Question Text: My name is Dany. I did a lot of wrong things in my life and I want a change now. I prayed a lot and I confessed to God the sins that I know of. Now, what about the sins that I forgot about? How do I confess them? I just said, “Lord, you know me better than I know about myself. I ask you to forgive me.” I confessed all my sins like that. Is that sufficient? Honestly I believe that I confessed my sins to him but I don’t know whether they are forgiven. Please tell me, how to recognize God`s work in my life? I know that I am still alive is because of his grace but my life is still like yesterday’s. I want to see God in my life. In my prayers I said I will be waiting for his reply but i don’t seem to get any response. I don’t know what to do. Please help.
Answer Text: I am so pleased to meet such an earnest soul like you with your question. I pray that the Lord will help me to give you a satisfying answer for His glory.
Dany, there are one or two things you need to remember when it comes to confessing sins to God. It is from 1Jn.1:8 & 9 that you get this knowledge. Please read the verses. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.
Did you notice in v.8 it is ‘sin’ in singular and in v.9 it is ‘sins’ in plural? This is very significant. When you come to the Lord for forgiveness for the first time, all that you have to confess is that YOU ARE A SINNER. In fact, you are accepting the fact that you belonged to the devil and that you were living a self-life with out God till now. Repentance means to turn from sin and self to God. Then all that you confess is the sinful nature that you have and the Lord will accept all who call upon Him in truth. It is He who said that He would forgive us and give us rest (Mt.11:28). So if you ever went to Him with repentance and faith, He accepted your plea with out a question. He will forgive you. Then you have to invite Him to come and live within you. He will come in to live within you as the Holy Spirit and you then will be adopted into the family of God. This you have to believe because this is what God promised in His Word.
When you begin to believe the promise of God and thank Him for forgiving you, the Spirit of God who has come to live within you will begin to witness to your spirit that you ARE a child of God (Rom.8:16). The Bible clearly says that as many as received Christ, God gave them authority to become children of God (Jn.1:12). 1Jn.3:2 says that we are children of God NOW. These are not any one’s opinion. This is the Word of God. So you can believe it with out a doubt or a question.
Rom 8:1 says that there is no condemnation to them who are IN CHRIST Jesus. Till then you were IN ADAM. Now your position is changed and you became some one IN CHRIST. You can not and need not think about and confess ALL individual sins that you committed all your life till that time. But if you had done some serious crimes against some one, like Zacheus (Lk.19:2,8), you need to make restitution for the same. All right. But after you became a child of God, it is your responsibility to confess and reject each individual sins in your life regularly.
Now, if you are NOT sure that God has forgiven you and that He has adopted you as His child, I request you to pray the prayer I am going to give you here. Remember, saying this prayer or any other prayer will not save you. It is only trusting in Christ that can save you from sin. This prayer is simply a way to express to God your faith in Him and thank Him for providing for your salvation. `God, I know that I have sinned against you and am deserving of punishment. But Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserve so that through faith in Him I could be forgiven. I place my trust in You for salvation. Thank You for Your wonderful grace and forgiveness—the gift of eternal life! Amen!`
From now on you need to live a thankful life praising God for making you His child. Then you need to walk daily with God according to the Word of God. You must decide to spend time in the morning and evening to be alone with God and read His Word and pray. When reading His Word, He will speak to you and you need to make sure that you live according to what God has said in His Word. When you begin to do it regularly, you will begin to see the mighty working of God in your life. Here is what God has done for me. This I give here to encourage you to pray in secret. Surely this could be your experience as well. www.mathewpaul.org/2008/10/21/brief-testimony . Please feel free to write to us for any doubt or question. May the Lord bless you and give you a powerful life. To His Name be all glory.
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