I’m sure we all have certain passages marked in our Bibles that the Holy Spirit has highlighted for us.  Sometimes I mark them, then forget them, but when I’m reading back through the Bible, I run across them again and remember why I  put brackets around the text. One of those is in Proverbs.

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

John said a similar thing in his first letter.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

One of the most frequent points of access Satan has in a believer’s life is unconfessed, unrepented sin.  One of the most persistent themes in scripture is God calling Israel to repent and come back to him so that he might bless them again.  A sample is found in Joel 2 after another extended period of rebellion by God’s chosen people.  These seasons of rebellion lasted for years.  They were filled with national idolatry, blatant sexual immorality, injustice for the poor, disrespect for the God of Israel, children offered in the fires of Molech, and indifference for the temple of God.

In the Book of Joel, we see a final warning of coming devastation if Israel does not acknowledge their sin and repent. He warns them of a natural disaster that is already on the way…swarms of locust that will dwarf the plague that fell on Egypt.  When this “army” comes, it will devastate every living plant in the nation.  Nothing will remain.  Trees will be stripped down to their bark.  All grains, grass, olive trees, vineyards, and vegetables will be devoured by these swarms.  There will be no grass or grain to feed the animals, no grain for bread, no grapes for wine, no olives for olive oil, no fruit from the trees.  There will be famine and all the suffering that accompanies that curse.  Yet in the midst of God’s warning and admonition to his people, He says…

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God” (Joel 2:12-14)

In another place, Ezekiel records the words of God when he says, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? (Ezek. 18:23).

Although God is clearly revealed as a forgiving and compassionate God, there still remains a strong propensity in the nature of man, even in believers, to conceal our sin and not confess. 

Sometimes, we are ignorant of our sin…we didn’t know it was wrong.  Many believers have not been discipled well or taught the whole counsel of God.  When they discover that they are sinning, they are genuinely surprised.  For instance, an amazing number of young single Christians in America come to church and share, without hesitation, the fact they are living together.  They are living out a cultural norm and are often shocked to find that God does not approve.  

The rest of us may not want to give up something in our lives…maybe alcohol we can’t control, power, control, manipulation, sexual sin we are keeping secret, anger that makes us feel powerful, etc.  We rationalize the sin or minimize it as something that is not “that bad.”  Sometimes we keep it secret because we fear the fallout, if others knew.  Adultery is often hidden for years or always.  Pornography is often a secret sin that can go on for decades. 

Satan convinces us that we can’t help it, therefore, God should not hold us accountable.  He convinces us that “everyone does it,” so we should get a pass on the issue.  He also convinces us that we participated, but someone else is actually to blame so God will overlook our failures. So…the sin goes unacknowledged, unconfessed and unrepented.   But God says, that person will not prosper in the things that truly matter…body, soul, spirit, and relationships.  Those will all suffer when sin is hidden, excused, minimized or denied.

David and Saul may be the greatest examples of this dynamic.  Saul was disobedient on several significant occasions, but, when confronted, always found a way to blame others, declare he had obeyed God when his obedience was only partial, or claim he couldn’t help it.   Eventually, he lost his kingdom, his life and the lives of his sons, and is remembered as a failed king. 

Then there was David.  He did things even Saul didn’t do…adultery, murder, and abusing his power to cover up the sin.  Yet in Psalm 51, we find David openly confessing his sin.  He doesn’t deny it, blame others for it, minimize it, or claim he couldn’t help himself.  He never tried to bargain with God or talk about all the good things he had done that should get him a “get-out-of- jail-free card for this one “incident.”

True, David hid the sin for a number of months out of shame and out of fear regarding the fallout if people knew the truth.  But the Spirit of God through,, the prophet Nathan, brought him to a place of confession and repentance. Trusting in the character of God, he began the Psalm, “Have mercy on me O God according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion.”  The moment David showed godly sorrow and confessed his sin, it was forgiven.  There would be consequences in the natural realm for David’s sin, but his relationship with God was immediately restored and God promised to walk with him through the fires of the fallout.  Despite, his moral failure, David is still remembered as the greatest king of Israel and “a man after God’s own heart.”   Part of his greatness was in owning his failures, declaring that God’s standards were righteous, and trusting in the heart of a good, good Father.

When we fail to acknowledge our sin, confess, and repent, we reveal some things about our heart.  Either we don’t love God, because if we love him we obey him, or we believe he is unfair and unreasonable in his standards.  Perhaps, we hide or excuse our sin because we believe he is a harsh and angry God just waiting to punish and abuse us. Perhaps, we believe we are saved by our own righteousness rather than by grace and, therefore, have to deny our sin while we eagerly point to the sins of others, to maintain our standing.  But all of those reasons and that view of God are misplaced.  Satan will establish strongholds through our unbelief or our denial of our sin.  If we think we are hiding our sin from God because we have not acknowledged it, we are also deceived because God knows everything,

Yet God’s heart is always ready to forgive and receive when we return with godly sorrow taking full responsibility for our choices.  The story of the Prodigal Son is the embodiment of our Father’s heart (Luke 15). So…you may want to take an inventory of your life.  Is there a sin you have denied, excused, minimized or hidden that you have not owned or confessed?  If so, Satan has every right to afflict you and those you love. 

The key to prospering in the things that matter, is to lay our sins, our weaknesses and our failings at the foot of the cross, believing that God is a good, good Father just waiting for us to return and be restored.  Besides, your sin will not stay hidden forever.  Either God will reveal it to cleanse you or Satan will reveal it to destroy you. It is best to take it to the Father right away.

If our sins are forgiven in Christ, then why do we need to confess them as believers.  After all, doesn’t the blood of Christ continually wash away our sins?  That is a great question and an important one.  I want to briefly look at that from several perspectives.

John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).  He is writing to believers in this text, not those he is trying to persuade to come to Jesus.  In John’s letters, he is often addressing what has been called the Gnostic Heresies.  There were individuals trying to bring a teaching to the church that what was done in the body had no effect on the soul or the destiny of the soul.  One brand of this heresy declared that we are saved by what we know, not by how we live. In his first letter, he reminds the believers to maintain an attitude of neediness in regard to the blood of Christ and the forgiveness it brings. He reminded them that their sins separated them from God not their intellectual weaknesses. Therefore, they should stay sensitive to the sin that cropped up in their lives and make a habit of bringing those failings before the Father.

John calls for a life of confession after salvation as part of a healthy sanctification process.  Many believers don’t maintain a life of confession.  None of us like to be reminded of our weaknesses and our failings.  Many of us learned from parents that we were only loved when we did all the right things and did them well. We anticipate rejection if we fall short, so we develop a defense mechanism that ignores our weaknesses, excuses them, or blames others when we fail.  We fear that God will reject us too if we acknowledge our sins. 

Other believers only confess on occasions when they have committed what they consider to be “serious sin.”  In their minds, that category might include adultery, abortion, extreme pornography, etc. After being discovered and feeling the shame of what they have done, they might confess over and over as they try to escape their feelings of shame and condemnation.  But other than on those occasions, they rarely confess sins they consider to just be part of the human condition. However, when we own our sin and confess it with godly sorrow or with a genuine desire to please God, he quickly forgives and is pleased with us.  When we deny or hide our sins, he is displeased. 

I’m not suggesting we should we should spend every day cataloguing each sin and offering up our confessions hour after hour.  To do so would give sin more power in our lives that grace.  However, asking the Holy Spirit to highlight attitudes and actions that are getting in the way of our relationship with Jesus or giving the enemy a legal right to afflict us, would be a prudent part of our quiet time with the Lord.

Even though sin in a believer’s life may not cost him salvation, it can hinder and even damage the relationship.  A marriage in which one partner continually wrongs the other but never acknowledges the wrongs or asks for forgiveness is not going to be intimate and fulfilling.  In the same way, unconfessed and unrepented sin will create distance between us and our Father in heaven

Secondly, sin that goes unconfessed is sin that is not acknowledged nor repented of.  Persistent, unrepented sin can give Satan a legal right to enforce curses in our life which hurt us and our families. Unconfessed sin is an open door for demonic activity.  We , like David, also need to ask God to search our hearts and show us anything we are unaware of that is offensive to God. 

Thirdly, when we don’t acknowledge the sin in our lives, and confess it, we become insensitive to that sin.  As we become insensitive, we will downgrade the wickedness of certain sins and rationalize their presence in our own lives.  Think of sins that are prevalent in our culture today: adultery, lying, fornication, homosexuality, dishonesty, gossip, slander, and so forth. A few decades ago, we were grieved and outraged by these sins.  But now, we may still disapprove of the sins but are no longer shocked or disgusted by them.  We make them a part of our entertainment without blushing and entertain them in our own minds without crying out to God to cleanse our thoughts.  We simply have been desensitized and Satan convinces us that God no longer finds them offensive either. 

When we don’t consider our own sins, ask the Holy Spirit to bring conviction, and confess where we have fallen short and rebelled, we become desensitized to the sin in our own lives and no longer speak out against these things in public.  When we tolerate these things as “normal,” we fail to be the conscience of our nation and our own conscience becomes dulled as well. 

If we reject his standards by excusing or minimizing our own sin, then we are declaring that his standards are not just and, therefore, he is not just.  That line is right out of the devil’s playbook. A failure to acknowledge the sin in our life also opens us up to discipline and even sickness.  Paul admonished the privileged in the church at Corinth who were taking the Lord’s supper while ignoring and disdaining the poor among them. He said, “That is why many among you are weak and sick and a number of you have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 11:30).  James also says, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (Ja. 5:14-16). 

So let me encourage you (and myself) to build a little introspection time into our devotional time when we ask the Holy Spirit to highlight anything we need to confess and repent of.  To do so keeps our relationship with God offense free, keeps the devil at bay, and enables us to grow because we acknowledge our weakness in certain areas.  Just as important, It also keeps us sensitive to sin in our own lives and in the world around us.  Lord…help us to see sin as you see it, while at the same time celebrating your grace that frees us from the condemnation of sin!

Curses are a spiritual reality. Certainly, not everyone has a curse operating against them. In this life we all have tragedies, failures, and losses. It is the nature of living in a fallen world. But more of us than you think have curses operating in our lives and are unaware of it. The curse and the negative outcomes it produces will not go away on its own and has no shelf life. So…determining whether a curse may be operating so that we can nullify the curse is a prudent thing to do.

There are indicators that a curse is operating in the life of an in individual or family. Let me list some of those indicators briefly. You can find all of these in Deuteronomy 28-30.

• When a family or individual continually suffers business failures or financial lack, even though they are working hard and making reasonably good decisions, a curse may be operating. When you can never seem to get out of debt because another financial demand occurs each time you get close to your goals, you may be dealing with a curse. If you see the same pattern in your family line, it is a very strong indicator.
• If you experience patterns of chronic, lingering health issues that are difficult to diagnose, keep recurring, or that proven treatments don’t seem to manage, you may be looking at a curse. Again…if there is a history of such things in your bloodline, this can be a strong indicator.
• If you or your parents or grandparents struggle with depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, despair, confusion, etc. when you have prayed, counseled, and taken treatments, there may be demonic influences operating through a curse.
• When there is a history of an inability to get pregnant or multiple miscarriages, this may also indicate a curse.
• When you see patterns of victimization in your life or family where you have been defrauded, passed over for promotions, taken advantage of, harassed, and so forth when you have acted with integrity and done the right things, a curse may be operating.

In general, when you recognize a repeating history of negative outcomes in your life or family line, that are not clearly results of your bad decisions or rebellion, you may need to address the possibility of demonic activity enforcing a curse.

To break or nullify a curse requires a legal transaction in the spiritual realm. The cause of the curse must be removed and then the enemy must be commanded to discontinue the harassment or oppression in your life. Proverbs declares, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov. 26:2). The cause of a curse can ultimately be nullified through the the blood of Christ. However, we have to take several steps before the blood can be applied.

The basis of any curse being established against us is sin…either our own or the sins of our fathers. That sin must be submitted to the blood of Christ to remove it, so that the enemy cannot use it against us. For sin to be forgiven, it must be recognized, acknowledged, confessed, repented of, and renounced.

I continue to be concerned about how many “believers” are ignorant of God’s word and so are ignorant of their sins. Many believers let culture determine what is right or wrong and simply assume that God will agree with cultural norms. I’m often surprised at how many young couples in church are unmarried, but living together and have no idea that God would have an issue with that. Many believing men think that indulging in porn is not an issue as long as they don’t “act on it.” Believers are prone to make promises or commitments and then ditch them at the last minute because they got a “better offer” and think that breaking commitments or promises is not an issue with the Lord. We make judgments against others and feel no conviction because we feel justified in what we said or thought. We believe the cultural lie that same sex marriage is moral because it is tolerant and so we go along with the moral trend.

I could go on, but we need to be more biblically informed and train our consciences around the word of God rather than cultural values. We may also need to ask the Holy Spirit to inform us of issues we don’t recognize that are giving Satan a legal right to afflict us. King David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psm. 139:23-24) We need to pray the same prayer on a regular basis. Even if we are unaware that we are sinning, the sin still gives Satan a right to oppress us.

Once we become aware of something in our lives that is not aligned with God’s will, we need to acknowledge that it is sin and that we are responsible for our choices. Too many of us seek to excuse or rationalize what we are doing or blame others rather than simply owning it and confessing it. Any attempt on our part have “our sin” excused, gives the enemy an open door to attack us.

In conjunction with owning the sin, we must confess it…to God and, sometimes to others. If we have wronged others, we may need to confess that to them and ask their forgiveness. The key is found in 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The cleansing takes away the legal right of the enemy to attack us on the basis of that sin. However, unconfessed sin isa weapon the enemy will use against us.

There is also the heart-matter of repentance. Am I just saying the words or do I truly have godly sorrow for my failings and do I intend to do it God’s way from that point forward? Genuine repentance is required before forgiveness is released. In addition, Proverbs declares, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Prov. 28:13).To renounce means to declare publicly that you no longer support, agree, or have a connection with something or someone…in this case, the sin and the one who promotes sin. Publicly does not typically mean that we must renounce it in front of the church, but I do need to declare it out loud to God and to the spiritual realm if to no one else.

Once we have recognized, acknowledged, confessed, repented, and renounced a sin in our life or in our bloodline, we can declare verbally that the curse is cancelled and nullified by the blood of Christ and by his authority. We can then cancel the assignment of any unclean spirit that has been afflicting us and command it to leave.

The question remains, what if I don’t know the specific sins of my “fathers” or may still be unaware of my own sin? When Nehemiah was informed of the state of Jerusalem during his exile, he prayed to God that he would be given favor to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. He prayed, “I confess the sins we Israelites , including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your servant Moses…(Neh.1:6-7). He then went on to ask for forgiveness and favor in accomplishing God’s purposes for his people. Daniel also prayed this way regarding the sins of Israel. He said, “we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws…Lord, in keeping with your righteous acts turn away your anger and your wrath…hear the prayers and petitions of your servant” (Dan. 9:5,16,17).

If we specifically know our sin or the sins of our fathers, then confess them specifically. Repent on behalf of your bloodlines and renounce the sins. If not, pray as Nehemiah and Daniel prayed. They were essentially asking God to lift the curse that had been established against them for their sins and to bless Israel once again. We can pray in a similar way for ourselves, our family, and our nation.

In closing, we need to be aware of curses and take them seriously. The blood of Christ has more than enough power to nullify any curse. Indeed, Christ became a curse for us that we might be blessed. But curses aren’t dismissed automatically. We have our part to play through our own repentance and confession and even when the legal right of the enemy has been removed, you will still need to command these rebellious spirits to leave.

So there is the basic reality about curse and how to deal with them. Now that you know, get busy!

Reading through 1 John this morning, I was reminded of a seeming paradox in that epistle and a helpful explanation that was shard with me years ago. I thought it might be helpful for you as well. 1, 2, and 3 John are letters written by the apostle John who also wrote the gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. He was the youngest of the apostles and, perhaps, the one that Jesus loved the most. He and his brother James were the ones who offered to call down fire on a Samaritan village because they had not welcomed Jesus (Lk.9:54). Jesus called them the Sons of Thunder (Mk. 3:17) which suggests that, in his younger days, John was passionate, boisterous and. perhaps, given to anger. In his later years, he was known by the church as the “apostle of love.” In 1 John, the apostle is writing a general letter to the church that would be read aloud, passed along to another church that would read it aloud, and so on. It is a letter with a strong emphasis on love, but also on living for the Lord.

Now…let me point out the seeming paradox or contradiction in his letter, that actually turns out to be an encouragement. John writes, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we claim to to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1Jn. 1:6-7). He also writes, “And in him (Jesus) is no sin. No one who lives in him, keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him” (1 Jn. 3:6). No one who is born of God will continue to sin…they cannot go on sinning because they have been born of God” (1 Jn. 3:9).

However, John also writes, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn. 1:8) and “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar , and his word is not in us” (1 Jn.1:10). On the one hand, John tells us that if we say we have no sin we are liars, but on the other hand, he states that no one born of God will continue to sin. When I first began to study these passages, it troubled me, because I knew I still sinned, in some form, on a daily or even hourly basis, but John was telling me that if I had been “born again,” I couldn’t continue to sin. So…was I not really saved? I hope you see my dilemma.

This is where the Greek language comes to the rescue. In Greek, verb forms denote kinds of action. There is “punctiliar” action and “linear” action. “Punctiliar” is like a string of disconnected dots, whereas “linear” is a continuous, connected line. What John is saying is that after we come to Christ, we will sin, but it is punctiliar sin, not linear. In other words, sin is no longer the rule of our life, but the exception. We sin, but these are moments of stumbling separated by righteous living. These are sinful thoughts that do no rule our thinking, but that pop up from time to time. As we grow in Christ, sin should be more ocassional…the points should be further apart. If, we say we are saved, however, and sin still defines our life, then something is out of order.

There is obviously a process of spiritual growth or sanctification that occurs in every new believer. It takes longer for some than for others, but growth and maturity are expected. If we are not growing or are loosing ground, then we may be in bondage to some demonic power or simply have not truly surrendered ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus and that raises the question of whether I truly gave myself to the Lord. But even when we have given ourselves, we will still have those points and moments in our lives when sin occurs. But John encourages us in these moments when he says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn.2:1).

Here is my encouragement from John’s writings. When we read that those who are in Christ no longer sin, the devil can begin to fill us with doubt about our salvation or our sincerity However, what John actually says is that those of us who are in Christ will not longer live a live defined by sin, but rather by the righteousness of God. Graham Cooke often reminds us that we obsess about our sin, while God obsesses about our righteousness. We often think about our failings, while God thinks abut who we are in Christ. That is a good perspective to remember. John also tells us that if we say we have no sin at all, then we are deluded or lying, so we need not pretend to be sinless. God knows our weaknesses, but has already made a way for us through Jesus.

God is not concerned if we struggle with sin. He is concerned if we don’t struggle with it, in the sense that we don’t resist it or wrestle with it or if we make a practice of justifying it in our lives. James 3:2 says that we all stumble in many ways, so God does not require that we live a sinless life. The balance is found in wanting to live a sinless life and please God in every way, even though we sin.

A second area where Satan can bring condemnation is when we are growing in the Lord, but start to feel that we are sinning more now than we we first became a Christian. The truth is, that because you are growing, your sin is not increasing, but your sensitivity to sin is increasing. That is a good thing, but we need to be wise so that we do not allow the enemy to use that sensitivity against us. Again, John has a solution to the sin we do recognize in our lives. “If we confess our sins, her is faithful and just and will forgive our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn.1:9). So, once again, God has made a way for us.

One of Satan’s primary schemes is to make us feel condemned and disqualified from living a joyful life in Christ. Certain scriptures may bring a sense of condemnation if they are misunderstood, so I wanted to highlight those in John that I have to struggled with. Just remember the great promise of Romans 8:1, that there is absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Be blessed.

In his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey wrote, “How easily do we who live in material bodies devalue the world of spirit. It occurs to me that although Jesus spent much time on issues such as hypocrisy, legalism, and pride, I know of no television ministry devoted to healing those “spiritual” problems, yet I know of many that center on physical ailments. Just as I begin feeling smug, however, I remember how easily I am tormented by the slightest bout with physical suffering, and how seldom I feel tormented by sin.”

His point is that we focus too often on the material and physical part of our existence and seem to look to the spiritual only as a last resort.  In our healing and deliverance ministries, we must be careful not to be only concerned about emotional health and freedom from the demonic while not being concerned about developing the character of Christ in our people.

I have seen believers who were crushed by the weight of their freedom because they felt that their freedom was the stamp of God’s approval on their lives.  Torment had driven them to Jesus.  Freedom somehow took their eyes off the Lord and placed it on the pleasures of the world.  The outcome was ugly.  Some spirits returned and found the house clean and orderly.  They moved back in and brought a lot of friends. 

Even when praying for physical healing, we often think the only issue is faith.  But often, unconfessed and unrepented sin get in the way of healing.  James tells is that we must confess our sins to one another and pray for one another that healing might follow (Ja.5:16). In a rush to help people, we often pray before we help them examine their lives.  Our spiritual condition is ultimately much more important than our physical or emotional well-being.  

Freedom and healing need to be steps in the process of discipleship, not ends in themselves.  I believe that emotional healing and freedom from the demonic are God’s will for our lives, but we must not offer them as stand-alone benefits, but as an expression of God’s love and power that are simply aids to becoming like Jesus.  When ministering to people, I often have to remember to slow down. Do some work before praying or before deliverance.  As Yancy suggests, we may need to come to a place of being tormented by our sinfulness before attacking the other torments in our lives.  Just a thought.