Topic: Tell God About It [RICK WARREN Devotional 4 July  2024]

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Tell God About It

BY RICK WARREN — JULY 4, 2024
FROM HOW GOD MEETS YOUR DEEPEST NEEDS

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

James 5:16 (NIV)

We all respond to hidden wounds in different ways. Some people act out. Other people get angry all the time. Others self-medicate with drugs or alcohol. Still others try to escape the pain by moving from relationship to relationship.

Yet the worst possible response to hidden wounds in your life is to just clam up. It’s like taking a soda bottle and shaking it up. One day, you’ll just pop!

You’ll never get over your hidden wounds until you face your feelings straight on by talking to God about them.

Bottling up your hidden wounds will wear you out. The Bible says, “When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me. I moaned all day long” (Psalm 32:3 NCV).

If you use up your emotional energy on the past, you’ll have little left for today. When you spend so much time on regret and resentment—thinking about how you’ll get even with people who have hurt you—you run out of energy for what matters in the here and now.

God has an answer for your pain: confession. You’ve got to admit your pain. Everything else is just a fruitless attempt to forget what ails you. You need to admit your pain to:

God
Yourself
One other person you trust

Many people want to move past their pain by admitting it to God and themselves and skipping the third part of the equation. Good luck! It’ll never work. 

Admitting your pain to others is absolutely essential. You won’t get well on your own. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (NIV).

You don’t need to confess to a pastor, a priest, or a therapist to obey James 5:16 (though you can). You just need a friend.

Open up about your hidden pain to that person. Tell them what hurts. As you confess to that person, to God, and to yourself, you just might find that long-lost energy you’ve been dreaming about.

Because revealing is the beginning of healing.

Talk It Over

• Is there a secret from your past that you’re having trouble letting go?
• Why is it sometimes frightening to be open with God about a painful memory? Why is it difficult to be open with yourself about a painful memory? Why is it hard to be open with others about a painful memory?
• Who can you open up with about pain from your past?

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