This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:5-10

Bottom Line

In order to get right with God you need to be honest with God.

Shame teaches me to look at my past and see something hideous that makes me regret my existence. In grace, God looks at my past and sees the sketch of a work of art that he wants to finish painting and show the world.
In the hands of such an artist, all my weaknesses are openings for strength…
Grace is not a time machine. Grace is not a reset button. Grace is something even more unbelievable: it is a restoration…
Grace isn’t an undoing; it is overcoming
- James K.A. Smith

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

How to confess your sins in prayer:

1. Ask for God’s love, mercy, insight and grace
2. Be 100% honest with God and yourself
3. Receive God’s grace and forgiveness with thankfulness
4. Ask God what the next step of faithfulness is

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James 4:17

The willingness to see ourselves as we are and to name it in God’s presence is at the very heart of the spiritual journey…but it takes time, time to feel safe enough with ourselves and with God to risk exposing the tender, unfinished places of the soul
- Ruth Haley Barton

Action Steps

Prayerfully reflect on the following questions:

• In what unhealthy ways do you tend to relate to your own sin and brokenness? Why do you think that is?
• How does that effect your willingness to step into the light?

Practice:

• Practice a daily time of confession focused prayer. Resist the urge to grade yourself, and instead try to sit with your mistakes in the presence of Jesus.
• Pray through Psalm 51 paying attention to what bubbles up and how God might be speaking to you through it.
• After confessing your sins to God, confess them to someone else as well.