Key takeaways:
1) God demands our full honesty
2) Confession helps to clear the spaces in our heart for God to come in

Honesty
- Start by asking your kids if they have any secrets they feel they are unable to share with anyone.
Ask them how they would feel if you would know about the secret.
Jesus however, knows all our deepest and darkest secrets. And it is impossible for us to hide it from him. Every good deed, wrong actions, bad decisions, God knows them all.
- Ask the kids why we should continue to tell God about our lives and our actions good or wrong.
Read Acts chapter 5:1-11
This is the story of Ananias and Sapphira
- Why did God strike them down?
- Why does God still want our full honesty even though he knows everything about us?
- How do we come clean and be honest to God?
Do question 1: Read through the verses and tell your kids that confession is how we own up and be honest to God.
Confession
Read the passage on Charles Robertson in the guide if you want to. (Optional)
- Ask your kids if they know what confession is. Or if they have ever confessed to God before
- If your kids have confessed to God before, ask them how do they feel after that? Do they feel rejuvenated? Do they feel relieved? Or maybe they do not feel any change?
Do question 2
Do question 3 : Flip to Psalm 51 and read verses 1-5, 10-14. Explain to the kids that this is the psalm that King David wrote when the prophet Nathan came to him when he had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Verses 10-14 tells us that confessing our sins is not just telling God about what sins we have committed but asking God to really clean our souls inside out. By confessing our sins, God takes away all the residue of the sin away. The guilt, the pain, the lingering memory of the sin, the fear of committing the same sin again, God will take all these things away and replace them with a clean heart, the holy spirit, Joy, Peace and Love.
Many times when we confess our sins we merely tell God what we have done wrong but we have not let God take control of the Sin. If God does not take control of the sin, the residue (mentioned above) from the sin will still remain in you and eventually it will cripple your relationship with God. Therefore it is vital to come to God with a prepared heart and an open soul to let God take over the sin.
Do question 4
Read the passage on Honest Worship (Compulsory)
Read Mark 14:66-72
- What do you think caused peter to deny Jesus?
- How do you think Peter felt after he realised what he had just done?
Read John 21:15-19
Jesus knew what peter had done. But he also knew how sorry and how upset peter felt about it. Although not recorded in the bible, Peter most likely confessed his sins to Jesus or talked to him about it. When Jesus asked Peter if he loved him 3 times, it was not to make fun of Peter or to insult his faith but rather to reaffirm Peter that Jesus still loves him and trust him to take care of his sheep (us).
Read Acts Chapter 2: 22-24
This is Peter after Jesus reaffirmed him. See the difference? After the cleaning of his soul and the confession, Peter became a lot stronger, more convicted and even more determined to do Gods work. This is what confession can bring out from us. It clears the guilt from us and empowers us to continue doing God’s work.
When we confess our sins, God also reaffirms us that he still loves us all the same and that no sin could ever break you apart.
However if we do not confess our sins, God cannot come back into our lives to continue to rectify the sin or issue that we are facing. When that happens we, our relationship with God will cease to grow and eventually we might find ourselves spiralling down away from God in the worst case scenario. Just like what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. (Although you most likely will not die like them)
Do Question 5
Do question 6

Sometimes when we sin, we feel absolutely terrible and even though we confess our sins to God we still feel like there is a chain attached to the sin. There is a feeling that you cannot let go. A fear of committing the same sin again and that if people knew about the sin you committed, they would think really badly of you. But Jesus sees pass these sins. Because of the God’s Grace and his Love for us, the chains of each sin has been broken, you do not have to feel the fear of that sin anymore. Let God Break the chains of sin for you do no continue to live in fearing the same sin or ashamed of the sin. God’s grace and love is all that matters and nothing you could ever do could make him love you any less.

- Reflect with the kids on having an honest heart with God
- Encourage them to consistently confess their sins to God so that God can continue to work and mould their soul.

by Alden