After a sin, the first prayer can be seven words long. The tax collector in Jesus’ parable prayed them, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and Jesus said that man “went down to his house justified” (Luke 18:13–14). The Psalms and the old prayer books add longer confessions. How to pray after you have sinned The prayers of confession in the Bible follow a simple order. Name the sin to God. “I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine…

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