The 40 Day Journey - Day 26 (Why Confess?)

Yesterday God showed me my need to confess my sins.  It's not like I never ask God to forgive me, I often will shoot up a quick, "Oh forgive me Lord" when I blow it.  At Moms in Prayer today, we had a silent time of confession (which I filled!). But to spend time and go through my day to find unconfessed sin is humbling and difficult.

I've been thinking about it most of the day.  I wondered, why do we need to confess our sins.  Didn't Jesus die once and for all...for all of our sins? As a believer, I am covered by His robe of righteousness. When God looks at me, He sees Jesus. (This is a great mystery!)  So why confess?  This is what I asked God today.

There are two passages that are getting me closer to understanding this concept.  The first is Hebrews 12:1:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,
let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us,
 and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

I noticed two things in this verse.  First, it is necessary to lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us (hey, this reminds me of yesterday's blog!). A marathon runner does not weigh himself down with anything unnecessary. He stepped up to the starting blocks and got rid of his jacket, cell phone, keys, water bottle, and anything extra.  This is a call to rid ourselves of hindrances and sin. Proof that we need to confess and ask for forgiveness, often.

The second thing I noticed is more in answer to my "why" of confession.  Why does the runner rid himself of these things? To run with endurance the race set before him.  God has a course He has marked out for each of us.

Julia found this picture on the Internet.  It shows "Your Plan" for your life, a straight easy path. Then it shows "God's Plan" for this life.  As you notice, it is pretty difficult, valleys, danger, ups, downs, struggle. We can endure this course set before us because God will strengthen, equip, and lead us.  How much easier though without the weight of sin! When we confess our sins we are able to endure God's plan for our lives.

The other passage is Acts 3:19:

Repent, therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away,
in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

Ahhh, did you notice the purpose of repentance in that verse?  That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. That sounds pretty great. As we confess our sins, we are removing the weeds from our lives.  We are preparing the ground to be watered by the Living Water.  Can you just picture a freshly weeded garden, dirt tilled, plants thriving, a flower blooming, sun shining. And as we are refreshed, we will be ready for the planting of the Lord and we will bear fruit.

So why confess?  God's Word says, we rid ourselves of entanglements, freeing our lives up to live God's plan fully.  And as we repent, we will be refreshed. As we are refreshed by the Lord we are able to live out God's plan. Death to life. There it is. Bound and then set free. Confession brings life and freedom, how can it be?

Lauren Daigle - How Can It Be?

The 40 Day Journey - Day 25 (Confession)

I took my dad to an appointment today. About 30 minutes before picking him up I thought I better vacuum out the car.  Life with kids, carpooling, playground gravel, snacking, all evidence of a good portion of our days spent in the car. I wanted the car nice for my dad. Right then I knew how I'd spend my hour today.

It was a quick connection for me this time.  I wanted the car clean for my dad, not because he expected it or asked for it, but because I love him.  This led to the realization of my desire to be clean before my Heavenly Father.  1 John 1:9 quickly came to mind, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I looked up some verses on confession and forgiveness and realized I was getting distracted from the task at hand.  Confess.  I tried to focus, but was having a hard time.  I finally found some piano worship music and then did a little bit of yoga breathing my friend Michelle taught me.  I was finally relaxed and focused.

I figured I would just start confessing any sin that came to mind.  But I stopped after a few and decided to go back to when I woke up and start from there, let's just do this right.

When I was cleaning the car I did a quick clean up and vacuum, but then I started looking under the seats (found a spoon that is not ours with food that has been dried on for a very long time!).  It is quite amazing what can be found when you start searching.

And so I searched deeper for any sin that needed to be confessed.  And that is how my time went, from confessing my laziness, getting up late, being impatient with the kids, speeding, assuming something unkind about another mom...I'm just going to stop.  You don't need to know all of my sins.

I remembered that after my dad got in the car this morning, the windows fogged up a bit. I quickly noticed Julia's foot prints on the window, directly in front of my dad (if you know Julia this makes perfect sense!). More was revealed that needed to be cleaned.

I asked God what sin was "hiding" that maybe I didn't see at first.  I realized that some of my sins are just little shoots off of a bigger vine.  Thinking poorly of that other mom was sin, yes.  But why was I quick to judge?  Pride.  I thought I was better than her.  Ouch.  I hate pride..is that sin?? So I spent some more time asking God to gently reveal any other root sins.   Fortunately my time ran out before I was completely leveled.  Or unfortunately.

Bindweed is pretty, but an awful weed! 

I think that is how I have approached confessing my sins.  Just pluck out those small weeds on the surface. In the mean time these long vines take deep root. Pretty soon you are not sure if they are flowers or weeds.  It takes much more to recognize them for what they are and to dig them out.  One way to prevent weeds from growing deep roots is to pull them quickly before they become a bigger problem.  The way to deal with these sins, is to confess them.  He is faithful and righteous and will cleanse us from all of our sin.

It is costly to allow these weeds to stay around too long. So, what do you think...time for some weeding?

Second Chance Rend Collective