Prayer Templates - Repentance

I find myself in need of repentance so often. Why I settle for the fleeting pleasures of sin when I have tasted the joy of knowing and savoring Christ, I don't know. But because I know that repentance is needed in all of our lives, I thought this post might be helpful. I did not invent this strategy, saints throughout the ages have been using it to know how to repent before a holy, righteous Father. It is Psalm 32. I can't tell you how many times I have prayed through this Psalm as a means of confession and repentance. Here is the text (ESV):

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Selah

Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
Selah

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Freedom?!

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God…
- I Peter 2:16

This verse is about our freedom in Christ. Freedom is an interesting topic. People have preached about it, sang about it, wept over it, lectured on it, given it, taken it, used it, abused it, prayed for it, lost it, found it, loved it, and died for it. So how should we as Believers view freedom? The Bible teaches that everyone is a slave to something:

…you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness…
- Romans 6:16b

This is the same passage that tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But it also tells us that if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, “you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God.” When we were slaves to sin, the result was hell and damnation. Now that we are slaves to God, the result is sanctification and eternal life (Romans 6:22). So what does this mean for us? We should recognize that we, as humans, cannot be left to our own devices to do whatever we think right (Proverbs 21:2). We must entrust ourselves to God our Maker who knows what is best for us.

For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
- Romans 6:19b

When we do this, we understand that slavery to God is freedom. Freedom is not the ability to choose between good and evil. True freedom is to be set free from slavery to sin and set free to do what is pleasing in the sight of God.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
- John 8:36

Know this and live.