We cannot confess sin without God’s help

🛐 Daily Prayer: "We have sinned ourselves into misery, unless grace rescues us from it."

Author

SpurgeonBooks
January 13, 2025

Pray with Spurgeon

Daily Newsletter from SpurgeonBooks

This week, our prayers and Scripture readings each day will focus on the confession of sin. Next week, we’ll highlight a different theme. Invite a friend to pray with you by sending them this link.

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Thy grace must give us even to know our need of grace. We are not willing to confess our own sinfulness until you show it to us. Though it stares us in the face, our pride denies it, and our own inability is unperceived by us. We steal your power and call it our own until you compel us to say that we have no strength in ourselves. Now, Lord, we acknowledge that all good must come from you, through Jesus Christ by your Spirit, if we are ever to receive it.

We come humbly, first of all acknowledging our many sins. How many they are we cannot calculate, how black they are, how deep their ill-desert; yet we do confess that we have sinned ourselves into hopeless misery, unless your free, undeserved grace rescues us from it. Lord, we thank you for any signs of repentance—give us more of it. Lay us low before you under a consciousness of our undeserving state. Let us feel and mourn the atrocity of our guilt. Oh God, we know a tender heart must come from you. By nature our hearts are stony, and we are proud and self-righteous.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

He who says that he has no sins will not confess them. He who believes himself to be perfect cannot enjoy the blessing described in this verse. To deny that we have any sin is to walk in darkness and to show we are without the light that would reveal our sin to us.

PRAY FOR THE NATIONS

This week, we’re praying for the Maba of Indonesia.

The Maba are a distinct ethnic group of 12,000 Muslims. There are no Christians among them or churches that speak their language.

Pray that God would send missionaries to the Maba of Indonesia.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

Discover real community with the power of Christ

This week, as we dwell on the confession of sin, I hope you’ll consider carefully the sins that you must confess to God. However, our confession must not stop there — we also need to confess sin to one another.

The confession of sin can be a very intimidating call in a culture that prizes pride and self-image. However, God has promised that confession of sin leads to freedom. When our community is truly shaped by the gospel, it will be a place where honest confession of sin is expected and welcomed.

The book You’re Not Crazy by Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry lays out a vision for this kind of Christ-formed and holiness-forming community. Ray and Sam show why the grace of God ought to form this kind of community in our churches and give practical advice for pursuing it. This is a book that is incredibly warm, encouraging, and challenging all at once. Because that’s what happens when we encounter Jesus.

I hope you’ll grab a copy of You’re Not Crazy today.