Prayers of Contrition

Throughout the Bible, the prayers to which God most often responds involve some form of confession. God desires a humble and contrite heart, and that means that, in our prayers, we constantly must offer our contrition.

Now, to unbelievers, that might sound like a depressing manner in which to live one's life. After all, how can it possibly be enjoyable to constantly be confessing our imperfections and sins? Paul gives the answer to this question in Romans 6:22 (ESV), where he explains that humbly submitting to God leads to eternal life!

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

So conducting our lives in humble and contrite fashion is not depressing at all. Rather, it leads to the glorious hope of eternal life!

So today, in your prayers, issue a heartfelt confession to God. Here is a good example from Jeremiah 31:18-19 (ESV),

You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf;
bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.
 For after I had turned away, I relented,
    and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.