confession

Confession, for the believer, restores fellowship rather than relationship. ~ Matt Massey

Confession (1 Jn 1.9) involves three things:

1) examination of the heart

[In confession] we are inviting God to move upon the heart and show us areas that need His forgiving and healing touch. ~ Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

2) sorrow

3) determination to avoid sin

Give me one hundred [people] who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, ... such alone will shake the gates of Hell and establish the kingdom of heaven upon earth. ~ John Wesley