Predator or Prey?

I have been listening to an awesome webcast today called thenines
its church leaders from all over the world sharing 9 minutes of insight to the American church. One of the speakers was sharing about the power of confession. He shared the following (along with my 2 cents worth as well)

...1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins that we will be forgiven of those sins. But just because we are forgiven doesn't mean that we won't fall into this sin again. The power of sin in our lives pulls us into darkness, that's where sin likes to live. It hides there and waits to grab us when we least expect it. We may wrestle with that sin as it pulls us in and there may even be time in our lives that we escape its grasp for a season, but its still there. Behind every lonely place, lurking near every trigger, waiting, drooling, snarling.

When we are attacked by our sin and we laying bleeding in the dark we have a choice. Do we get up and walk back into the light and lick our wounds or do we lay there waiting to be brutalized again. When we pull ourselves into the light and confess our sin to God we are forgiven for our failures.

Now, here is the dilemma. If we are not healed from these sins we continue to roam the same areas. We continue to flirt with the edge of darkness hoping to stay strong and hoping to fall at the same time. This is where James 5:16 comes in to play.

"Therefore, confess your sins to one aonther, and pray for one another so that you may be healed."

When we confess our sin to God we are forgiven, when we confess our sin to each other and pray for each other WE WILL BE HEALED!

Did you get that? We will be healed! You see, when we confess our sins to each other, we are grabbing that dirty monster that has been stalking us for so long and we are slamming it down by the throat into the light. When we confess to each other our sin monster screams and tries to hide deeper in our darkness. Yet we, by confession to each other, are grabbing its nasty tail and saying to all who are near "Look, here is my nasty part, here is my dirty sin, here is my monster". Knowing that we are forgiven by God should lead us to the boldness to confess to others.

Most of the time we confess to God and then hope that no one ever finds out. That isn't a part of God's plan. Its not about saving face or protecting our reputation. Its about showing all those around us that God has changed us and we will not be ashamed of who we are in Christ.

New Creations

Ones who were the prey of sin and now are the predators of sin. We are seeking to be healed through the floodlight of public confession.

I pray that I will be able to confess as readily to other people as I will to God