WE ALL SIN
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 NLT
Everyone sins. We all fall short of God’s glorious standard as Romans 3:23 tells us. No one is perfect this side of heaven.
Now, we know sin separates us from God—Isaiah 59:1-2. But do we consider that separation and the damage? Most simply move on with their life – as many have a lot to take care of with endless schedules. Life is busy. We tend to do the next thing without thought.
However, damage takes place in our spirit, soul, mind and heart when we justify the sin apart from repentance and the blood of Jesus Christ. We then continue along a path of compromise and our hearts and minds grow hardened to the voice of the Lord – our thoughts become fixated on sinful things, not the truth, and our behaviors show sinful compromise – all the while our consciences become dull and not sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s convicting call to repentance. We lose Holy Spirit power, and our soul – our best friendship with Jesus – is marred.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us to lay aside every weight and sin that so easily hinders us in the race God has set before us. Thus – every sin we commit that we fail to repent of, slows us down – it keeps us from what God has for us. Life becomes more difficult and we experience a lack of fulfillment and satisfaction.
Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:19-20 that God is pleased when we do what we know is right and patiently endure mistreatment, however, we do not bring about God’s smile when we sin and do wrong and suffer the consequences. Therefore, if our life experiences difficulty – let it be for us being right with Jesus Christ experiencing spiritual warfare and not because we chose to sin.
It’s the call to confess the sin that you’ve been holding onto with a desire to live right before God—James 5:16a. Matthew 3:8 tells us true repentance is a change of behavior where we prove by the way that we live that we have truly turned from our sins and turned to God. We become new creations in Christ Jesus, where the old life passes away and everything becomes new – 2 Corinthians 5:17.
We see many in the world today, desiring healing – they know something is not right in their life. Here James exhorts believers to confess their sins to one another and to pray for one another to experience that healing.
Today, if you desire healing – wise to ask God if there is a sin in your life that you need to repent of?
Now it’s not wise to share your sin struggles with everyone and just take note that it’s not the act of confession that brings about healing – that’s simply stating a truth regarding your sinful heart condition. It’s acknowledging the sin is not right with Jesus Christ, repenting of the sin, and prayer regarding the sin that brings about healing.
Only confess your sins to those you trust. You don’t have to confess to every pastor or pastor’s wife, you don’t have to confess to every elder or every Christian. You belong to God, not to them. Ultimately, we are to bring our issues before the Lord, first and deal with them at the foot of His gracious throne. No spiritual authority has the right to force you to do anything you feel uncomfortable with. And the fact is, many people have to come to grips with this truth – there will be times people will feel more comfortable sharing their sin struggles or life with others, other than you. It’s humbling. But simply a fact of life. And it’s ok. Luke 12:48 states there is accountability from God with the knowledge we become aware of – so if they don’t want to share with you, you are free from that accountability.
Many today are busybodies and very jealous of others with a seeming constant desire to always know personal information and sinful struggles so that they feel better as a human being. This, however, is telling of their selfish sinful, insecure heart and not something we need to enable but to correct. More often than not, this person cannot handle the knowledge someone has to share and causes greater issues instead of being a part of the healing process.
Remember, God’s agape love shows that He cares about you and your well-being. So confess your sins to a trusted friend, and ask for prayer so that you are not tempted to sin that way anymore.
I love how James emphasizes here that the relentless prayerful pursuit of a Christian right with God is powerful. It’s another call to the heart – power in prayer doesn’t come from self, but by living a life right with God desiring His will to take place on earth.
Job 17:9 states, “The righteous keep moving forward and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.”
The righteous are guided by God, following in Jesus Christ’s footsteps and their clean hands that refuse to cause problems for others brings about increased psychological strength – as they are not weighed down by guilt.
This is how we grow stronger in our prayer life. We simply seek to remain right with Jesus Christ, sensitive to His voice, doing the will of the Father.
When we truly surrender our life to the Lord, laying aside our own will and agendas, replacing them with God’s will, He promises to make beautiful things out of our life—Romans 12:1-2! We will see God answer our fervent prayers—James 5:16b; and broken lives will be made new!
Prayer: Abba, thank You for Your mercy and help in our time of need. Guide us today as we walk in Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
