NO CRINGE CONFESSION

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Yesterday proved to be a powerful day at my church; AHOP in Xenia.  Maybe I should say it was a cleansing day, a healing day, or a refreshing day.

Regardless, it was a day for transparency, honesty, and CONFESSION.

We often overlook the power of confession and accountability in the “church”; especially at a place like AHOP where we keep the lights kinda low during service.  It is easy to sometimes “slip in and slip out” at our place.  It is easy to avoid "accountable conversations".

But accountability and confession are crucial to a healthy walk with CHRIST.  We are only as sick as our secrets.  And GOD has made it clear there is remarkable, even supernatural power in confession.

For confession levels the playing field in our conversations. And confession opens the door to GOD’s healing for our lives and hearts.

James 5:16 (V)

So own up to your sins to one another and pray for one another. In the end, you may be healed.

Yet often we cringe at the thought of “exposing our sin”; of letting a little light get to those “dark places or those dark activities.”  The enemy knows this.  

He preys upon it.  

He helps us to double down with cover-ups and denials.  All the while GOD is waiting patiently to LOVE us and FORGIVE us when we own up and just confess it. 

Remember, GOD isn’t surprised nor shocked by our sin.

1 John 1:8-10 (LB)

If we say that we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.

Did you catch that?

GOD can be DEPENDED on to take our CONFESSION and cleanse us; forgive us.  GOD sent JESUS so that this could be possible for us.  

Hence, confession should never cause CRINGING because there is healing, restoration, and CHRIST’s good favor on the back end!

So don’t CRINGE. When the secret sins are mounting up or your heart is heavy with pain or confusion, find a brother or sister.  Share the hurt.

Own the sin.

Then confess it!

“…in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner. …The Christian brother knows when I come to him: here is a sinner like myself, a godless man who wants to confess and yearns for God’s forgiveness.

…The brother views me as I am before the judging and merciful God in the Cross of Jesus Christ.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I love you all!

Freedom Church