The Power of Confession

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-

Crazy stuff happened today at our school's Sierra Summit dining hall. At around 12:30 I met up with Garrett, just the coolest guy ever and a junior who's heading to Chile for a year of studying abroad in January, just to catch up with him and give him a copy of Heart Songs by the Hendricksons, a copy of Impact's 2nd year DVD, and a mix of all the oily worship songs.

A bit of background:
The first time I met Garrett was at the Why Not Here? Lounge at Revelle College, for he works there selling snacks, renting out pool table and bikes. Yeah it was on the afternoon after I lead Kevin to Christ(the Kevin I wrote about yesterday!), I saw him on library walk and started to tell him all about what happened that night--how Kevin called me and we had a two-hour talk until 2am. He was really encouraged and asked me to stop by the lounge after my Econ class at 5pm. So I did and ever since I've been stopping by and saying hi or simply chill around, or sharing life with one another. I remember we looked at the beginning of Saul's conversion--after he was blinded for three days, Ananias was called by God to heal Saul and baptize him with water and Spirit. He gave me some tips of how to disciple--like Ananias did to Saul. Even though we've only met for two months, we both felt that we've known each other for a really long time. God really connect us together in our spirits.

Back to lunch:
Then we just started to chat about our lives over the past couple weeks since our last talk. I shared with him my A Person A Day challenge and I told him that he was my Day-9 person(he was very honored lol)! After just chatting and all that I started to share with him Jack's message two weeks ago about building foundation on the Rock and also Pastor David's heavy-loaded message on Rev. 7 & 20 this past Sunday. I also shared with him about end time. He was curious about this since this idea of "Jesus coming in our lifetime" is completely new to him. We looked through Rev. 7 and understood more of the content. I felt really heavy when I was sharing for the message itself really carried loads of undiscovered fruit. He asked me why I would think that the end time is coming in our generation. I tried to answer yet I couldn't find the right chapter.

Garrett, if you're reading this right now, I found the chapter-Matthew 24. These are the Words that have come to pass in the present time--false prophets, wars between nations like never before, the #'s of martyrs have reached a new high year after year all over the world. And I would say verse 14 is the critical one--preach this gospel of the kingdom in the WHOLE WORLD as a testimony to ALL NATIONS, AND THEN the end will come. I cannot really explain it well, but I hope you've now got some idea about it! If you wish more explanation about it, go check out International House Of Prayer's Conference Notes. There are just so many goodies from that website. Go surf around! There are so many treasures in it!

Anyhow, as I kept on eating(he didn't eat so he was laughing at how I ate with my mouth open lol oh well...)he read the Beatitudes(Matt. 5) and started to share with me how he's been feeling these days--sometimes up and sometimes down. He also told me that I have a pure heart and I'm really open up, simply want to pour out God's love and presence. I was very much encouraged. And then I also told him that he is a man of faith and encouragement; he also has the skill of making different types of friends. Moreover, he's changing people's lives by just saying hi and joking around; I felt that more and more will just turn to Christ because they want to be as happy and encouraging like Garrett every time they see him. No joke. That was how I felt. After I finished eating, we then read aloud Jeremiah 31 and then Isaiah 61--both talk about God's promise of healing and bringing His people together as one. What's really powerful is that we both found out that both chapters are not only connected with each other but also strongly connected with Revelation 7:14-17! God will wipe away every tear from their eyes(Rev. 7:17b, Jer. 31:16, Isaiah 61:3)!

Then we started to be still and just asked more of His presence to fall upon us. I then started to pray for Him to give me revelations and visions He has for Garrett. As I was asking God, Garrett started to pray. I did not pay much attention to what he was praying since I was also praying inside.

It wasn't until he started to confess his sins before me and God out of a sudden that I started to focus on him, with a surprised heart and spirit.

After he has confessed what he's done, I prayed for him and told him that I used to have the same struggle that he has right now and I was freed from the heavy chain when I went to the Supernatural Conference a month ago. Then I also confessed my sins before him and the Lamb. Sometimes I would really have this "hate" thoughts coming into my mind and I would start to judge others by their so-called "worldly" behaviors. I asked God to forgive me once again and grant me His eyes and heart because I cannot see the beauty inside of others unless through His eyes of mercy(Jasmine, that's your poem!). We started to sing Shane & Shane's Vision of You and Jason Upton's In Your Presence. We were once again filled with his spirit as we were praying in one accord, in tongue and in words. This is really my first time to confess ALL sins before a brother and ask for prayer of healing. It felt weird in the beginning, yet when God's presence overwhelmed us, I couldn't help but raise my hand and praise him. Man, I love Your presence. All fear is gone in Your presence. Woah.

I also pray that God would not stop revealing Himself in new and refreshing ways to Garrett and to me as he did today. And I really do hate to see Garrett leave for Chile! He told me that I would definitely find a brother to pray with and confess sins with in the future year, and he told me that right there he really felt his chains broken and free from the bondage of the worldly things. Jesus I just want to give you all the credit, cause all we did was to "put Your Words into practice" as You said in Matthew 7:24! We adore Your love and Your Words!

If more and more believers would start and confess their sins before one another and to Him, the Day would come faster than we could ever imagine. It's through bonding all believers' hearts together and strengthening one another through prayers and forgiveness that we can be more prepared for His coming.

I once again thank You Jesus for a BREAKTHOUGH in my life(of course, this year of breakthrough is not over yet!) Praise You for all You've done and what You're doing in me and in Garrett. Please let us be with You just a bit longer. We MUST have You every minute because without You, we are so vulnerable to the world and to the Devil. Lord I ask for new wineskins in our lives that we will not be afraid of Devil's accusation of our past sins because You have made us new and washed our robes with the blood of the Lamb over and over again. You are soooooo good!

One last note about a verse we also looked at today:

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.
-1 John 1:7-

Isn't it fascinating to notice that this verse doesn't say that if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God; rather it says that we have fellowship with one another. Still don't quite understand the meaning of this verse. I'll definitely spend more time pondering over this. God Your thoughts are mind-boggling(and mind-opening too!)!!

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Praise the Lord! I passed the Writing Exam(which means that I don't have to retake the course again)! Thank You for all the prayer supports! He is truly faithful! I had my math exam tonight and it went quite alright. Before the exam I prayed a simply prayer that God would pour His favor over me. I ended up, after 3 full hours of having my brain drenching, feeling pretty good about the exam even though I was very uncertain about 4 questions....but anyhow, still praise Him for two exams are over! Lord now I just pray that You have favor over my grades for I really want at least a B+ in math! I also pray that I will utilize tomorrow and Thursday efficiently for studying, hanging out with friends, and spending time with You. I can't wait for tomorrow!!!! Hmm....I'd say God tasted like a new cuisine--unexpected!

Give me more of You!!
Johnny