The Power Of Confession

James 5:16
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Step #5
We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

He never thought he'd reach this point. This was the place where his recovery stopped each time he attempted to move forward in his life. The dreaded 5th step.
Sitting across from me, he fidgeted with his papers.....eyes moving from them to me, and back to the papers.

We prayed together, and the process began.
A revealing of dark secrets and things that never were meant to be brought out into the open. At least that is what his old way of thinking told him. Don't put your laundry out for everyone to see. Uncovering yourself in front of another person is a sign of weakness...at least that is the mentality of our old way of thinking.

I sat and listened as he went through his inventory of personal stuff. It was hard, and at times very emotional. But he did not waver, he continued on.
At the end, we prayed together, thanking God for what had taken place and the freedom that would come through this particular step. The person I was doing the 5th step with told me that he felt lighter, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Such is the power of confession and a good 5th step. He laughed and said, "You know, if I'd know this would be the results of doing a 5th, I would have done it sooner."

I don't know why the church doesn't push doing a 5th step for everyone who attends. I don't know why believers are all up into forgiving and being forgiven, but not through confession. Those who sit in pew on Sunday mornings may have the same thoughts as someone in recovery. Those old thoughts. Those dark thoughts that tell you that you better not reveal yourself to another human being. Why what would they think if they knew the things you'd done or said? Well, they might think that you're just a sinner in need of the Grace of God. 

We're all up into the confession as long as it's someone else. We love to see people flock to the front to confess, receive forgiveness and be saved and healed form all their junk.
But when it starts to get personal, we get defensive. What we all need to come to realize is that confession is the place where we dump out our stuff to God. We have zero crud to carry around. Having zero crud puts you in the place where the devil has nothing on you. Now I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but zero crud seems like the way to go here.

Call me naive but I do not believe the church will grow or mature until we realize the power that true confession brings to our meetings. As long as we hide behind false smiles and dark hearts, we will simply have a form of godliness. That doesn't sound healthy to me.

God on you...
mbb