Holy Father, Son, and Spirit,
My conscience is stirred, awakened, and deeply pricked. You have convicted me of my sin. I have defiled my God-given sense of morality with my sin and disobedience to You. I have abandoned Your Truth in a quest for expediency and acceptance. I have exchanged Your Truth for the doctrine of tolerance–the idolatry of my age, but my guilt is never assuaged.
But awakening is not salvation! All I know at this moment is my own sin. I must have relief from my guilt–my condemnation before You. I must know Your peace. I confess my sin to You.
The Hebrew worshipers came to Your temple to offer sacrifice for their sins. You taught them that no sacrifice remained for deliberate, defiant sin, but sacrifice could only appeal to God for forgiveness when the supplicant demonstrated true confession and penitence. Such penitence demanded humble reconciliation with brother, neighbor, business partner, and friend.
Whom have I offended? Against whom have I sinned? Whom has received the brunt of my anger? Have my words damaged another’s reputation? Have I been ungrateful for what others have done for me? Am I bitter toward anyone? Have I rebelled against, resisted, or been disrespectful of authority God has placed in my life? Am I proud, unteachable, arrogant, argumentative, or condescending?
So here I am at the altar of my life, awakened by Your Holy Spirit to my own guilt and sinfulness. I am about to make a sacrifice of repentance to You, and I sense You nudging from the rail to reconciliation. You long to accept my gift of repentance, but first I have to get right with some other people in my life.
“God has convicted me of how wrong I’ve been in my sin against you. I’ve come to ask will you forgive me?”
You have awakened my conscience. I have sought to make amends to the best of my knowledge and ability, according to the dictates of my conscience as stirred by Your Holy Spirit. Now, I return to the altar of sacrifice to continue my search to know Your forgiveness.
Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for accepting my humble repentance. I embrace Your forgiveness and await Your Witness to my heart, Holy Spirit. As You show me other wrongs to make right with people in my life, I will obey You.
In the Name of my God who accepts my sacrifice of true worship,
Amen.
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