The Life You’ve Always Wanted.
Week #3: Praying & Confessing.
Spiritual disciplines for ordinary people.
God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too - your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful - I can’t take it all in! Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit; to be out of your sight?... Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; see for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong - then guide me on the road to eternal life.
This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 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.
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.
Psalm 139 1-7 & 23-24
John 3:19-21
1 John 1:5-10
James 5:16
John Ortberg writes, “Confession is not primarily something God has us do because he needs it.... It is a practice that, done wisely, will help us become transformed.”
What do you think are the benefits of confession to God and to others?
Can you share your positive experiences of this?
What are some important values or boundaries to ensure confession to others is a safe and healthy experience?
Pray for one another.
Take time to pray together (in pairs or small groups) for each other, in response to the above.
