“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16). James says that we must confess our faults one to another. We regard confession almost exclusively as an admission of guilt or wrongdoing, but if we are only using confession in this way, we are grossly underutilizing the power of confession. It is important to confess to those closest to us when we are at fault, but it is equally important to confess with them our faults and weaknesses and struggles. This practice of discussing with our loved ones and friends the biggest challenges in our lives is not just so that they can have greater insight into what's going on with our lives and why we do the things we do, although this is a key benefit from confessing our faults with each other. Confessing is only half of the picture. Once our loved ones know our faults, and once we know theirs, not only will we understand and have compassion for them and hopefully judge them less harshly and less unjustly, but we will also pray for them. And not just in a generic, unspecified manner, but with a clearly identified fault to be healed by the grace and power of our Savior. We all want the best for each other, but we will only pray for each other to be healed if we first know that there are faults and weaknesses that need healing. So many of us suffer needlessly because we keep those closest to us in the dark about what we are struggling with the most, and thus we deny others the opportunity to offer effectual, fervent, and, perhaps most importantly, specific prayers that can avail much if we will but let them. Confessing to and praying for each other will dramatically increase the effectiveness of our prayers and we will find that we can be healed so much more quickly and completely when we engage in this practice.
