CONFESS
Principle 4:
Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
“Happy are the pure in heart.”
Matthew 5:8a (TEV)
Step 5:
We admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Therefore confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
James 5:16a (NIV)
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your shortcomings, resentments and sins
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
(Proverbs 28:13 NIV)
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God’s directions
“As surely as I am the living God,” says the Lord, “everyone will kneel before me, and everyone will confess that I am God!” Everyone of us then, will have to give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:11–12 GNB)
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more guilt
All have sinned; … yet now God declares us “not guilty” … if we trust in Jesus Christ, who … freely takes away our sins. (Romans 3:23–24 LB)
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the truth
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32 NIV)
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the pain
There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally
admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “I will confess them to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. (Psalm 32:3–5 LB)
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the blame
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and fail to notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me get the speck out of your eye,’ when there is a plank in your own? Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you can see clearly enough to remove your
brother’s speck of dust.” (Matthew 7:3–5 PH)
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accepting God’s forgiveness
For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. (2 Corinthians 5:19a LB)
LEADER’S FOCUS QUESTION
What positive changes have happened in your life due to sharing your inventory?
Which do you find more difficult: confessing to God, yourself, or to someone you trust; and why?