"Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]." ~James 5:16 AMP
Communal safety that allows each member the freedom to learn from their mistakes, rather than be shunned for them. Honesty that allows the human mind to understand and gain experience. Righteous prayer, offered for one another, that calls down tremendous power from Heaven to work miracles.
Oh, how we ALL need these things. As long as we fear, we are bound and gagged, damned by our utter lack of faith. As long as we condemn each other, we damn ourselves.
Sin should not shock us. It should rouse our compassion, our heartbreak. But it should not frighten us away. Our God is mighty to save, and when we walk with Him, we walk in the assurance He is with us and can (and will!) fill us with His love so hurts can be healed, sins remitted, lives changed, souls saved.
Father, teach me to be ever more aware of Your presence, and always inviting Your input. Teach me more and more to pray, and increase my knowledge and my faith so I might be an instrument to bless, an agent to heal, and a voice to praise You always. :-) In Your name, Amen!
