Not long ago I started to pray about the direction for a new project that had been traipsing through my mind for quite a while. It started as a little seed; an idea to bless ministry partners. It was a way to give back to them, and somehow it turned into a bigger project. It began to take shape shortly after reading “Permission to Speak Freely” by Anne Jackson. I began to realize that many people in the church struggle in silence with issues they are too afraid to mention to anyone. These are devastating issues that need to be addressed in order for people to reach an intimate relational level with God.
Confess/Pray/Heal is about giving people an avenue to throw off the junk that is keeping them in a distant relationship with God. Many of us have issues that no matter what we do they just don’t seem to leave us. I have struggled for years with how to rid myself of these issues and it hit me one day that this is exactly what James is talking about in James 5:16– “Confess [your] trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” From the very first time I read this I always thought it was referring to physical healing. Now I realize that this verse is more specifically referring to spiritual healing. What James is saying is that if we want to reach a point of perfect relationship with God we need to get some junk out in the open. We need to bring to light what we are keeping hidden in the dark recesses of our hearts. The Bible talks about wicked things being done in darkness and not in light. It talks about how light drives out darkness. I know for me that these issues tend to be the dark ones. They tend to be the ones that loom around in the corners of our hearts undetected until we fall victim to their destructive presence. They are the issues that leave us beaten, frustrated, and in fear that we are alone in this battle and that we have no chance of victory.
This site is being designed as a way to let people know that they are not alone. People need to know that others are going through the same things they are. I remember the first time I read the verse that talked about how “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man.” (1Corinthians 10:13) I found it comforting to know that I was not alone. Not every person who is tempted commits sin, but every sin starts with a temptation. Many times we think that something is new and that we are the only ones going through something. Giving in to temptation does not make you less of a person, nor does it cause God to love you less. We are all tempted and we all sin. We all mess up- Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and we all need help to get back on track. Thank God that He has given us a way to make it back to Him through James and also through 1John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The accountability that James 5 gives us is different from what 1John gives us, but it is the key to our success in removing the shackles that keep us down. Bringing to light the things that we struggle with takes our situation from the dark corners of our hearts and puts them in the bright light of the hearts of those that love us. It drives out the horrible emptiness that sin brings and replaces it with the warm loving tenderness that only true relationship can create. It gives us a unique connection with each other and is the beginning of a healing relationship with God. This is what Confess/Pray/Heal is all about.
The temporary site is up and the new site should be up by mid 2011. Please visit the site www.confessprayheal.com and give your input by sending an email to help@confessprayheal.com.