Confession: Sin Shall Not Have Dominion
Sin Shall Not Have Dominion Our Father, which art in heaven, forgive our evil deeds towards Thy Son! Thou delightest in Him and so do we; but we have strange ways of showing it sometimes. Give us to love Him perfectly. May we say, "Lord Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that we love Thee." May we so love Thee that even our enemies may be compelled to say, "See how they love their Lord!" Oh make us to display our love so clearly and decidedly as our Master showed His love to buried Lazarus.
Cleanse Thy people: let our conscience be purged from dead works. May we know that we are forgiven. May we have no doubt about it. May we know that we are cleansed from the guilt and the defilement of sin. May we therefore have access with boldness to our Father in heaven, and may the power of sin which has been broken, be destroyed in us. Sin is not on the throne now, but it lurks in the corners, and if it could, it would get to the front again. We thank Thee for that word, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." God grant it never may! We sorrow with deep inward anguish over some who profess to be Thy people in whom sin has had dominion. Lord, when any turn away we ask ourselves, "Shall I do this?" and we know that unless Thou hold us fast we shall decline, and prove to be like them at last. But do not let us wander; nay, let not a thought go after evil. Let us have no god but God, no christ but Christ, no spirit but the Spirit. May we be absorbed in God! In Him may we live and move and have our being, not only in a natural, but in a spiritual sense—
"Take our poor heart and let it be Forever closed to all but Thee."
Lord, we get high ideas sometimes; we rise into the pure air of fellowship, but our grief is that we are so soon drawn back again. Earth's attractions hold us, the flesh hampers us, our own infirmities hinder us. Lord help us! He that began the work must carry it on or it will never come to completion. Perfect that which concerneth us. Lord we would be rid of sin. We long that every tendency to sin may be burnt on the head with the hot iron of Thy love, so that it shall be compelled to die. O come, great Lord, and wield Thy sceptre over all the powers and passions of our nature, and if they need a rod of iron to subdue them, yet spare them not till grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.