Vulnerability & Integrity of Confessing Sin with the Lord

I asked the Lord if He could reveal to me the future on if I was going to be successful in His will, or if I would fail Him… He laughed and said I would fail Him many times. It’s the whole reason why He sent His Son, so I would be covered with His unending Mercy and Grace for eternity.

Though we are called to walk in the will of the Father, it is expected that we would still fall short of worthy for salvation on our own. If our Father expected us to be perfect when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Wisdom of the Lord would never have allowed Him to sacrifice for us the way that He did. We would have had so many terms and conditions. Instead, He sacrificed His one and only Son, and expects nothing from us.

Matthew 26:34 NIV

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

Imagine how many times we have disowned the Lord in our own lives. We either have denied Him or turned away from Him. Yet, He still favors us. He still honors us. He still loves us. God knew we would still fall short of perfection. Yet, He sacrificed an innocent lamb for our eternity with Him. His love, mercy, and grace is beyond our own comprehension, because our own sin, combined with the sin of the world, Father still gave each of His children a special place in the seat of Heaven with Jesus Christ. Us. The ones who are unholy, undeserving, and evil-hearted. He still grants us favor, on Earth and in Heaven. Calling us His chosen ones, considering us His royal heirs to the throne right alongside His, as if we never betrayed Him. His love for us being is holy and pure is the reason He is able to cover us in the Blood of Christ, so we may have a shot at Eternity with Him.

If I was perfect, I would have no need for a savior. And if I turned perfect after receiving salvation, I would probably end up considering myself no longer in need of a savior, or my pride would trick me into thinking I was Jesus Christ reincarnated. Hah. 

We should not follow Jesus Christ expecting to become perfect. We should follow Him because we recognize that He is the Son of God who paid our debt of sin so we may enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That we do have need for, both, a savior and a God, who is the Father in Heaven. Once we receive salvation, we are then covered by the blood of Christ, and our sin separate us no more from the Father. Though our sin no longer separate us, it does not mean our sins won’t hinder our walk with Christ. Sin still has the power to ruin us if we do not bring it before the Father in repentance. If we needed a savior to pay our debt of sin to receive salvation, what makes us think we are able to conquer our sin on our own without Him, too? We’re only postponing our growth if we do not give permission to God to handle all of the sin we continue to struggle with.

Question 1: Do you think keeping your struggle to yourself strengthens or weakens your relationship with God?

This brings me to my next point… Our vulnerability with God is vital to our walk with Christ. If we constantly allow ourselves to keep our sin hidden from the Lord, He will allow it to break us. Why? Because we have not asked God for help. Without bringing our sin to the attention of the Lord, we are basically telling God, “I can handle it.” or, “I don’t need You to help.”

Question 2: What is stopping you from allowing God to handle your sin?

John 19:11 NJKV

Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” 

Though our own sins are indeed the fault of our own when we decided to go through with them, it did not start that way. The original sinner was Lucifer, turned Satan. The fallen angel had caused Adam and Eve to sin. Therefore, Satan always has, and always will, have the greater sin than humanity as a whole. God gives permission for sin to happen, but the tempter (Satan) has the greater sin. This is why God does not want us to linger in guilt and shame because He knows who truly deserves destruction; that is not the children of God. With this being said, we should be more than willing to become vulnerable enough to bring our sin out in the open by confessing them to our Father. He already knows what we are dealing with, He just wants permission to be able to help us with it. Our shame and guilt should not be because we sinned, we should feel shame and guilt when we haven’t conversed with God about our sin. One might argue we should not feel shame and guilt at all, but that is not the reality of how emotions we work with. None-the-less, we should worry when we do not feel shame and guilt when we do sin. Shame and guilt may not be fruits of the Spirit, but neither is sin. Yet we continue to deal with it. This is why Jesus was vital for our salvation, because not one person in the flesh was perfect the way one needed to be in order to pay for the debt of all, much less, themselves, to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Question 3: When Satan tempted Eve to sin in the Garden of Eden, do you think he was granted permission from God to do so?

Mark 3:23 KJV

And He called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?”

When we indulge in sin then try to conquer sin on our own, how do we expect to be successful when we have decided to step into the kingdom of the enemy on our own? Do we think that his forces are not at work just the same as the Kingdom of Heaven? When we indulge in sin, we have given permission for the enemy to devour us. What most do not realize is the power of Satan and his kingdom is much more powerful than us on our own. When we wander into enemy territory without supervision or protection of the Father, we can expect to become injured. If we wander into enemy territory and say “Satan, get back from me!” Satan and his army would surely laugh in our faces. We are then fair game to him. If we say, “Satan, get back from me!” and we have our Father backing us, He has no choice but to listen as we have just given permission to the Father to enter the situation; thus the enemy has no choice but to submit to God. Does God want us to wander into enemy territory? Not without His permission. Yet, He knows we still will. Jesus Christ is the name above all names; it is our ‘get-out-of-jail free card’ because God already knows we would wander into danger, either expectedly, or unexpectedly. 

Question 4: How does it make you feel knowing you can call on Jesus at any time and He would come to your rescue?

Hosea 5:15-6:3 NKJV

“Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn’ but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

Sometimes our sin is utilized by the Lord to set us back straight. He allows us to freely wander so we may learn to cherish Him more and to follow Him earnestly. To learn to turn to Him in times of need and faults because He is both our provider and protector. Our Father lets us freely call upon Him when we are least deserving because He wants nothing more than to be there with us and to care for us. His love for us is immense. There is no amount of sin that can keep us away from our Father. A murderer, a pedophile, an adulterer, an alcoholic, a drug addict, and the list goes on... All of these people, and more, have unending mercy, love, and grace from the Father through Jesus Christ because He died for ALL who comes to the Father through Him. Our sin no longer keeps us bound up in chains as captives to the enemy, Just call on Jesus Christ and grant Him permission to set you free from the sin that you continue to be chained up by. By doing this, your vulnerability with the Lord will continue to grow and your relationship with Him will continue to flourish. For God wants nothing more than to be included in the bad just as much as the good, because all that He touches turns to gold, thus bringing Him more Glory and Honor.

Question 5: If the Lord has truly set us free indeed, then why do some of us continue to think our struggle with sin after salvation is a cut-off point?

Question 6: What are some ways that you can help yourself to be more inclined in inviting God to help you with your struggles?

Question7: Would you consider that your lack of vulnerability with God stems from a lack of trust with Him in that area? And if you do fully trust Him in that area of your life, what is stopping you from talking to Him about your sin(s)?