describing sins

[BlackPanther]

when we pray for forgiveness how detailed are our prayers supposed to be? i mean say we have a sinful thought...if i describe these thoughts in prayer...in detail...it makes me think the thoughts more...

so should we say "please forgive me for the sinful thoughts i had." or should we name and describe the thoughts in detail?

 

[reformedfan]

This came up at Bible study a few weeks back, here were the answers:
1) The prodigal son confession:"Father I have sinned against heaven & in your & am no longer worthy to be called your son", Luke 15:18 vs. this many harlots, this much 'prodigal living', here's a laundry list;

2) The detailed lists of people's sins they'd publically confess like in Neh 9 (there's better examples than that, though. I just can't remember what the reference was. Veddy detailed laundry list.)

The end.