Prayer and Confession

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Scripture

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Observation

We are to live together in a community of faith, one which prays for and supports one another. This is the admonition that we discover in James. Because we are a part of this community of faith we are to grow together spiritually. For this to happen we must be willing to confess our sins to, and pray for one another. This is the way in which we can be healed, not only from physical ailments, but also from the emotional. If we are unwilling to confess what is happening in our lives, we will not be able to experience God’s forgiveness. It is this participation in the community which allows for accountability and healing.

Application

We don’t like to talk much about confession. In the holiness tradition we have been infected with the idea of perfection to the point that we feel confession just might be a sign of failure. Sadly, this can become a stumbling block to our faith because if we are to grow, there will be times that we need to repent and confess.

Confession moves beyond repentance and also moves into the sphere of profession or confession of our faith. Confessing Christ as Lord was a major theme of the early church. It went against the grain of society, being completely counter-cultural. Therefore we find that confessing Christ and prayer go hand in hand. The result is powerful and effective through the transformational work of the Holy Spirit.

What do we need to confess today? Christ as Lord? Something that we are hiding in our lives? Ask someone to join with you in prayer and allow God to his mighty work!

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the power of prayer.  Amen.

Thank you to Nazarene Publishing House and Keri Mitchell for helping to create and publish Reflecting the Image. This is not a devotional book, but rather a collection of thoughts and stories which lead us in the direction of reflecting Christ. Click on the image to take you to the NPH bookstore.The book is also available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.


http://www.nph.com/nphweb/html/nph/itempage.jsp?itemId=9780834135277

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