19 Oct The Power of Confessing Your Sin
One of the most beautiful parts of being saved by God is that He puts us into a new family, the Body of Christ. The local church is a place where we can serve brothers and sisters in Christ and receive love and assistance from our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Few, however, make use of one of the most powerful roles that our brothers and sisters in Christ offer us. That is, to listen to us confessing our sins and to help us to return to repentance and submission to God. Sin is a reality of life on earth and it can be a burden of guilt and shame if we do not submit sin to the cross. The enemy is always looking for a way to kill, steal and destroy – sometimes this means temptation towards sin that leads us away from God. The enemy will also try to deceive us into believing that we can keep our sin a secret but we know that the Bible says that this is impossible: For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all (Luke 8:17, NLT). God’s desire is instead that our sin be exposed and made right through the cross of Jesus as soon as possible.
Confession carries the power to turn darkness into light:
Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. – Ephesians 5:11-13
The steps of confession are very simple:
1. Remember who you are in Jesus
It is true that we sin and have faults and failures. But through the lens of what Jesus has done on the cross, the Father sees us as holy, unblamable and above reproach!
Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. – Colossians 1:22, NLT
2. Choose repentance
When we repent, we admit that we were wrong. We say that we have rebelled against God and His design for our lives.
3. Remember to ask for forgiveness
When we seek forgiveness from God we are returning to the power of the cross.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. – 1 John 1:9
If you are enduring a sin that you feel powerless over and you feel that following these steps by yourself has not broken whatever addiction has been built up over time, consider confessing your sin to a brother or sister in Christ. It is terrifying to think about baring our soul to another, especially a part of ourselves that we’re not comfortable with or ashamed about, but you may be amazed at the grace and compassion that your sister in Christ shows to you! When we become disillusioned by our sins, someone who has the correct perspective can help us to pray and can continue to pray for us.
If there’s anything in your heart that you need to bring before God, take courage and remember that He only has love and compassion for you and wants you to be free from the power of the slavery system of sin.
Today is the day of salvation. – 2 Corinthians 6:2
Kate is the current owner and editor of Cup of Faith. She is a blogger who loves Jesus, loves to read, and currently lives in Johannesburg with her husband.
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