I was a police officer for several years back in the 1980’s. When I arrested somebody, I would bring them in and ask them for a confession. I didn’t ask them for an apology. We teach confession as though it were just saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” When a police-officer hands you a pen and paper and says “Write the truth about what happened,” and you write “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” it resolves nothing.
We grew up thinking confession was just telling everyone and God that we we’re sorry about stuff. But “I’m sorry” doesn’t lead to a transformation.
Confession is telling God the truth about what you really believe about him, yourself, and others. It’s the greatest act, a sacrament. God loves honest confession. Confession is the beginning of a genuine transformation. If you don’t tell God your truth, how can he enlighten your reality with his truth?
If I say to God, “I think you let me down every day, and I’m afraid to take a new job because I’m afraid you won’t show up,” he will always work with that. Always.
He will respond to truth. Jesus says, “For if you embrace the truth, it will release true freedom into your lives” (John 8:32 TPT). Truth always sets you free. Hiding the truth always makes you a slave. If you will not tell the truth, you’re in bondage to the lie, the deception, and the rationalization. Don’t apologize for your perceived reality; tell the truth about it. That’s confession. Remorse is not repentance.
Confession, repentance, transformation.
We practice confession and repentance all the time. Every time I feel intimidated by a situation, I say, “God, let me tell you how I feel right now.” God already knows how I feel and what I really believe. I’m not faking him out. I just say, “Lord, I really feel intimidated. I feel fearful right now. I feel powerless with this person. That’s how I feel.” That’s confession. Notice I’m not saying, “Lord, I’m so sorry for feeling afraid; please take the fear away.” God doesn’t want to merely remove your fear; he invites you to allow Him to simply transform it. Trust Him!
Acknowledging the truth about your fear opens the way for repentance and for your truth (fear) to be transformed by God’s truth. Then you have authority over your fear rather than the fear controlling you. That is called freedom.
God’s response to true confession is always grace and mercy. He “might whisper, “Beautiful. Let’s work with that. No one has authority over you. No one ever has or ever will. I brought you into this situation because this is what I want to accomplish with you. This person needs you. They’re hurt. They need you.” Boom! Repent – change the way you think – turn around and go the new way. That’s confession and repentance.
BOTTOM LINE:
When you live in continuous confession and repentance, your life is transformed in every area: professionally, spiritually, emotionally, physically. In every way, you will begin to ascend.
As I guide you in asking God questions, be prepared to write. Write ideas on your phone, on paper, on your hand …write down what comes to mind. You want the false things you’re believing to come into the light. Don’t live your life in secret. The fingerprints of Satan on your life are secrecy and shame. Writing down thoughts and impressions gets them out of your mind and into the light.
It’s even freeing to say these beliefs out loud to others you trust who are in the process with you. This is a great way to get to know one another in a small group and certainly a much better way than using those superficial formulaic introductions.
Confessing to one another is the greatest way to form true community because it draws people together. They never forget one another because they’ve been with each other in their fear. And they’ve worked through their fear into victory. Confession makes communities function well together. This is true, spiritual relationship reality.
Silencing the Room & Moving On…
As a cop, I learn that when I go into a very tense situation and silence the demonic, the situation calms down. I call this exercise “silencing the room.” It got to be rather funny when I was training rookies. I would tell them, “Watch this.” Then I would pray out loud and the entire room would go silent. The surprised rookie would ask, “Where did you learn that? It’s not in the academy.”
When you’ve picked up this book, you brought all kinds of false ideas with you. You can’t help it; you’re human. Anxiety, fear, guilt, shame – all the garbage came with you, and the enemy is attached to it. The enemy has no authority over you. But if you think he does, in that way he does. That’s sort of his game. He asks you to give him permission to run your life, and you say yes by believing his deceptions: “I’m not good enough,” “Nothing will ever change,” “I’m stuck in this situation,” “God will never use me,” “I’m alone in this mess,” and so on. The enemy is ruling your life, and you become what you believe.
To Aid Your Further Reflections:
So, we’re going to silence the room. With God’s help, we’re going to silence the negative voices that disrupt our lives. Doing so puts the room and everything in it back in its rightful order. As we silence the room, your mind is going to open. As your mind begins to unlock, start writing down the ideas, thoughts, or impressions that come to mind. More to come.
(verbatim from Living Fearless by Jamie Winship, pages 47-51)
NEXT UP:
A necessary prayer of our dedication to Almighty God to Live Fearless; by exchanging the lies of the world for the liberating truth of God.