteousness thereof. Matthew 6:31-33(NIV)

I have lifted up my soul to idols, Psalm 24:4(NIV) and set my eyes on what is nothing; have fixed my eyes on what is seen, which is temporary, but the things that are eternal have been forgotten and postponed. 2 Corinthians 4:18(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Lament your Disposition to Evil and Confess your Blind Understanding and Stubborn Will

Confession 2.3 | NIV

I must lament my present corrupt disposition to that which is evil, and my aversion to and impotency in that which is good. I must look into my own heart and confess with holy blushing:

The blindness of my understanding and its unaptness to admit the rays of the divine light.

By nature I am darkened in my understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in me due to the hardening of my heart. Ephesians 4:18(NIV)

The things that come from the Spirit of God are foolishness to the man without the Spirit, and, if left to myself, I cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14(NIV)

I am skilled in doing evil; I know not how to do good. Jeremiah 4:22(NIV) I know nothing, I understand nothing; I walk about in darkness. Psalm 82:5(NIV)

God speaks – now one way, now another – though I may not perceive it. Job 33:14(NIV) I am ever hearing but never understanding; Matthew 13:14(NIV) and I see people, yet they look like trees walking around. Mark 8:24(NIV)

The stubbornness of my will and its unaptness to submit to the rules of the divine law.

I have within me a sinful mind, which is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Romans 8:7(NIV)

You have written for me the many things of your law, but I have regarded them as something alien; Hosea 8:12(NIV) and my corrupt heart has been sometimes ready to say, “Who is the Almighty, that I should serve him?” Job 21:15(NIV) And that I would certainly do everything I said I would. Jeremiah 44:17(NIV) For I have followed the ways of my own heart and whatever my eyes have seen. Ecclesiastes 11:9(NIV) I have followed my sinful nature’s desires and thoughts. Ephesians 2:3(NIV)

The sinews of my neck have been iron, Isaiah 48:4(NIV) and I have made my heart as hard as flint. I have refused to pay attention; stubbornly I have turned my back, Zechariah 7:11-12(NIV) and stopped up my ears like a cobra that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be. Psalm 58:4-5(NIV)

How I have hated discipline! How my heart has spurned correction! I have not obeyed my teachers or listened to my instructors. Proverbs 5:12-13(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Confess and Bewail your Original Corruption

Confession 2.2 | NIV

I must therefore confess and bewail my original corruption in the first place: that I am the child of apostate and rebellious parents, and the nature of man is depraved and has wretchedly degenerated from its primitive purity and rectitude, and such is my nature.

ord, you made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes; Ecclesiastes 7:29(NIV) and despite his riches, man does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. Psalm 49:20(NIV)

Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned: Romans 5:12(NIV) Through that one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, including me. Romans 5:19(NIV)

I am of a brood of evildoers; Isaiah 1:4(NIV) my father was an Amorite and my mother a Hittite, Ezekiel 16:3(NIV) and I myself was called (and not miscalled) a rebel from birth; and well do you know how treacherous I am. Isaiah 48:8(NIV)

The nature of man was planted a choice vine of sound and reliable stock, but it has become a corrupt, wild vine, Jeremiah 2:21(NIV) producing the grapes of Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrah. Deuteronomy 32:32(NIV) How the gold has lost its luster, and the fine gold become dull! Lamentations 4:1(NIV)

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Psalm 51:5(NIV) For, who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! Job 14:4(NIV) Like the rest, I am by nature an object of wrath, because a child of disobedience. Ephesians 2:2-3(KJV)

All people have corrupted their ways; Genesis 6:12(NIV) we have all turned aside, we have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:3(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Take Hold of the God-Given Encouragement you Have to Confess Sin

Confession 2.1 | NIV

I must take hold of the great encouragement God has given me to humble myself before him with sorrow and shame, and to confess my sins.

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. Psalm 130:3-4(NIV) With you is unfailing love; yes, with my God is full redemption; he himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. Psalm 130:7-8(NIV)

Your sacrifices, O God, are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise; Psalm 51:17(NIV) indeed, though you are the high and lofty One – he who lives forever, whose name is holy; Isaiah 57:15(NIV) though heaven is your throne, and the earth is your footstool, yet this is the one you esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at your word; Isaiah 66:1-2(NIV) to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15(NIV)

You have graciously assured me that he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13(NIV) And when a poor penitent said, “I will confess my transgression to the LORD,” you forgave the guilt of his sin; therefore, let everyone who is godly, in like manner, pray to you while you may be found. Psalm 32:5-6(NIV)

I know that if I claim to be without sin, I deceive myself and the truth is not in me; but you have said that if I confess my sins, you are faithful and just and will forgive me my sins and purify me from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Introduction and Acknowledgement of the Need for Lowliness before God

Confession 2.0 | NIV

Of the Second Part of Prayer, which is Confession of Sin, Complaints Regarding Myself, and Humble Professions of Repentance

Having ascribed to God the glory due his name, Psalm 29:2(NIV) I must next take shame to myself, which is my due, and humble myself before him in the sense of my own sinfulness and vileness; and herein also I must give glory to him, Joshua 7:19(NIV) as my Judge, by whom I deserve to be condemned, and yet hope, through Christ, to be acquitted and absolved.

In this part of my work, I must acknowledge the great reason I have to lie very low before God and to be ashamed of myself when I come into his presence and to be afraid of his wrath, having made myself both odious to his holiness and obnoxious to his justice.

O my God! I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because my sins are higher than my head and my guilt has reached to the heavens. Ezra 9:6(NIV)

I am covered with shame because I have sinned against you. Daniel 9:8(NIV)

I am unworthy – how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth, Job 40:4(NIV) and bury my face in the dust – there may yet be hope – Lamentations 3:29(NIV) crying out with the convicted leper under the law, “Unclean, unclean!” Leviticus 13:45(NIV)

If you place no trust in your holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in your eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water! Job 15:15-16(NIV)

When my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty, I have reason to cry, “Woe to me! I am ruined.” Isaiah 6:5(NIV)

Dominion and awe belong to you; you establish order in the heights of heaven. Your forces cannot be numbered; and upon whom does your light not rise? How then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure? Job 25:2-4(NIV)

You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? Psalm 76:7(NIV) You, my God, are a consuming fire; Hebrews 12:29(NIV) and who knows the power of your anger? Psalm 90:11(NIV)

Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty. Job 9:20(NIV) Though I wished to dispute with you, I could not answer you one time out of a thousand. Job 9:3(NIV)

If my conscience is clear, that does not make me innocent, for it is the Lord who judges me – 1 Corinthians 4:4(NIV) the Lord, who is greater than my heart and knows everything. 1 John 3:20(NIV) But I myself know that I have sinned, Father, against heaven and against you, and am no longer worthy to be called your child. Luke 15:21(NIV)

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Method for Prayer NIV First Person

Rely on Jesus Alone for Acceptance with God

Adoration 1.20 | NIV

I must profess my entire reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for acceptance with God and come in his name.

I do not make requests of you because I am righteous, Daniel 9:18(NIV) for I am before you in my guilt, Ezra 9:15(NIV) and cannot stand before you because of my sins; Psalm 130:3(NIV) but I make mention of Christ’s righteousness, even of his only, who is The LORD Our Righteousness, Jeremiah 23:6(NIV) and therefore The LORD My Righteousness.

I know that even spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God only through Christ Jesus, 1 Peter 2:5(NIV) nor can I hope to receive anything but what I ask of you in his name; John 16:23(NIV) and therefore, make me accepted in the One you love, Ephesians 1:6(NIV) that other angel, who puts much incense to the prayers of saints and offers them up on the golden altar before the throne. Revelation 8:3(NIV)

I come in the name of the great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who is able to sympathize with my weaknesses, Hebrews 4:14-15(NIV) and is therefore able to save completely all those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews 7:25(NIV)

Look upon my shield, O God: look with favor on your Anointed One, Psalm 84:9(NIV) in whom you have by a voice from heaven declared yourself to be well pleased; Lord, be well pleased with me in him. Matthew 3:17(NIV)