The Lord God gave me a new revelation recently about confessing our sins. We are told in God’s word to confess our sins to God and to confess our sins to one another. When we confess our sins to God, we are doing that in obedience to I John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We confess to Almighty God and He forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Forgiveness is the result of our confessing to Him.
In another verse we are told to confess our sins one to another so that we can be healed. In James 5:16 we see these words, “Confess to one another therefore your faults, (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray for one another that you may be healed…”
Amplified translation. Confessing our sins to another human being results in our getting healed.
Our Catholic brothers and sisters in the Lord have access to confessing their sins to their priest and receiving absolution. Those of us who aren’t Catholic need to get creative in order to “confess our sins to one another and then to pray for one another.” If we need healing from God, let’s do this. It may require our finding a trustworthy person to whom we can confess all of our sins. Sometimes that’s hard to do. We don’t want that person to talk about us all over town or to tell others what we have done. Those things should be kept private.
I personally confess my sins to my husband every so often. He is very gracious and will listen to my confession. I’m so grateful for that.
The person who hears our sins doesn’t need to be a relative or a husband or wife. He or she can be a Christian friend or even your pastor. However, know that most pastors don’t have the time to hear a confession from each one of their congregates.
I have seen God do remarkable healings when people are willing to make a confession of their sins to another human being. Recently, my assistant and I met with a man who is in a troubled marriage. We prayed with him at the beginning of the meeting and right after that, he began telling us all the things he was doing wrong in their marriage. He confessed his part of the wrongdoing for at least twenty minutes. He got all of his issues out into the open by confessing to us. Later in the meeting we anointed him with oil and prayed for him and his wife for healing in their marriage. Shortly after that I saw him at a Christian meeting and asked how everything was going. He said, “I don’t know what you two did, but everything is great!” Then he pointed to his wife who was sitting in the next room. I was shocked that the bad things in his marriage began to reverse so quickly. Then the Lord pointed out to me that he had begun our meeting with a confession of his sins in relation to his wife. Wow! I thought. Then the Lord pointed me to the scripture in James 5:16. I read and re-read it. It’s right there in black and white. If we confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, we get healing. This is so very clear in our Bibles. How can we miss doing this one thing in relation to healing?
The Lord wants all of us to know the great power of confessing our sins to another Christian. Healing is the result of our doing that. So now when I see someone who needs healing in their bodies, minds or marriages, I always show them this scripture in James and ask them to find a trustworthy person to whom they can confess their sins.
I believe that when we follow the Lord’s directions to confess our sins to another person, then we can receive healing much quicker. Let’s all begin doing this in our lives when we’re in need of healing.
God Bless!
Mary
