New Testament Reading Plan: 1 John 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
James 5:16-18 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you
may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was
a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years
and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and
the earth bore its fruit. (ESV)
Many Christians often misquote this passage of scripture. Look closely, the Bible teaches
that the prayer of a RIGHTEOUS person has great power. And who is the righteous person
according to this passage? The person who has been confessing their sins! This is why we do
encounters here at Southland. Confession and repentance are one of the primary pipelines
through which God’s grace can flow into your life. And so, Encounter Retreats are the practical
tool we have put together to help people do that and to teach people how to do that. If you’ve
never been on an Encounter Retreat I want to HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you do that! If
you’ve only ever been on one retreat I highly recommend that you go again! And if you have
any major sin issues in your life that need to be dealt with I highly recommend that you sign up
for one of those retreats. And it’s not that you have to go on a retreat in order to confess and
repent – not at all! But when you’re on the retreat you’re going to learn all kinds of principles of
confession and repentance, and you’re going to learn how to bring these principles into the rest
of your life.
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Southland now offers three retreats – Encounter is the first one, once you go to that one
you can then go to Empower and if you are married you can go to the Marriage Retreat.
Spend some time in prayer, asking the Lord if He would like you to go to a retreat. Which
one?
2. Another way to grow in righteousness is to join a cell group. In fall, Connect Cell will start
up again for married couples of any age and singles over the age of 25. Pray about your
involvement in a cell group.
3. Ask the Lord to help you grow in daily repentance and confession.
