True Confession
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one
for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
(James 5:16).
When the Bible talks about confession, many
only relate to it in terms of confession of
sins, but confession is much more than that. Confession
means to speak the same thing with God in consent;
it derives from the Greek word “homologia”; it’s a
principle in the Kingdom of God that begins with your
salvation as a child of God.
You couldn’t have been saved without confession;
not the confession of your sins, but the affirmation of
the Lordship of Jesus over your life. Romans 10:9-10
says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.” This is the true confession that catapults
you into salvation.
The only time you confess something you did
wrong is after you’ve become a Christian and have
received eternal life. When you do something wrong,
you talk to the Lord about it and you’re cleansed.
Even though you talk to God, you don’t really confess
your sins, because He didn’t tell us to confess our
sins to Him; He knows already. You only confess or
acknowledge your faults to your brothers and/or sisters
whom you’ve offended. That’s what we read in our
opening verse.
Someone might ask, “How about 1 John 1:9 that
says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness?” For some people, they believe this
means we’re always sinning; we’re in a perpetual state
of sin and confession; but that’s not true; it means, if we
acknowledge our sins, He blots them out. 1 John 2:1
says, “…if any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Notice it doesn’t
say, “When any man sin,” but “If any man sin,” letting
you know that sin isn’t perpetual.
Moreover, the Bible says, “For sin shall not have
dominion over you…” (Romans 6:14). Hallelujah.
Prayer
Thank you blessed Father for my salvation in Christ, and for the
remission and total blotting away of my sins. I’m the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus, living and manifesting the rightness of God
in every place, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Further study:
Romans 3:24-26; 1 John 4:14-15
1-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
Mark 5:1-20
Leviticus 19-21
2-YEAR BIBLEREADING PLAN
Acts 20:13-24
Psalm 33-34