THE BELIEVER'S CONFESSION OF SIN !

THE BELIEVER'S CONFESSION OF SIN: In (Hebrews 8:12) we read, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." I've heard people say, "I don't know if the Lord will heal me or not. I've sinned. I've failed." But God said, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." If you've asked Him to forgive you, he That doesn't remember that you ever did anything wrong. In other words, the believer must be willing to forgive his or her self just as the Father is willing to forgive them. Many people have robbed themselves of faith because they are not willing to forgive themselves. They hold themselves in a state of condemnation, and it robs them of their faith. Notice the Scripture in (James 5:14-15). "Is any sick among you ? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." In using the Scripture to teach divine healing, we sometimes fail to read that last phrase. Once I was praying for a certain man, and I knew he was in sin. I knew he kept stumbling, repeating the same mistake over and over again. While praying about this, I said to the Lord, "Well, now, I don't know about this fellow. After all, he's done the same thing over and over again." The Lord replied, "do you think that I would ask you to do something that I wouldn't do ? Peter said, "Master, if my brother sins against me, how often should I forgive him ? Until seven times ?" (Matthew 18:21). I answered, "not up to seven, but 7×70 ! That is 490 times. Would I require you to do something that I wouldn't do ?" I said, "No, that would be unjust, and you're not unjust." Then he said, "I'll forgive the man. You go ahead and pray with him." Sometimes we think, "that person's done wrong. He's going to read the results of his or her wrongdoing. In fact, he's or she's sick now because he or her done wrong." Sometimes broken fellowship will call sickness, but the Lord says, "if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Some people talk themselves right out of faith. They think they must lie on a bed of sickness because they have sinned. But God says, " . . . The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James 5:15). There is forgiveness in healing. (Hebrews 10:1-4). "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered ? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." We see here that the blood of bulls and goats could not permanently erase sins; it could only cover them temporarily. Sin -- and sin consciousness -- remain in the hearts of men and women. But God redeemed us from sin -- consciousness, as we see in (1 Peter 1:9). "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." After confessing your sins to God, you should have no more knowledge of them. He doesn't; why should you ? Then you can understand the confidence we have when we come to God in prayer, knowing With a Certain That He hears us.