“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16 NIV

Remember when we were in grade school and you could tell your best friend all of your secrets?  It was always after several promise rituals, something about a needle and an eye, but you would always tell her in the end. And unless it had to do with a boy, our best friends would giggle and that was that. The secret no longer held any power because it was no longer a secret.

James is saying that in this scripture. Take the power away from the sin and confess it to someone. Share your secret. Once you confess it aloud and pray, the power shifts because it is hung on the cross and you are free. Not free to wallow in the same sin, but free from the penalty of sin. There still might be consequences for the sin, but how much sweeter will it be to have a friend to pray you through than to hold onto that secret within yourself. Our Father already knows about it and He wants you to experience healing in the way that He designed.

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10 says, “Two are better than one. Because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.  But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up”.

Father, thank You for those friends that we can trust to tell our secrets and in You be healed.

Written for Cornerstone Christian Fellowship “Seasons – Friendship”.