Prayer for a Good Conscience

O Lord, my God! How great is the goodness and love which Thou dost manifest toward us! Thou givest us life and health, and lettest it be well with us according to Thy mercy. O my God! all these things are the gift of Thy grace. But they shall become as bitter wormwood, if, along with the healthy body and all Thine other gifts, we do not have a good conscience.

Therefore, O my God, have mercy upon me, and let me live in Thy fear, lest I do violence to my conscience. For conscience is as tender as the eye; and just as the eye, if the least dust gets into it, becomes irritated, tearful, and inflamed, and cannot be properly opened, so also the conscience, if it has been disobeyed, becomes restless, accuses and condemns, and, when thoroughly aroused, makes us hesitate to lift our eyes toward heaven.

O my God, I desire to bring before Thee a soul unharmed and a conscience undefiled. Therefore do Thou rule me by Thy Holy Spirit, that I may be as careful of my conscience as of my eye. O how great a treasure and how soft a pillow is a good conscience! Who will accuse me when my conscience acquits me? For if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Who can make me sorrowful, if my conscience makes me joyful? Who can make me anxious and troubled, if my conscience comforts and sustains me? O my God, let me cherish this treasure! Help me never to speak anything which will cause me remorse of conscience. Help me never to consent to a sin in word or deed, lest I lay a heavy burden upon my soul, which might oppress me throughout my life or on my deathbed, and bring upon me Thy wrath and punishment.

Graciously preserve me from the anguish and remorse of a wounded conscience. To this end, grant me grace always to conduct myself as a Christian should. Let the thought that Thou art omnipresent deter me from evil. Let me remember that Thou art a reader of the heart, and that nothing is hidden from Thy sight. And since I cannot hide from my own conscience, but experience its accusations as soon as I do evil, let me bear in mind that still less can I hide from Thee, Thou all-seeing and all-knowing God.

Grant me grace to look unto Jesus, my Saviour, and to walk in His footsteps. Let me observe Thy Word as my rule of faith and life: that I may never offend my conscience by denying the faith, nor ever deliberately sin against Thee. O Lord Jesus, cleanse me with Thy precious blood, pardon all my sins, and grant me true peace of heart and conscience. O Holy Spirit, lead me ever in paths of righteousness; then shall my conscience remain unseared, and Thy dwelling in my heart be undisturbed, Amen.