STEP 3: CONFESSING SIN

When we believe lies about ourselves, God and others, it is inevitable that we commit sin. Sin is “missing the mark” or falling short of God’s glory in our lives (Romans 3:23). Though the wages of sin is death, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). For believers there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1). As we confess our sins (agree with God about them), we experience His forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9).

Below are categorized some areas of particular weakness for people who struggle to live in God’s grace. Following the opening prayer and list of sins, there is a suggested prayer of confession for you to pray out loud from the heart. To begin this step, ask the Lord to reveal to your mind all the sins you need to confess by praying this prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,
You have told me in Your Word to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts (Romans 13:14 NASB 1995). I confess I have often given in to fleshly lusts that wage war against my soul. I thank You that in Christ, my sins are already forgiven but I acknowledge that I have broken Your holy law and given the devil a chance to wage war in my body.
I come to You now to confess and renounce these sins of the flesh so that I might be cleansed and set free from the bondage of sin. Please reveal to my mind all the sins of the flesh I have committed and the ways I have grieved the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Areas to consider

Performance

• Trying to keep God’s commands in order to gain His acceptance or favor
• Trying to keep God’s commands in my own strength
• Trying to measure up to the standards of others in order to be accepted
• Being driven to work harder and harder in order to achieve
• Believing that achievement is the means of gaining personal happiness and a sense of worth
• Centering my life around keeping laws and rules rather than knowing God

Perfectionism

• Living in the fear of failure
• Being afraid of going to hell because I have not kept God’s laws perfectly
• Being unable to accept God’s grace because I think I need to be “punished”, even though Jesus paid for all my sins in full on the cross!
• Being obsessed with doing everything perfectly and keeping things in exact order
• Being overly concerned with minor details or minor flaws in others
• Having unreasonable expectations of perfectionism in others
• Being angry at others when they disrupt my neatly controlled world
• Punishing others when they are not perfect
• Being unable to experience joy and satisfaction in life unless something I do is perfect

Pride and prejudice

• Thinking I am more spiritual, devoted, humble, or devout than others
• Thinking that my church, denomination or group is better than others
• Not being willing to associate with others who are different (having an independent spirit)
• Elevating religious opinions to the level on inflexible convictions
• Not being willing to soften religious opinions in order to promote love, peace, and unity among true brothers and sisters in Christ
• Finding it hard to admit that I am wrong (thinking I am always right) or feeling the need to prove to others that I am right

Judgmentalism

• Having a critical spirit towards worship styles, music, sermons, other people’s clothes etc; being quick to criticize and critique
• Judging others (criticizing their motives and character)
• Criticizing ministers and Christian leaders
• Intolerance of anyone with different views and convictions
• Labeling of others, placing them in religious categories, writing them off

Being overly rigid

• Being rigid in beliefs about which sincere Christians disagree
• Clinging to traditions in church that are not Bible-based and that are not essential to reaching the current generation with the Gospel
• Stubbornness and resistance to new things in church
• Being unwilling to listen to new ideas

Power and domination

• Using guilt and shame tactics to get others to do what I want or think best
• Expecting or demanding that others attend every church service, function etc.
• Controlling others by means of strong personality, overbearing persuasion, fear or intimidation
• Experiencing anxiety when I am not able to be in control
• Finding security in rules, regulations and standards rather than in the Lord
• Being more concerned about controlling others than developing self-control
• Being driven to attain positions of power in order to gain control and accomplish my agenda (however worthy that agenda may be)
• Feeling unhealthy responsibility for the lives and well-being of others

Pleasureless living

• Living a joyless life of duty and obligation
• Feeling guilty for experiencing pleasure or being secretive in pursuing it
• Being unable to relax and rest
• Suffering from workaholism
• Being strongly attracted to (or giving in to) illegal substances, illicit sex, pornography etc. in order to escape or find some gratification

As the Holy Spirit reveals these (and other) sins of the flesh to you, confess and renounce them by praying the following prayer out loud from the heart.

Dear Heavenly Father
I confess that I have sinned by

. I agree that these attitudes and actions are not proper for a child of Yours, therefore I renounce them all. I thank You for Your forgivenness and I now commit myself to being filled by the Holy Spirit every day so that I might become more like Christ. I choose to allow You to develop the fruit of the Spirit in my liufe, which is love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. I Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
See Galatians 5:22-23.

Pride
As you have considered these sins of the flesh, you may have become aware that you have sometimes been proud. Remember that God opposes the proud (James 4:6) and that humility is the key to unity and to answering Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that we would be one. Take this opportunity to consider where pride has been an issue in your life by praying the following prayer:

Dear Lord,
I confess that I have believed that my ways and my preferences are better than those of other people. I ask You to reveal to me now the ways in which this sin of pride has been an issue in my life so that I might turn away from it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Write down areas of you life where you now realize that you have been proud. Consider for example your attitude towards:

• Family members

• Church leaders

• Christians from other parts of the church

• Work colleagues

Consider too if you have been proud of:

• Your understanding of Christian doctrine
• Your worldly achievements
• The things you have done for God

For each area that the Holy Spirit has brought to mind, pray this prayer:

Lord Jesus,
I confess and renounce that I was proud by/towards

. I now choose to have the same attitude You had. I humble myself before You and before other people. I declare the truth that I am in no way better than they are and I choose from now on to consider them more significant than myself. Thank you that, because I know I am Your child, I no longer have to lift myself up but can rely on You to lift me up in due course. In Your name. Amen.

Receiving Your New Name
Being caught in sin can make us see ourselves very differently from who we are in Christ. Many of us have been deeply affected by names and labels that we have picked up, which continue to shape our understanding of who we are, even after we have become children of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal your new identity in Christ by writing your new name deep in your heart, so that by faith you will receive the truth and become in behavior the person God has already made you in your inner person.

Once you have read the opening prayer, take some time to read and declare God’s truth out loud, expecting Him to reveal to you a specific new name He wants you to receive as you do!

Loving Father,
I confess that I have not always allowed the truth of Your Word to be the foundation for how I see myslef. However, today I choose to believe what You say is now true of me in Christ regardless of my feelings and past experiences. I thank You that You have made me new through the work of Jesus on the cross, and that I have been made worthy to enter in and enjoy a deep relationship with You and others.
You promise in Your Word will give Your children a new name that Your mouth will speak The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord will designate (Isaiah 62:2). As I declare the truth of my new identity, I ask You to speak into my heart by Your Spirit a specific new name that You want me to receive today. I choose to receive it by faith. From today, Father, I ask that You will continue to establish me in my new identity, not just in my heart but in my actions too, bringing You much glory and praise. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I declare the truth that my new name.

Have you found your new name/names?

For the name(s) that God has particularly impressed upon you, say:

Thank you, Father God, that I am

(declare your new name).

We strongly encourage you to continue declaring in faith this precious truth every morning for at least the next 40 days and at other times throughout the day whenever you feel attacked in your mind by the lies of the enemy.