Category: NASB First Person

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Acknowledge the Great Evil of Sin, its Unprofitableness and Deceitfulness

Confession 2.13 | NASB

The unprofitableness of sin.

I have sinned and perverted what is right, and it did not profit me. Job 33:27(KJV)

What benefit have I derived from the things of which I am now ashamed, seeing the outcome of those things is death? Romans 6:21(NASB) And what will it profit me if I gain the whole world and forfeit my soul? Matthew 16:26(NASB)

The deceitfulness of sin.

Sin has deceived me, and through the commandment killed me; Romans 7:11(NASB) for my heart has been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, Hebrews 3:13(NASB) and I have been carried away and enticed by my own lust. James 1:14(NASB)

It has promised me freedom, but has made me a slave of corruption; 2 Peter 2:19(NASB) has promised me that I surely will not die and that I will be like God, Genesis 3:4-5(NASB) but it has flattered me and spread a net for my steps. Proverbs 29:5(NASB)

The arrogance of my heart, particularly, has deceived me. Obadiah 1:3(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Acknowledge the Great Evil of Sin, its Sinfulness and Foolishness

Confession 2.12 | NASB

I must acknowledge the great evil that there is in sin, and in my sin; the malignity of its nature, and its mischievousness to me.

The sinfulness of sin.

O that sin may be shown to be sin to me, may be shown in its true colors; and that by the commandment I may see it to be utterly sinful, Romans 7:13(NASB) because it is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4(NASB)

By every willful sin I have in effect said, “I do not want this man to reign over me.” Luke 19:14(NASB) And, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice?” Exodus 5:2(NASB) And thus I have blasphemed the LORD, Numbers 15:30(NASB) and cast His laws behind my back. Nehemiah 9:26(NASB)

The foolishness of sin.

O God, You know my folly, and my wrongs are not hidden from You. Psalm 69:5(NASB) I was foolish in being disobedient, Titus 3:3(NASB) and my desires are foolish and harmful. 1 Timothy 6:9(NASB)

Foolishness was bound up in my heart when I was a child; Proverbs 22:15(NASB) for though vain man would be wise, he is born like the foal of a wild donkey. Job 11:12(KJV)

My way has been foolish, Psalm 49:13(NASB) and in many instances I have acted very foolishly. 2 Samuel 24:10(NASB)

I have been senseless and ignorant, even like a beast before God. Psalm 73:22(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Bewail your Sins of the Tongue and Spiritual Sloth

Confession 2.11 | NASB

My tongue sins.

In my many words, transgression is unavoidable; Proverbs 10:19(NASB) nor can a talkative man be acquitted. Job 11:2(NASB)

While the lips of the righteous feed many, Proverbs 10:21(NASB) my lips have spouted folly, Proverbs 15:2(NASB) and brought forth what is perverted. Proverbs 10:32(NASB)

Many unwholesome words have proceeded out of my mouth; that silly talk and coarse jesting which are not fitting, Ephesians 5:4(NASB) and little of that which is good and for the use of edification, and which might give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29(NASB)

If for every careless word that people speak they must give an account, and if by my words I must be justified, and by my words I must be condemned, Matthew 12:36-37(NASB) woe to me, for I am ruined; for I am of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips. Isaiah 6:5(NASB)

What would become of me, if God should make my own tongue be against me? Psalm 64:8(NASB)

My spiritual slothfulness and decay.

I have been lagging behind in diligence for religion and not fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Romans 12:11(NASB)

The things which remain are about to die, and my deeds have not been found completed in the sight of God. Revelation 3:2(NASB)

I have watched the wind, and therefore have not sown; have looked at the clouds, and therefore have not reaped; Ecclesiastes 11:4(NASB) and with the sluggard have frightened myself with the fancy of a lion in the road, a lion in the open square, and have turned on my bed as the door on its hinges, Proverbs 26:13-14(NASB) still crying, “A little sleep, a little slumber.” Proverbs 6:10(NASB)

I have left my first love, Revelation 2:4(NASB) and where now is that sense of blessing I had? Galatians 4:15(NASB)

My loyalty has been like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early. Hosea 6:4(NASB)

And that which is at the bottom of all is the evil, unbelieving heart in me, which inclines me to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Bewail your Lack of Love for Others

Confession 2.10 | NASB

My uncharitableness towards my brethren, and unpeaceableness with my relations, neighbors, and friends, and perhaps injustice towards them.

Truly I have been guilty concerning my brother; Genesis 42:21(NASB) for I have not pursued the things which make for peace or the building up of others. Romans 14:19(NASB)

I have been ready to judge my brother and to regard him with contempt, forgetting that I must shortly stand before the judgment seat of God. Romans 14:10(NASB)

Contrary to the royal law of love, I have bragged and been arrogant, have acted unbecomingly and sought my own; I have been easily provoked, have rejoiced in unrighteousness, 1 Corinthians 13:4-6(NASB) and secretly rejoiced at calamity. Proverbs 17:5(NASB)

I have become boastful, challenging others, envying others, Galatians 5:26(NASB) when I should have considered how to stimulate others to love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24(NASB)

My heart has been closed against those who are in need; 1 John 3:17(NASB) and I have hidden myself from my own flesh. Isaiah 58:7(NASB) Indeed, perhaps my eye has been hostile toward my poor brother, Deuteronomy 15:9(NASB) and I have dishonored the poor man. James 2:6(NASB)

And if in anything I have transgressed and defrauded my brother, 1 Thessalonians 4:6(NASB) if I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened after deceit, Job 31:5(NASB) and any spot has stuck to my hands, Job 31:7(NASB) Lord, discover it to me, that if I have done iniquity, I may not do it again. Job 34:32(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Bewail your False Security, Fretfulness, and Impatience

Confession 2.9 | NASB

My security and unmindfulness of the changes I am liable to in this world.

I have put off from me the day of calamity; Amos 6:3(NASB) and in my prosperity have said, “I will never be moved,” Psalm 30:6(NASB) as if tomorrow will be like today, only more so. Isaiah 56:12(NASB)

I have encouraged my soul to take its ease, to eat, drink, and be merry, as if I had goods laid up for many years to come, when perhaps this night my soul may be required of me. Luke 12:19-20(NASB)

I have been ready to fix my hope on the uncertainty of riches, more than on God; 1 Timothy 6:17(NASB) to put my confidence in gold, and call fine gold my trust. Job 31:24(NASB)

My fretfulness and impatience and murmuring under my afflictions, my inordinate dejection and distrust of God and His providence.

When You have chastised me, and I was chastised, I have been like an untrained calf; Jeremiah 31:18(NASB) and though my own foolishness has ruined my way, yet my heart has raged against the LORD; Proverbs 19:3(NASB) and thus, in my distress I have become yet more unfaithful to the LORD. 2 Chronicles 28:22(NASB)

I have either rejected the discipline of the LORD or fainted when I have been rebuked by Him; Proverbs 3:11(NASB) and if I am slack in the day of distress, my strength is limited. Proverbs 24:10(NASB)

I have said in my alarm, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Psalm 31:22(NASB) and, “The LORD has forsaken me, my God has forgotten me”; Isaiah 49:14(NASB) as if God would never be favorable again; Psalm 77:7(NASB) as if He had forgotten to be gracious and had in anger withdrawn His compassion. This has been my grief. Psalm 77:9-10(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Bewail your Anger, Love of the World, and Love of the Flesh

Confession 2.8 | NASB

The breaking out of passion and rash anger.

I have not had the control which I ought to have had over my spirit, which has therefore been like a city that is broken into and without walls. Proverbs 25:28(NASB)

I have been eager in my heart to be angry, and anger has resided in my bosom. Ecclesiastes 7:9(NASB) And when my spirit has been rebellious, I have spoken rashly with my lips, Psalm 106:33(NASB) and have been guilty of that clamor and bitterness which should have been put far from me. Ephesians 4:31(NASB)

My covetousness and love of the world.

My character has not been free from the love of money, Hebrews 13:5(NASB) nor have I learned to be content in every circumstance with what I have. Philippians 4:11(NASB)

Who can say that he is clean from that love of money which is a root of all sorts of evil, 1 Timothy 6:10(NASB) that greed which amounts to idolatry? Colossians 3:5(NASB)

I have sought great things for myself when You have said, “Do not seek them.” Jeremiah 45:5(NASB)

My sensuality and flesh-pleasing.

I have set my mind on the things of the flesh more than the things of the Spirit; Romans 8:5(NASB) I have lived luxuriously on the earth and have led a life of wanton pleasure, and have fattened my heart in a day of slaughter. James 5:5(NASB)

I have made provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts, Romans 13:14(NASB) even those lusts which wage war against my soul; 1 Peter 2:11(NASB) and in many instances, I have acted as if I had been a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. 2 Timothy 3:4(NASB)

When I did eat and when I did drink, did I not eat for myself and drink for myself? Zechariah 7:6(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Bewail your Many Actual Transgressions, Especially your Pride

Confession 2.7 | NASB

I must likewise bewail my many actual transgressions, in thought, word, and deed.

I have sinned, Father, against heaven and in Your sight. Luke 15:18(NASB) I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23(NASB) for the God in whose hand my life-breath is, and all my ways, I have not glorified. Daniel 5:23(NASB)

Against You, You only, I have sinned and done much evil in Your sight; Psalm 51:4(NASB) neither have I obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, to walk in His teachings which He has set before me, Daniel 9:10(NASB) though they are holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:12(NASB)

Who can discern his errors? Acquit me from hidden faults. Psalm 19:12(NASB)

I stumble in many ways, James 3:2(NASB) and my iniquities are more numerous than the hairs of my head. Psalm 40:12(NASB)

As a well keeps its waters fresh, so my heart keeps fresh its wickedness; Jeremiah 6:7(NASB) and this has been my practice from my youth up, that I have not obeyed Your voice. Jeremiah 22:21(NASB)

Out of the evil treasure of my heart, I have many times brought forth what is evil. Matthew 12:35(NASB)

I must confess and bewail the workings of pride in me.

I have every reason to be humbled for the pride of my heart; 2 Chronicles 32:26(NASB) that I have thought more highly of myself than I ought to have thought, and have not thought so as to have sound judgment, Romans 12:3(NASB) nor have I walked humbly with my God. Micah 6:8(NASB)

I have leaned on my own understanding, Proverbs 3:5(NASB) and trusted in my own heart, Proverbs 28:26(NASB) and have sacrificed to my own net. Habakkuk 1:16(NASB)

I have sought my own glory more than the glory of the One who sent me, John 7:18(NASB) and have become arrogant concerning that for which I should have mourned. 1 Corinthians 5:2(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Lament and Confess your Sins of Omission

Confession 2.6 | NASB

I must lament and confess my omissions of duty, my neglect of it and triflings in it; and that I have done so little since I came into the world of the great work I was sent into the world about, so very little to answer the end of my creation or of my redemption, of my birth and of my baptism; and that I have profited no more by the means of grace.

I have been as a fig tree planted in the vineyard, and You have come many years looking for fruit from me without finding any; and therefore I might justly be cut down and thrown into the fire for using up the ground: Luke 13:6-7(NASB) You have come looking for good grapes, but behold worthless ones; Isaiah 5:4(NASB) for I have been an empty vine bringing forth fruit for myself. Hosea 10:1(NASB)

I have known the right thing to do, but have not done it. James 4:17(NASB) I have hid my Master’s money, Matthew 25:18(NASB) and therefore deserve the doom of the wicked and lazy servant. Matthew 25:26(NASB)

I have been an unfaithful steward who has squandered my Lord’s possessions, Luke 16:1(NASB) for one sinner destroys much good. Ecclesiastes 9:18(NASB)

Many a price has been put in my hands to buy wisdom, which I have had no sense to; Proverbs 17:16(NASB) or like the fool my heart has been directed toward the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2(NASB)

My childhood and the prime of life were fleeting, Ecclesiastes 11:10(NASB) and I have finished my years like a sigh. Psalm 90:9(NASB)

I have not recognized or improved the day of my visitation; Luke 19:44(NASB) have not prepared my food in the summer nor gathered my provision in the harvest, though I have had chiefs, officers, and rulers. Proverbs 6:7-8(NASB)

I am slow of heart to understand and believe; Luke 24:25(NASB) and whereas by this time I might have been a teacher of others, I have yet to learn the elementary principles of the oracles of God: I need milk and not solid food. Hebrews 5:12(NASB)

I have done away with reverence and hindered meditation before God; Job 15:4(NASB) have not called on Your name, nor aroused myself to take hold of You. Isaiah 64:7(NASB)

I have come to You as Your people come and have sat before You as Your people sit and have heard Your words, when my heart at the same time has been going after my gain. Ezekiel 33:31(NASB) And thus have I brought the torn and the lame and the sick for sacrifice; have offered that to my God which I would not have offered to my governor; Malachi 1:8(NASB) and have vowed and sacrificed to the Lord a blemished animal, when I had a male in my flock. Malachi 1:14(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Lament and Confess the Corruption of your Entire Being

Confession 2.5 | NASB

The corruption of the whole man: Irregular appetites towards those things that are pleasing to sense, and inordinate passions against those things that are displeasing, and an alienation of the mind from the principles, powers, and pleasures of the spiritual and divine life.

I am born of the flesh, and I am flesh. John 3:6(NASB) Dust I am: Genesis 3:19(NASB) I have borne the image of the earthy; 1 Corinthians 15:49(NASB) and in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells nothing good. For if the willing is present in me, yet the doing of the good is not; for the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Romans 7:18-19(NASB)

I have a law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members; Romans 7:23(NASB) so that evil is present in me, one who wants to do good, Romans 7:21(NASB) and easily entangles me. Hebrews 12:1(NASB)

The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint; from the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts, and raw wounds. Isaiah 1:5-6(NASB)

There is in me a bent on turning from the living God: Hosea 11:7(NASB) My heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9(NASB) It starts aside like a broken bow. Hosea 7:16(NASB)

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Method for Prayer NASB First Person

Lament and Confess your Vain Thoughts and Carnal Affections

Confession 2.4 | NASB

The vanity of my thoughts, their neglect of those things which they ought to be conversant with and dwelling upon those things that are unworthy of them and tend to corrupt my mind.

Every intent of the thoughts of my heart is evil, only evil, and that continually, Genesis 6:5(NASB) and it has been so from my youth. Genesis 8:21(NASB)

O how long have those wicked thoughts lodged within me! Jeremiah 4:14(NASB) Like the devising of folly, those thoughts are sin. Proverbs 24:9(NASB) From within, out of the heart, come evil thoughts; Matthew 15:19(NASB) which work out evil on the bed, Micah 2:1(NASB) and carry the heart with the fool’s eyes to the ends of the earth. Proverbs 17:24(NASB)

But God is not in all my thoughts; Psalm 10:4(KJV) it is well if He is any of them. I have neglected the Rock who begot me, and have forgotten the God who gave me birth: Deuteronomy 32:18(NASB) I have forgotten Him days without number, Jeremiah 2:32(NASB) and my heart has walked after emptiness and become empty. Jeremiah 2:5(NASB) My inner thought having been that my house was forever: Psalm 49:11(NASB) this, my way, is the way of those who are foolish. Psalm 49:13(NASB)

The carnality of my affections, their being placed on wrong objects and carried beyond due bounds.

I have set my mind on things beneath, which should have been set on things above, where my treasure is, Matthew 6:21(NASB) where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; Colossians 3:1-2(NASB) these are the things which I should seek.

I have followed after vain idols and forsaken my faithfulness; Jonah 2:8(NASB) have forsaken the fountain of living waters, for cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13(NASB)

I have panted after the very dust of the earth, Amos 2:7(NASB) and have been full of care regarding what I shall eat and what I shall drink and what I shall wear for clothing, the things which the Gentiles eagerly seek. Matthew 6:31-33(NASB)

I have lifted up my soul to falsehood, Psalm 24:4(NASB) and set my eyes on the things which are not; have looked at the things which are seen, which are temporal, but the things which are eternal have been forgotten and postponed. 2 Corinthians 4:18(NASB)