Why We Need to Practice Confession

Why do we pray for healing or freedom and we don't seem to receive an answer?

James 5:16 has something to say that might help us answer this question:

"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."

I think this verse holds a key to why so many Christians today feel stuck with this question. Why we wrestle with this question. Why our prayers often seem to change nothing for us no matter how fervently and passionately we pray.

We like most of James 5:16 - where we're told to pray for each other and that our prayers can be powerful and effective. But, we miss the first part of the verse, or we see it as unimportant or unconnected to the rest.

Confession.

The part we'd rather skip in this verse. But, what if it's the important part?

The thing that makes the rest of this verse make sense.

There is something that happens when we confess our sins to each other and pray for each other about our sin.

Something is broken and something is released when we confess our sins to one another, that doesn't happen otherwise. That thing that was secret and in darkness is brought into the light and it loses power over us. This thing that we've now confessed, that was hindering our prayers, is now gone.

When we confess our sin, we're then able to step into a healing and a freedom we wouldn't have otherwise known. This impacts our prayers in a huge way. This is the prerequisite to our prayers being powerful and effective. When we start with confession of sin with others, it changes things in our prayer life.

Do you regularly practice confession in your life?