Confession is perhaps one of the most neglected parts of prayer. Yet it is equally as important and equally as powerful as the others.
What is Confession?
Simply put, confession in this context is the act of acknowledging our sin to God and asking His forgiveness. Sin is anything that we have done (or thought) that we should not have and neglecting to do things that we should have done.
Why should we confess our sins whenever we pray?
In order to understand, we have to first accept two facts:
- As believers, we are positionally justified. Basically, regardless of what I do right now -eternally- I stand before God just as if I’d never sinned; if you can imagine a chess board or sports team that has two positions, one position is an adversary of God the other is an adopted heir. Believers are heirs and Christ’s blood covers us, so we do not suffer condemnation because of our sin. However, our sins still carry consequences.
- Sin causes a rift in our relationship with God. Sinning: clouds our relationship with God, cuts us off from the promises of God that are conditional, and carries consequences that are detrimental to our walk.
I am hidden in the righteousness of Christ who lived a perfect life. Yet I continually sin. But God, in His infinite wisdom, has a plan for all of this; that plan is confession of sin to Him. I John 1:9 tells us that ” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
JUST LIKE THAT!
Sound too good to be true? Well let’s make sure we have a true understanding of the power in confessing our sins to God.
How do we confess?
We confess with a contrite or humbled heart. Our attitude shouldn’t be a flippant listing of the things that we’ve done wrong or remembered that we’ve failed to do. Instead confession in this sense denotes a tone of denouncing the offensive actions. What’s more, confessing from a place of humility evokes the mercy and grace of God.
He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Proverbs 28:13
**P.S. (You knew it was coming 🙂 )
There is a different type of confession. To confess also means to make a declaration. There is one declaration and one step we must take to move from an enemy of God to an heir adopted into the family of God and given access to all that comes with an intimate relationship with this Holy, loving God….this God who fully knows us and loves us everyday no matter what we do. Paul tells us in a letter he wrote to the Romans that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. So I ask you friend, “have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?…Lay aside those garments that are stained with sin, and be washed in the blood of the lamb.” A Hoffman
clay and The Potter 