“These Are My Confessions…”

“Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke.

If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.” - Psalm 66:16:20

After numerous conversations over the last few weeks, one thing that seems to be consistent across people in my age group (about 21-28ish) is that we seem to think that we are not qualified for God’s use because of things that we’ve done (or are currently involved in). But I want you to know that God loves you in spite of everything that you’ve ever done!!! Yep, in spite of EVERYTHING…even THAT!

In the psalm above, the author (who is unknown) speaks of how God will forgive us if we confess our sins to Him. A lot of times we feel ashamed about some of the things that we have done to the point that we feel like we can’t even tell God about those things (although He already knows). There are the things that we’ve done to other people that they’ve forgiven us for that we haven’t forgiven ourselves for…and there are also burdens & secrets that we carry around that no one else knows about. You know….the things that eat you up at night while you’re tossing & turning as sleep escapes you. THOSE things …like the things we felt like we should have apologized for or the people that we thought we “got over” on.

I, personally, spent MANY nights without sleeping wrestling with things that I had done that were not right, the things that nobody else knew about. I began to let the guilt of my sins control every aspect of my life, I began to shy away from people and “punish” myself because I felt like I didn’t deserve the good things in life that were happening around me. This, my friend, is not how God wants us to live the life that He intends for us to have more abundantly! A major part of my problem was that I was not ready to admit that I had sinned. Nope, wasn’t ready to admit that … but it wasn’t until I came across this scripture:

“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” - 1 John 1:8-10

God knows that we have ALL sinned and fell short of His glory, but because of His unfailing love for us He will forgive us if we confess our sins. As YOU can see in the above passage, He doesn’t care to specify what sin it is, He will forgive them ALL. Nothing that you’ve ever done is too bad for God to forgive you! NOTHING! Not only will He forgive you but if YOU ask Him, He will remove those sinful desires from your heart! God loved each of us so much that He sent Jesus to bare the punishment of our sin and give us freedom in Christ.

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” - Romans 8:1-2

As we confess our various sins to God, there is one confession that must be made from each of us …for salvation. It is the confession that we are sinners, we believe that Jesus was sent to die on behalf of our sins, that God raised Him on the third day, and Jesus is Lord of our lives. The scriptures declare:

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” 

Confess your sins, lighten your heart, give your soul rest and enjoy heavenly peace. For Jesus said “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27)

Allison :)

(originally posted: April 4, 2011)