Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  James 5:16

Confession of sins to each other is absolutely vital. It’s insufficient to only confess your sins privately. For it’s in mutual confession that we release the power that heals; that pretense is brought to an end; that we discover that we’re not alone; that we catch sight of the One who takes us back to the place we wanted to be all along; that the channels of our hearts are cleared; that we recover wholeness and wellness; that we embark on good works; that we find the exhilaration of knowing God’s esteem for us; that our spiritual and emotional vitality is reawakened; that we begin again to experience answers to prayer; that change begins from which revival flows; that the fog and confusion are lifted; that the direction of our life seems more certain; and that the final breakthrough to fellowship with God and with one another occurs.

So “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” James 5:16. For “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9.

Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me

And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee.

O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Just as I am, and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot.

To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O lamb of God, I come! I come!

Just as I am, tho’ tossed about,

With many a conflict, many a doubt.

Fightings within, and fears without,

O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Charlotte Elliott.