091707

September 17, 2007

The Power of Confession

by Shana Schutte

When we're involved in habitual, willful sin, God does not stand over us like an angry parent screaming, "Say you're sorry!" just to get even. Rather, His desire for our confession is because He knows that without it, we will not be in right relationship with Him.

God is painfully aware that without admittance of wrong doing, there is no open door for Him to walk back into the center of our heart. Why? Because habitual, willfull sin--in which He has repeatedly warned us to repent--always involves a measure of hardness of heart. And wherever there is a hardness of heart, there is always hindered relationship with Christ.

Confession opens us up to the move of God. It ushers in a softening of a heart, which is a needed to place Him once again on the throne where we bow at His feet.

In short, God is after us when He asks us to confess; He's after our hearts; He's after reconciled relationship. Why? Because He passionately loves us.

'"Only acknowledge your guilt--you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to the foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,' declares the LORD." Jeremiah 3:13 (NIV)

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" Colossians 1:13 (NIV)

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