Ben, between you and I, I know we can go past salvation. We both know we are eternally saved and we don't need to confess our sins to maintain salvation,prove salvation or even work at quitting sin.
But we can quench or grieve the Spirit.........step out of Gods plan for our lives.
As believers we need to recognize when and where we stepped out of His plan for our lives.
Believers confessing their sin to God..... is the believer stopping and recognizing where they stepped out of His pre-designed plan for that particular individual. It is for our benefit, not His. We will live in fear, guilt, worry, if we live in overt sin or if we try to live in our own "good" deeds.
confessing our sin to God, is naming and siting anything that we have done apart from Him or faith....... Quenching or grieving the Spirit.
This brings us back into His pre-designed plan for the believer. It has nothing to with our salvation in Christ, but everything to do with Glorifying Him in our own personal volition in this present age.
But we can quench or grieve the Spirit.........step out of Gods plan for our lives.
As believers we need to recognize when and where we stepped out of His plan for our lives.
Believers confessing their sin to God..... is the believer stopping and recognizing where they stepped out of His pre-designed plan for that particular individual. It is for our benefit, not His. We will live in fear, guilt, worry, if we live in overt sin or if we try to live in our own "good" deeds.
confessing our sin to God, is naming and siting anything that we have done apart from Him or faith....... Quenching or grieving the Spirit.
This brings us back into His pre-designed plan for the believer. It has nothing to with our salvation in Christ, but everything to do with Glorifying Him in our own personal volition in this present age.
Sin confession for most people is not just being open with the Lord but is a necessity in their walk or else. It is fear based. If they don't confess their sins they are in danger. This isn't healthy, as you would agree. As far as grieving the Holy Spirit, I see it as twofold. He is a person, with personal feelings and so how we treat Him brings an emotional response with it. Also, and then, we grieve Him because He cares for us, our actions have consequences and He wants us to walk in righteousness (to avoid those natural consequences).
Sin confession to the degree of just being open with the Lord, not hiding things, is fine. "If our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence towards God." You should be completely open with the Lord because there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ. It is not like being a criminal and going to the court and they penalize you. You are going to your heavenly Father and He cares for your well being. So yes, be open but just realize that sin confession for forgiveness' sake is equivalent to the yearly sacrifices of Israel instead of simply trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ (that took away sin, once and for all).