Confessing Sin and Healing

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.
James 5:16 HCSB

What has the confession of sin to do with healing? Does sin make us sick? Yes sin makes us sick. Bitterness and unforgiveness makes us sick. I see someone I care for constsntly struggling with bitterness and unforgiveness and bowel problems. In Australia we have a saying; 'it is stuck in my craw.' In other words the venom is choking me.

As we Christians apologise to one another for our judgements and unforgiveness we are set free. However we need to do the apologising and repenting to be healed.

We cannot experience the healing promised for if we fail to confess, then we fail to receive prayer from those we confess to. Confession is one thing Catholics do well. Unfortunately confessing to a priest is not quite the same as confessing to the one we have wronged. For their prayers for us release healing over us better than any other. Our sins against them binds us to them and their prayer for us releases us.

Confessing sin can be as simple as apologising for being offended and asking for forgiveness. It requires humility and losing face, as the Chinese would say. However it is actually gaining face before the Lord and healing a rift. Try it!