Collegiate Impact

Often, the real issue is o the sin that needs to be confessed publicly, but the pride that needs to be slain…

Be ready to explain God’s purposes in public confession.

Many will likely ask, “Why is all this sin being confessed publicly? I’ve always been taught to confess my sin privately.” Even so, the power of sin is in its secrecy. Once a person’s disposition of concealment is broken, the Spirit can do a powerful, transforming work.

More specifically, even though private prayer with confession has a key role, too often sin’s hold is not broken because we continue to coddle it at some level. Instead of the abundant life Jesus promised His followers, the result is defeat.

But in public confession, very few confess their waywardness unless they have a sincere desire to turn, burn bridges, and close doors once for all. People feel the weight of the issue at hand, and playing games with God is over.

Another benefit of public confession is that masks come off, real needs are shared, and the body of Christ at last becomes what God intended it to be. Like never before, God’s people will pray for and encourage each other and navigate His will together.

Perhaps this is why James urges believers to “confess your sins to one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational healing is waiting for us on the other side of public confession.

Often, the real issue is not the sin that needs to be confessed publicly, but the pride that needs to be slain so the Spirit’s promptings to be transparent will be obeyed. Fundamentally, God uses public confession to humble us.

Humility is a prerequisite to the Spirit working in our lives, because God opposes the proud but works graciously in the humble (2 Chron. 7:14; James 4:6). Peter encourages us to clothe ourselves with humility (1 Pet. 5:5).

Regarding public confession, it is imperative to clearly communicate that God is not trying to embarrass people but to free them. The truth often hurts before it heals, and becoming all that God wants us to be in Christ is the goal of public confession.

Go the whole way with God.

The most prevalent mistake I have observed after initial breakthroughs of God’s manifest presence is the decision to go back to less convicting, more informational and teaching-oriented and (at times) entertainment-driven meetings. Sometimes this is willful, but often it’s a default mode—after all, it’s what we know.

But while reverting to previous patterns may feel right, your ministry will inadvertently move out of the Spirit’s flow and back into a conspicuous lack of power and fruitfulness. To avoid God’s diminishing presence, leadership must persistently speak to the issues that have surfaced, and relentlessly pursue those issues yet to surface, so that no stone is left unturned.

Many times the first encounter with God that brings people under conviction and to public confession is only the beginning of what God desires to do. We have arrived at the homepage of the Spirit’s work, but we have much farther to go.

Like peeling back layers of an onion, leadership must continue to address humility, brokenness, and repentance until each layer of sin has been exposed, each idol has been torn down, and the Spirit’s power is in full effect. Because we have set our hearts on going the whole way with God, wherever that may lead, there is real hope for freedom, genuine life change, and community transformation.

Increasingly focus on the cross.

Once God breaks in and people have shared their deepest, darkest struggles—things they previously would not have shared with their best friend over coffee—many will need clear, redemptive teaching from the Word. It is the leader’s role to provide this truth, while being careful not to back off of or obscure the Holy Spirit’s searchlight of conviction for those still in the process of coming clean with God and others.

While challenging your people to go the whole way with God in repentance and confession, you will need to explain God’s truths that no one is beyond the reach of the cross, Jesus died for every sin, and God’s desire is not to condemn anyone but to have everyone walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7).
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