Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.

• Psalm 139:1-4

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

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

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

• 1 Corinthians 10:13

“We begin by asking God to search us because he knows us even better than we know ourselves. We can trust him to gently, lovingly reveal ourselves to us, especially the parts we don’t see, the ugly blemishes that may be obvious to others but hidden to us.
“Once we’ve given space for self-examination, always in reliance on the Holy Spirit as the searching agent, we are ready to confess. Confession is as simple and unpretentious as it sounds. Whatever has been revealed to us, say it out loud to God. That’s it. When we name it to God, we ‘bring it into the light,’ which weakens the power of sin and calls on the power of grace for healing and freedom. Much of the time, confession should be practiced in mature, trusted spiritual friendship, enabling the confessor to receive absolution in hearing the gospel preached back to them.
“Most people go to the grave without ever confronting the false self—the deep patterns of dysfunction that govern their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Therefore, most people go to the grave never having felt the freedom of living as their true selves, never having given their true selves to the world and to those they love. To live apart from confession is an absolute tragedy, and to discover confession an unspeakable gift.
“Confession is two parts: searching and naming. Searching is God’s part; naming is ours.
“Still your body and mind. Wait in silence, opening yourself up to the Spirit of God, releasing every possible interference. Then pray the words of David, restated as an invitation: ‘Search me, LORD, and know me.’ Wait. Pay attention to what may come up. Note how God begins to reveal you to yourself. Confess.”

• Tyler Staton, Praying like Monks, Living like Fools

Rev. Staton makes it clear in this chapter that he is among the confessors and not among the absolvers.  He speaks of a specific sin, and how it remained after becoming a Christian and even becoming a pastor, until he was leading a prayer meeting in church and the weight of the sin was too great.

What he says in the quote above is just how he lays it out in the chapter.  We beg God to search us.  The Holy Spirit then leads us in showing us where we have failed God, and then in confession, we name it.  This form of naming it and claiming it in prayer, I can wholeheartedly agree with.  We ask God to show us our sin.  We admit to God, claiming it by name, that we have fallen short in that area.  Then, with it out there to be dealt with, God forgives and gives us the strength to resist.

We have no strength to resist, except in short spurts.  If we did, we would not sin.  We already, if we are saved, love Jesus.  Why would we want to disappoint Him?  But that strength to resist comes from God also.

I have had problems in resisting that spanned decades.  Not continuously sinning over that time, but as seasons change in life, old habits can return.  I have often prayed recently that I was stupid into thinking that in time those things would go away.  I should have dealt with them sooner in life.

Never fall for a fellow Christian’s “advice” that your yearnings in that area will go away “when you get married”, “when you have a fulltime job”, “when you have kids of your own”, ”when your kids leave the nest”, etc.  If you do not name the root causes of your stumblings, those stumblings will go from a small ripple in the carpet to trip wires with explosives attached when you least expect it.

I have heard people say that confession is not needed.  Jesus died for all our sins 2000 years ago.  Yes, He did, but without confession, we have a wash, rinse, and repeat Christian life.  We sin; we expect God to forgive, and then we repeat the sin again.

In confessing, not to a priest, but directly to God, we are, in that moment, in the presence of God.  The Holy Spirit has already laid that sin at our feet.  And now we can get the strength to resist that sin.

And like the pastor started off the chapter, I am more on the confessor side than I am in having it figured out in my life.  Some sins are long gone, but other temptations remain, and the struggles continue.  In some ways, it shows me that I have so much more to learn.  It keeps me humble.  And it keeps me wanting more of Jesus in my life.  But I am certainly putting this lesson into action.

With God’s strength within me, God will prevail within me.

Lord, guide me. You are God.  You promise us that You will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist.  Give us the strength, give me the strength.  Help us to keep our eyes on Jesus.  For with my eyes on Jesus, the temptations seem to lessen, diminish, and even fade away.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.