These Are My JOTtings, Part #2

"The Sinner's Prayer"

Have you yet met the evangelist,
who convinces you of your need?
With a logic that is clearly expressed
as more than just a creed,
he invites you to be ever blest
by trust, that's not a deed.

Just pray this prayer as from the heart,
"Dear Lord, I know I'm lost.
I can't save me, not from the start.
I can't pay sin's deep cost,
but Jesus died and rose to impart
new life to ne'er be lost."

Am I now saved? Did I believe it best?
What do I do with doubt?
Is this my faith to survive each test?
Can I turn my life about?
Or did God help my heart to rest?
Can I now truly shout?

How can I know that God has worked
to make me lastingly new?
How can it be that change has come
to save me in this way?
Did I do anything of myself
or is this birth He gives?

When the Lord does work, affections change.
The heart is newly tender.
The Christian loves the Lord as couldn't,
before his rock-hard heart was removed.

This birthing is mysterious.
Self cannot work at all
for when the soul is truly His
before the Lord we must fall.

by Jay O’Toole
on September 8th, 2025