2nd October 2006- Confessing our Sins

Run to God
By Kenneth Copeland

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
–(1 John 1:9)

It's wonderful to know you've been set free from the law of sin and death. It's glorious to know you never again have to submit to the slavery of sin. But what do you do when, in spite of those wonderful, glorious truths, you still miss the mark? What do you do when you stumble and fall into sin?

Run to your Father and repent!

That sounds simple. But oddly enough we often do just the opposite. Instead of running to God, we let fear and guilt drive us further and further from Him. We start thinking things like, "Well, I've missed it now. I might as well forget the rest of it and live like the devil."

Don't make that mistake. Don't let Satan talk you into sinning in one area of your life just because you missed it in another. When you get off track with God, just confess it and get right back on.

"But, Brother Copeland, I feel so guilty when I tell God what I've done that it's hard for me to make myself do it." I know. I used to feel that way too. Then, one day, God said to me, "Kenneth, when you confessed that sin wasn't when I found out about it. I knew about it all the time! When you confessed it is when you got rid of it, when you were cleansed of its effects in your life."

When you make a mistake, when you miss the mark, remember, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1). Run to Him! He knows what you are going through. You don't need to be afraid. He didn't tear you apart for the sins you committed before you made Him Lord of your life, did He? Then how much more merciful and loving do you think He'll be now that you're His own? Now that you're reaching out for Him and have a heart for Him?

Don't run from God. Run to Him. Receive His forgiveness. Receive His cleansing. No matter how badly you've sinned, He's eager to forgive and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

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Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-5, 2 Samuel 12:1-13"

1. 2 Samuel 11:1-5

11:1
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
11:2
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
11:3
and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
11:4
Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
11:5
The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."


2. 2 Samuel 12:1-13

12:1
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
12:2
The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
12:3
but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
12:4
"Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
12:5
David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
12:6
He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
12:7
Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
12:8
I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
12:9
Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
12:10
Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'
12:11
"This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
12:12
You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'"
12:13
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan replied, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
New International Version