Perhaps this is changing the course of this blog, but I'm interested in knowing your thoughts on these things. I've recently been dealing with a lot of spiritual struggles. Felt at times like perhaps I've been losing my mind. But, I'm coming to believe that most of my emotional/spiritual blockages are the results of strongholds - strongholds from past sins. Unconfessed sins. Things that have been rationalized as a part of growing up or from other's failures - notheless, sin that causes damage. Do you believe that part of the struggles we have truly experiencing transformational power from God is related to the areas we keep hidden? I do. Here is a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer - it seems to really mesh with Jesus's teachings.
"In confession the break-through to community takes place. Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unkown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. That sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks gates of brass and bars made of iron."
What about those things we keep just between God and us? We trust him for forgiveness of those things and have stopped doing them. But often the feelings of shame and guilt persist. Is this only attributable to Satan as the accuser, or is it because those things are still secret that Satan can use them as strongholds? It the latter is true, couldn't it explain why the Church and Christians aren't as effective as we all know they could be?
What are your thoughts on these things?
Friday, February 02, 2007
Strongholds & Confession
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7 comments:
God has put feelings of guilt over our sin within us. These feelings are the result of the Holy Spirit's convicting ministry in the life of the believer. If you did'nt feel guilty about sin, then that would be like living withiut physical pain. Guilt in a person's spiritual life is like a buzzer that goes off when you sin.
We ARE forgiven on the basis of Christ's death on the cross in our behalf. When we sin and acknowledge or confess our sin to God, we can know on the basis of 1 John 1:9 that God will forgive and cleanse. If after confessing and acknowledging the truth that we are forgiven we still feel guilt, that is an indicator that we have turned focas away from God's forgiveness to ourselves. Then we are saying that our weaknesses are more powerful than God's forgiving power.
God HAS forgiven you!! Now forgive yourself!
Bonhoeffer emphasizes the importance of the community of faith. We need each other. If shame and guilt persists, and it hinders involvement within the community of faith, then perhaps some public confession is needed.
Certainly Jesus' teaching of accountability encourages us to keep these matters as private as possible (Matt 18:15).
We are to ask forgiveness of others when we have sinned against them. But ultimately, we are to confess all sin to God alone. If we follow what Jesus taught in Matt 18, the only time that a person's sin is presented in front of the congregation is after they have been confronted in private and remain unrepentant.
These are just some tohoughts. Study these and see what you think.
Lev 5:5 Numb 5:7 Prov 28:13 Acts 19:18 James 5:16 1 John 1:9 Matt 18:15 Luke 17:3-4
Eric, when I read what you asked about shame and guilt being a stronghold for Satan - through my own experience - red flags begin flying all over the place. It is most definitely a stronghold that Satan can use to pressure people right back into the place they came out of. It is a key element of his deceit, to make you feel useless and inferior and incomplete with God.
The only things I read in the Bible that are to be kept secret are the good deeds we have done before God. I'm not saying one has to go before the whole congregation and confess all sins openly in public, but there is nothing more freeing from shame and guilt as confession. James 5: Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Confession helps you, it helps those praying for you, and it allow you to help others who are struggling in the same areas.
Confession is not something practiced as much as it should be. It helps the person confessing by 'getting it off their chest', being held accountable, being prayed for by others, and often things don't seem as big once they are brought to light. It helps the person being confessed to, by stregthening the relationship between believers, forming accountability, setting an example/precedence for confession. Finally, I agree that it breaks the stronghold that Satan uses against us in this present war. That does not mean that confession has to be public. Ideally every Christian has a prayer partner or Christian friend that can be trusted with such matters. Confession also helps us to realize what we often loose sight of---that we are unworthy, and saved by the Grace of the Man on the Cross.
Why are we afraid of confession?
Thank you all for your comments! Scott -- you hit the nail right on the head! Thank you for that verse from James!
To Anonymous- I've been afraid of confession, because it's so real and honest. When someone else knows something - there's no hiding. Human wisdom says hiding works - but it kills the heart.
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