Sunday August 20, 2017
“I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me!” Ps 32:5 NLT
When yo deliberately sin, you’re rebelling against God’s rule in your life–and you’ll feel bad about it. And feeling bad is evidence that yo truly are a redeemed child of God; otherwise your sin wouldn’t bother you. Picture a teenager saying to his dad, “I’m truly sorry, but I took your credit card and bought beer for my buddies with it.” Now, the chances are his father may never have discovered it, especially if he wasn’t a good bookkeeper. But his son’s troubled conscience brought it to the surface and he said, “Dad, I shouldn’t have bought the beer; I shouldn’t have lied about my age; I shouldn’t have used your credit card to do it. You trusted me and I let you down. I’m sorry, and I won’t do it again.” That’s confession. That’s what we must do in our prayers. The Greek word translated as confession means “to agree with God.” When we confess our sins, we are agreeing with God concerning the sin in our lives as revealed through His Word and by the Holy Spirit. When we confess, we verbalize our sin and receive cleansing and forgiveness. Yes, confession is often painful, but it keeps our fellowship with our Heavenly Father clear, open, and close. It’s not that God stops loving us, but that we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn 1:9 NKJV).
