Do you ever find yourself asking for forgiveness for the same thing over and over again? I asked my son for forgiveness yesterday for something I did, and this morning, the Lord revealed to me I ask him for forgiveness for this same thing over and over again. It is not that I am not forgiven by him or by God, but what I wanted to know is why is that same reaction coming out of me year after year, week after week, so that I am having to ask for forgiveness over and over again. Can you relate?

While I was out walking the dog this morning, the Lord and I were discussing this and what He showed me I want to share with you. 1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There is a three step process here and I was missing the third step.

First we must acknowledge our sin, many people hurt others with their reactions, their words, their whatever and do not see it is as sin so move on and the person is left in their room crying alone from what we did. Thank God for people that share with us when what we said hurt them, but for those that don’t we need to be more self-aware to see when we are hurting someone else, for this is sin. Secondly, we must confess our sin. You can’t or won’t confess what you do not think you did wrong, even when confronted by someone, who had great courage to share you hurt them. Confession is more often specific than it is general. Thirdly, we need to be cleansed from ALL unrighteousness. This is the step I needed. Unrighteousness is anything that is out of alignment.

I saw what I did and was doing, I confessed, but I wanted to not do it again, and the Lord said, “You need to be cleansed from all unrighteousness.” I agreed and asked for the Lord to cleanse me from all unrighteousness; set me free from anything in me that is out alignment for my reaction is not right and I need God’s help to fix it. Oh the freedom of acknowledging sin, confessing sin and being cleansed from all unrighteousness. We need all three to truly be free. This helped me so much and I hope it helps you.