Confession

Why confess our sins to one another?

Maybe your list of reasons contains one of these:

• It helps me to unload guilt

• I've sinned against someone, and I want them to forgive me

• The bible says I should

• I'll be forgiven of my sins

• I need accountability

Whatever our reasons for confessing our sins to a trusted brother or sister might be, if we stop at the confession itself, we miss out on something greater that the Lord wants to bring into our lives: confession for the sake of confession falls short of the healing that God wants to bring to us through the prayers of the one we've made our confession to.

What do I mean? Let's look at the scripture most people refer to when talking about confessing our sins to one another, in context¹ -

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Sin has an adverse effect on our souls. It may feel good temporarily, but in the long run it does damage to our emotions, thinking, and heart, and even our physical beings.² But thank God for his provision!

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.³

When we bring our sins to the light by bringing them into the audience of a trusted brother or sister, we open the door for healing - a healing carried on the wings of our trusted friend's prayers. Just as the friends of a paralyzed man brought him before Jesus, our prayers have the power to carry our friend in his need to the Healer.⁴ There is healing in prayer, and this is what James is saying: if prayer is effective to the healing of your body, it is also effective to the healing of your guilty soul.

Remember Moses' companions who helped him in the middle of a raging battle?

When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.⁵

Whether on the receiving side of help or on the helping side, God uses praying friends to bring healing victory.

I remember an area that I needed healing in years ago. My wife, being my best friend and confidant, knew my struggle - she had heard my confession (more than once!) As time passed in our marriage, I saw the Lord's hand faithfully bringing healing to my soul in the midst of my struggle. How did that work? Was it the mere fact of making that confession that healed me? Was it my being transparent, or unloading the guilt that weighed me down?

I don't believe so. What I do believe is that the answer lay in a page out of my wife's prayer journal that I stumbled across many years later. In it was a short prayer that she had journaled for me regarding what I had confessed to her. She had prayed for me - many times I'm sure - and out of that faithful prayer of a faithful wife came God's hand of healing.

Prayer is powerful to the healing of the soul.

Perhaps you need healing on the landscape of your soul, just as Elijah's prayers brought healing to a dry and parched land during an extended drought. Perhaps you feel dry and fruitless. Or perhaps you're thinking to yourself, "I want to help someone who needs healing, but who am I to approach God when I find myself to be a sinner as well!" Let me encourage you.

Elijah was a man like us, having a human nature, prone to weakness - but he prayed anyways and James is telling you, pray anyways. Pray for the healing of your brother or sister. Pray faithfully, pray often. Cry out to the one who heals for the one who needs healing. I believe such an act catches the eye of God. And I believe you can expect (even if a length of time is required) the healing of your friend's soul.

References

¹ James 5:14-18

² 1 Peter 2:11 - Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

³ 1 Peter 2:24-25

⁴ Matthew 9:2 - Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

⁵ Exodus 17:12

ἁμαρτία - Strongs #266.

A failing to hit the mark. This results in loss.

Psalms 32:5 - Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.