Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Confession
In this second movement, we simply see ourselves for who we are: people who need God.
“On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”—Mark 2:17 (NIV)
How amazing is it that God’s astounding grace calls to us in the midst of our brokenness?
God does not expect us to “clean up our act” before coming to him. He is already aware of what we need. He knows what burdens us, what binds us, what imprisons us. And yet even in the midst of all that he says to us: “Come.”
A few years ago a church where I worked put a sign in the lobby that said “No Perfect People Allowed.” Some of the leadership team of that church complained that it sent the wrong message. The Senior Pastor was clear, though—it sent exactly the right message. Too many people are burdened by a false belief that they cannot enter the presence of God without a massive amount of self-improvement, and that message betrays the heart of the gospel. The sign stayed. The truth continued to be told—that the freedom we so desperately seek is available to us just as we are. All we need to do is acknowledge the truths about ourselves he already knows completely.
SONG OF CONFESSION: Come Ye Sinners (lyrics here)