Happy are the pure in heart. -Matthew 5:8
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. -James 5:16
By this time, you should have finished your spiritual inventory. Congratulations for persevering through what I’m sure was some painful memories. I have no doubt that you will be glad you did it once you’ve made it through this process of healing.
When we go through our spiritual inventory, we all uncover some ugly things about ourselves. We are all sinners in need of God’s amazing grace, so it is totally normal to find things in your life that you aren’t proud of. It’s also normal to feel ashamed and to want to hide it- don’t. Part of the healing process is facing your sin and shortcomings head on and dealing with them. We can’t heal if we never bring our injuries into the light.
This lesson is all about confessing our findings to God. We need His forgiveness and grace before we can continue down the road of recovery.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word is not in us. -1 John 1:9-10
Confess your shortcomings, resentments, and sins
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. -Proverbs 28:13
Obey God’s directions
This is done in two steps: by confessing our sins to God, and sharing them with another person whom we trust. This lesson is focused on confessing our sins to God. We will share them with another person in the next lesson.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. -James 5:16
No more guilt
When we are forgiven by God, we are no longer guilty. He has cast our sin from us as far as the east is from the west.
All of us have sinned; … yet now God declares us ‘not guilty’…. if we trust in Jesus Christ, who… freely takes away our sins. -Romans 3:23-24
Face the truth
Sometimes the truth is painful, but it is the only way to experience freedom in Christ.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. -John 8:32
Ease the pain
When we share our burdens and our sorrows with one another, it lightens our load. We begin to see ourselves in a new light- one that shows us how valuable we are to Christ and how much we are truly loved, despite our past.
There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration… My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to You and stopped trying to hid them. I said to myself, ‘I will confess them to the Lord.’ And You forgave me! All my guilt is gone. -Psalm 32:3-5
Stop the blame
We can’t change the past, and blaming ourselves or others traps us in things that we can no longer do anything about. Secrets prevent intimacy in all our relationships, and blame makes us bitter. We need to stop blaming and start embracing what was. Only then will be flourish in the light and life of God’s grace.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and fail to notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me get the speck out of your eye,’ when there is a plank in your own?… Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you can see clearly enough to remove your brother’s speck of dust. -Matthew 7:3
Start accepting God’s forgiveness
When we accept God’s forgiveness, we walk with our head held high. We have no shame and nothing to hide. We don’t have to live a life of regrets and self-pity. That’s not the life God designed for us.
For God was in Christ, restoring the world to Himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. -2 Corinthians 5:19
