REPENTANCE
We are delighted to share with you some of the resources that we intend to use in our retreat. Please be assured that we are praying that you may be refreshed in Christ as you draw near to him. One of the ways we want to help in that is providing exercises that might enable you to slow down and reflect on the Word. Use this resource as a prompt to help you engage with God in prayer, to meditate on scripture and have your heart refreshed in Christ.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
(Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision.)
O God of Grace,
Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
And hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
Clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
Decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian Walk I am still in rags;
My best prayers are stained with sin;
My penitential tears are so much impurity;
My confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
My receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed.
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
No loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
And by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
For thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
And aways returning home as a prodigal,
Always saying, Father, forgive me,
And thou art always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
Every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
The exceeding sinfulness of sin.
The exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
The exceeding beauty of holiness,
The exceeding wonder of grace.
A short visual exercise of repentance
Grab a paper and pen, write down some specific sins that come to mind. The words you have said, the actions you have taken, the thoughts you have, or deeds that have been neglected, the sinful desires. Use passages... to help you list the overwhelming sins. Write down the names of those you have wronged, the battles you face, be really specific. Then read Psalm 51 as you repent.
Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Continued short exercise
As you repent, cross off each sin with a red pen displaying that Christ’s blood has taken this sin away. Once you have spent time weeping and repenting over your sin, rip the paper up or you can burn it.
Read these verses to remind you of his grace.
Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
Zechariah 3:3-5
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18
(A puritan Prayer)
Confession and Petition
Holy Lord,
I have sinned time without number,
And been guilty of pride and unbelief,
Of failure to find thy mind in thy Word,
Of neglect to seek thee in my daily life.
My transgressions and short-comings
Present me with a list of accusations,
But I bless thee that they will not stand against me,
For all have been laid on Christ;
Go on to subdue my corruptions,
And grant me grace to live above them.
Let not the passions of the flesh not lustings of the mind
Bring my spirit into subjection,
But do thou rule over me in liberty and power.
I thank thee that many of my prayers have been refused –
I have asked amiss and do not have,
I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,
I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness.
Go on with thy patient work,
Answering ‘no’ to my wrongful prayers and fitting me to accept it.
Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration,
Everything contrary to thy rule.
I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,
For all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,
For sometimes putting me into the furnace
To refine my gold and remove my dross.
No trials is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.
If thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins,
Or to have them burnt away with trial,
Give me sanctified affliction.
Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins,
Everything that dims the brightness of thy grace in me,
Everything that prevents me taking delight in thee.
Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.
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