For 2019, God has led me to plan a year-long series on prayer. So, my bi-monthly posts will follow through the alphabet as we explore Prayer A-Z. We have already discussed A-Admit you are a sinner who needs God & B-Believe Jesus is the Son of God who died for you and rose again. You can read those here. Today we focus on C for Confess. For a complete list of links as they become live, check out the Prayer A-Z page here.
To finish the 3 parts of beginning our personal relationship with Jesus, we look at our need to Confess. The definition of Confess is: 1) to admit or state that one has committed a crime or is at fault in some way; 2) to declare.
God needs us to do both – all at once.
- admit we are at fault in not meeting His standards (A=Admit)
- declare
To combine the two, we simply declare our need for God and what He has now done for us.
To Confess is to Tell
Tell someone. And why would you be excited? You’re now in a new relationship with the King of All Creation! Get pumped. Let people know.
This is the moment to let the world know what “team” you’re on: God’s Team. If you’d just been drafted by the Super Bowl Champions, you’d tell someone. And that Championship honor only lasts one year. This confession of your need and decision to become a follower will change your eternal future!
Confession is a Good, On-Going Prayer Practice
FYI: God does NOT expect us to stand before Him and recite every single thing we’ve ever done wrong…for example:
- I rolled my eyes at my mother on the top of the Empire State Building. (You can read about that moment here.)
- I had a snarky attitude that Christmas my mother was in rehab after she broke her leg. It was after I’d run to Wal-Mart 3 times for her that day, and she handed me yet another shopping list the day before Christmas Eve. More things she HAD to have that very day.
- I lost my patience with my young children back in the day when they asked the same question for the 100th time. (This was before we instituted the 3-time rule.)
- And the list would be far too long to read.
Yes, I asked God to forgive those specific things because He brought them to mind. But other times, He may just nudge me to confess that I lost my temper several times recently, or that I need to take a deep breath before responding to the kids. He doesn’t just ask us to confess specific examples.
So, as you move forward with this new relationship with Jesus, be prepared to listen for clues to where you need to confess. God is ready to hear your prayer. Always.
Father God, today I confess that I need you and that I try to do far too much of this “life” thing without checking in with You first. Thank you for hearing whenever I confess and for washing all my faults away.
Thanks, dear reader, for dropping by. All Prayer A to Z posts can be read here.
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