“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Today’s verse is a promise about God’s faithfulness to forgive but it’s also about prayer. We tend to focus more on God’s part than our part—confession. Confessing sin is crucial to a believer’s prayer life. Yes, we can claim God’s promise of forgiveness, but we also need to heed His warnings about failing to confess our sins.
Our previous devotion talked about starting our prayers with praise. Thinking about God’s character not only reveals how He works, but also where our own character needs work. For instance, God’s faithfulness means He will forgive. His righteousness means that only He can forgive. Recognizing God’s holiness is especially important because it exposes our sinfulness. And that should naturally lead to a time of confession.
Confessing sin doesn’t inform God about our wrong thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Rather, it allows us to agree with Him about those things so we can walk in fellowship together. In other words, when He pinpoints a particular sin in our lives we need to seek His cleansing immediately. That’s where His promise to faithfully forgive comes in.
But what if we fail to recognize and confess our sins? First, if we contradict what God says about our sin, we’re calling Him a liar (1 John 1:10). Secondly, if we don’t do anything about the sin God reveals, then He won’t listen to our prayers (Psalm 66:18). And Jesus said that adoration without genuine confession is hypocritical and makes our worship a farce (Matthew 15:7–9).
The effectiveness of your prayers is determined by how consistent you are at confessing sin. If you’re silent about your sin, God will be silent with you about His Word, His work, and His ways. So when you recognize who God is, worship Him. And when He reveals your personal sins, repent with integrity and authenticity. If you don’t, then everything else about your walk with Christ is jeopardized.
Remember, confession isn’t just about the obvious things…lying, cheating, stealing, etc. Those behaviors should be corrected early after salvation. But we often fail to recognize sinful thoughts and attitudes that hamper our spiritual growth. Ask God right now to reveal where things such as pride, resentment, greed, or ingratitude have crept in. Then, rather than feel guilty about it, confess it! “He is faithful and righteous to forgive…”