Confessing Your Sins from Your Past:

Mental Health Activity for Teens

How to Work Through the Sins of Your Past

Warning: This exercise is not meant to deal with past trauma or abuse. Seek a professional counselor for those situations. If at anytime you begin to feel depressed or dark emotions, stop immediately. Seek help. This is a testimony of something that has worked in my life. I am not a professional counselor.

Steps to A Confession Cleanse

A Mental Health Activity for Teens

It can be a lot easier to recognize sins that are behind us. Most of us can remember times we were naughty as little kids. Did you realize that you might be carrying around the weight of those past sins?

Your age will determine how long this process will take. If you are fifteen, you might be able to get through this in a night or two. If you are fifty, it could take a month to clean out those unconfessed sins.

Either way, I can tell you from experience that it is worth the time investment. Let me share with you how I have done this.

1. It is important to find a peaceful place that is free from interruptions.

This is about what works for you. Day or Night? Sitting or walking? Alone or in a busy place? Close your eyes or not?

Headphones can be a great way to block out noise. Christian Music. To keep your heart and mind on Jesus.

Grab a journal. For notes.

2. Begin by declaring who Jesus is.

Jesus, you are:

My Friend. Savior. Powerful. Faithful. Redeemer. Perfect. Alive. Peace. Healer. Real. A Strong Tower. With Me

3. Talk to Jesus. Explain that you want help to work through the sins.

Take the time to have a real conversation about why you want to do this.

Ask for the Holy Spirit to protect your heart and mind from anything negative. The purpose of remembering past sins is to get rid of them. Not to give them power.

Deal with any skepticism or doubt you have about the power of prayer.

You may only get through steps 1-3 the first time.

4. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind the earliest memories of times when you were naughty or even rebellious.

When a memory comes to mind:

• If you have already confessed this sin, then state- I am forgiven and move on.

• Name the sin

• Reflect on why you did it. What did you believe? Or what did you gain or avoid from this behavior?

• Ask for forgiveness

Allow the Holy Spirit to bring memories to mind as He wants to deal with them.

Each confession means you have thrown off the weight of that sin.

5. As you work through the confession, make note if you begin to see a common pattern.

Ask the Holy Spirit to uncover damage that may have been caused by this sin pattern. He may want to have you work through it at that time or you may need to come back to it later.

It is important to let the Holy Spirit lead you through this process. It will be different for each person.

Power Move:  If you still struggle with this sin, give it to Jesus, and ask what he has in exchange.

6. Don't feel like you have to tackle everything at once. It is okay to stop and come back another day. God can help you peel off your sins in layers.

NOTE: If you decide to journal, keep it in a safe place. You don't want it to get into the wrong hands.

Did You Miss Part 1?

Confession Cleanse: A Mental Health Activity for Teens (Part 1)