Make every effort ...to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
- Hebrews 12:14

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land.
- 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

(Psalm 139:23, Proverbs 28:13, 1 John 1:9)
Lord, we thank you that your love for us is unconditional. You have promised to draw near to those who draw near to you. We come to you now, seeking your grace and mercy. We ask you to search our hearts and reveal areas of sin in our lives that we need to bring before you in confession and cleansing, give us an assurance of your forgiveness and fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome that we may gain victory over all sin in our lives. Create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit in us.

Lord, we confess that:
    • We have filled our minds with worldly thoughts and values and followed after our own desires.
    • We have committed idolatry by fashioning a god after our own desire, choosing to believe and accept certain aspects of
       your character and to ignore others.
    • We have sought the praise and approval of people rather than your pleasure.
    • We have entertained thoughts of doubts and unbelief, anxiety and worry, anger and bitterness.
    • We have been lacking in love for those you love.
    • We have come to the Lord's Table not in an attitude of thankfulness and worship, but carelessly, not recognizing that Jesus
       gave his body and blood for 'my' sin.
    • When our own sinfulness resulted in your withholding your blessings, we have doubted your love and your power.

Lord, give us a deep conviction and sorrow over our sin. Help us to discipline our thoughts and bring them under the Lordship of Christ. Give us a forgiving, loving attitude and a heart of unconditional love for others.

Lord, we confess that:
    • We regularly stretch the truth and make promises that we fail to keep. You call this lying.
    • We murmur and complain about people and circumstances.
    • We are often harsh in our speech towards others and are often disrespectful to those we should honour.
    • We argue and fight, are irritable and cranky, quick to take offence, and quick to gossip.
    • We criticize and slander our church leaders, fail to give them encouragement and prayer support and undermine their
       authority.

Grant us grace to ask forgiveness of those we have hurt with our speech. Help us to use our mouths to praise, encourage, express gratitude and speak positive words about people and circumstances. Give us the boldness to speak the truth and not to make promises we do not intend to keep.

Lord, you have appointed us the spiritual head of our homes. We confess:
    • We have demanded and expected to be served by our wives and have neglected to love them with an unconditional
       sacrificial love as Christ loves the church.
    • We have not placed the needs and welfare of our wives ahead of our own and have been insensitive and uncaring towards
       them and impatient with their imperfections.
    • We have not regularly expressed affection to our wives, nor honoured them in private and in public.

Father, you have appointed us to be helpers, to respect and submit to our husbands. We confess that:
    • We have often treated them with dishonour, ignoring their needs and desires.
    • We have harboured hurt feelings, anger, and bitterness against our husbands, which have kept us from acting with love
       and kindness.

    • Our relationship towards our children has been marked by anger, criticism and lecturing, rather than loving discipline,
       training and spiritual guidance.
    • We have neglected the God given responsibility to set a loving atmosphere of spiritual nurture and training, to talk to our
       children about spiritual values and to lead them spiritually.
    • We have not modelled genuine excitement and joy about worshipping you, nor expressed love for Christ's church.
    • We have caused our children to pull away from you by our behaviour and example.

Forgive us and help us to set right the wrongs wherever we can. When it is too late and the damage is done, cleanse us from our guilt, help us to forgive ourselves and surrender our failures to you, trusting you to work all things together for good. Help us to consistently and fervently pray for our spouses and children, so that you may work in their lives and bring restoration. Help us overcome pride and grant us grace to make the necessary changes in how we manage our relationships with our loved ones. Strengthen our resolve to put in a determined effort daily to be good, responsible and loving husbands, wives and parents.

Father, you have called us to honour our parents. We confess that:
    • We have often disobeyed our parents, ignored their guidance and instructions, and treated them with disrespect and
       anger.
    • We have followed life examples not from your Word, but from TV programs, movies and books that make it seem that
       disrespecting our parents is acceptable behaviour.

    • We have not honoured our elderly parents and have harboured resentment against them for real or imagined wrongs.
    • We have neglected them emotionally as well as financially.
    • We have been impatient with their failing health and insensitive about their fears and anxieties.

Grant us the humility to ask forgiveness, seek reconciliation and right the wrongs, so that loving relationships may be restored between us.

Lord, you have created us to be social beings. You have prescribed clear guidelines in your Word for our own protection and for the protection of the society we live in. Lord Jesus, you have called us to love one another as you have loved us. You have commanded us to love our enemies and to hate sin, but not the sinner. We confess that:
    • We have compromised by remaining in relationships that are outside of your will.
    • There are certain aspects of our relationships that we hide from others because we are ashamed.
    • We harbor hostility and hatred against strangers, public figures, terrorists and criminals. We wish evil upon godless
       politicians, social activists and entertainers who attack our values, rather than pray for their souls.
    • We have hindered your power in the church by harboring resentments and grudges against our brothers and ignoring
       strained relationships instead of making efforts to set things right.
    • We have neglected consistent fellowship and meaningful service in our local church and have preferred to remain passive
       spectators.
    • We have even cooled off in our service towards you because of hurt or disappointment or inner resentment at some
       difficult or painful situation in our lives, or for your not answering some urgent prayer, or not blessing us like you bless
       some others.

We now release all our bitterness, resentments and indifference against you and against others and choose, by your grace and power to forgive those who have hurt, disappointed or offended us. Forgive us for our unbelief and resentment and for doubting your love and power. Change our feelings and grant us victory over bitterness and indifference. Also give us the grace and humility to approach those to whom we have been rude or unkind and ask their forgiveness and help us to obey you henceforth in full commitment.

Lord, your Word says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and to be kept clean, morally pure and physically fit, so that we may be healthy, holy vessels fit for your holy purposes. We confess to:
    • Patterns of sexual immorality, uncleanness or perversion; watching TV programs or movies that feature immorality or
       violence and 'condition' us to sin; provocative ways of dressing that incite lust; reading things that are suggestive or
       unclean; jokes about immorality or perversions.
    • Excesses and harmful habits like overeating, unhealthy diets, smoking, drinking, drug abuse and laziness.
    • Allowing financial gain, work, family, entertainment, hobbies, things and interests to become idols that crowd out
       our worship, devotion and service to you.
    • Gross ingratitude towards you expressed in our refusal to tithe money, time and talents to you, or giving out of our
       leftovers rather than first fruits to you, forgetting that our money is not ours, but yours.
    • Dabbling in or taking undue interest in witchcraft, astrology, various kinds of spiritual medicines, psychics, new-ageism,
       hypnosis and consulting horoscopes, palmists or other forms of occult guidance.
    • Putting opinions of men over God and compromising on your truth, keeping quiet about our convictions and flowing with
       the crowd in order to be "politically correct".

Give us a genuine heart of worship that we may look at everything from your perspective. Help us develop self-control over our fleshly appetites. Help us to give cheerfully, generously and sacrificially for the extension of your kingdom, knowing we can never out-give you. Grant us grace and courage to stand for your truth whatever the cost. Help us to embrace the cross and die to self, so that we may know your full blessing and power and walk in freedom, victory and joy.

Lord, you have said in your Word, "Anyone... who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins (James 4:17). We confess that -
    • We have enjoyed your love and sought your blessings, but have neglected your commands.
    • We have neglected to diligently study your Word and find out and do what pleases you.
    • We have been content to live in bondage to sin, being too complacent or lazy to consistently resist Satan and press
       forward to full spiritual victory.
    • We have ignored your voice, put off obedience and consistently failed you in the same old ways because of lack of godly
       sorrow over our sins.
    • We have been pre-occupied with 'me and mine' and have shown a callous lack of concern for lost souls by failing to witness
       consistently and involve ourselves in local, state, national or global missions.
    • We have been unwilling to 'die to self' or undergo discomfort, embarrassment or rejection for the sake of telling others
       about Christ and failed to exercise our calling with diligence, integrity and personal holiness.
    • We have not bothered to discover and use our spiritual gifts for the edification of the body of Christ.
    • We have been afraid to raise our voices against controversial issues like abortion, divorce, homosexuality, permissive living,
       but been content to remain in the narrow range of acceptable teaching that comforts but does not convict.

We praise you, Lord, for you are a holy God and yet you are merciful - you love us too much to allow us to remain in our sins. We seek your forgiveness for all our wrongs. Fill us with a spirit of genuine repentance and change our attitudes and actions. Help us to obey you in your call to service and become productive members of your church. Let your Holy Spirit stir up the gifts within us and re-ignite our service to you that we may serve you passionately and wholeheartedly. We thank you that as we, the body of Christ humble ourselves and seek your face, you have promised to hear our prayers and heal our land. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.