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Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16, ESV).
I typed the wrong prompt into an AI search program for this blog post and received this response, “I am just an AI, so I don’t have a soul or sins to confess.” Well, “Amen” to this statement, but the rest of humanity (including you and me) can’t make this claim. As the Apostle John writes…
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us (1 John 1:10).
Confession is a part of salvation. Paul writes in Romans 10:9, “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.” Too often we rely upon confession for eternal life and forget that confessing our sins to one another lies at the core of living an abundant life on earth.
In a previous Interruption, I wrote …
Sin is falling short of God’s love, peace, and joy. Hidden sin ruins our soul (no love, no peace, and no joy) while destroying our relationships with others. It is difficult to love self, others, and God; to have joy in our relationships; and to extend the grace needed for peace in our relationships – without confession.
Again, James: “Confess your sins so that you may be healed.” I’ve found release from many of my sins only after confessing them to others. Why does deliverance come from confessing our sins to others? Why can’t we just confess sins to God? Isn’t it humiliating to tell others what we have done or thought?
James says that we are to confess our sins to “one another” for healing. To completely understand, the “confessing,” of James 5:16 should be combined with Jesus telling the disciples, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them, if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:23), and then with the Apostle Peter he says, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9).
I often use the phrase HHHHMMMHHM in Interruptions when I think readers should pause and consider the significance of something that I’ve written. But the previous paragraph of “healing” and “we can forgive others” along with “we are a royal priesthood” requires a double HHHHMMMHHM!
As a royal priesthood, we have the authority to receive the confessions of others, and our prayers will then extend forgiveness and healing to them. As sons and daughters of God, we walk in the power and authority of Jesus!
WE RECEIVE FORGIVENESS AND RELEASE FROM OUR SINS, OUR ADDICTIONS, AND OUR FEARS FROM CONFESSING OUR SINS TO OTHERS.
When a particular sin or bitterness occupies our thoughts, perhaps it’s time for confession to others. Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline writes…
If there be any of you who by private confession cannot quiet his own conscience but require further comfort or counsel, let him come to me or to some other minister of God’s word, and open his grief. God has given us our brothers and sisters to stand in Christ’s stead and make God’s presence and forgiveness real to us.
Amen!