‘I will confess my sinful habits to God’

If we admit our sins–make a clean breast of them–God won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.  1 John 1:9

If we admit our sinful habits to God and make a clean breast of them God is faithful.
Proverbs 28:13  says “You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.”

It is easy to think we have arrived. That because we are now in recovery everything is going to be fine. But that is not true: Jesus tells us in John 16:33 “In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”  Recovery is an ongoing process that requires ongoing self-examination and correction. It requires continual dependence on God and continual confession of our sinful habits as they become noticeable to us as the fog of our past clears and we remember more of our past mistakes and character defects.

Jesus paid a debt for our mistakes and our defiance of God in the past and because of that debt, now fully paid God promises us ‘forgiveness of our sinful habits’ With forgiveness of sins also comes His promise to take away the guilt we feel and introduce us to ‘peace beyond our understanding’ not because we deserve it but because He loves us and wants the best for us and from us.

Thomas Fuller said, “A clear conscience can bear any trouble.”  Recovery is a process of finding new and living ways to walk in the faith we possess in our One True Higher Power – Jesus Christ so we can bear any trouble that presents as we walk through this new way of living without giving in and going back to our old ways.

“He’ll purge us of all wrongdoing.”  Psalms 27:3 says “When besieged, I’m calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool.” Are you? When something presents that catches you off guard, how do you react? Do you turn to your old sinful habits or do you turn to God and tell him openly and honestly: “God I am not ready for this. I can’t handle it in my own strength. Help me, guide me and give me your strength to what I need to do to put it right according to your will for my life”

Step Five is the beginning of putting into action all we have learned in the first four steps and letting God lead.

• Confession clears the way for real forgiveness
  David confessed to Nathan, “I’ve sinned against God.” Nathan pronounced, “Yes, but that’s not the last word. God forgives your sin. You won’t die for it. 2 Samuel 12:13
  
• Confession clears the way for real fellowship
  Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. James 5:16
  
• Confession clears the way for real freedom
  If we admit our sins–make a clean breast of them–he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.  1 John 1:9

Confessing our sinful habits to someone we trust is the next part of this step. Which we will discuss next week. But remember this ‘confessing our sinful habits to someone we trust gives them the heads up on what they need to pray about on our behalf to help us move forward in the recovery process.’

12 Step Podcasts will resume next week (Archie Boyle)