Step 5 - We admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs

Psa 32:3  When I kept silence, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.
Psa 32:4  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me: my strength is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
Psa 32:5  I acknowledged my sin unto you, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Psa 32:6  For this shall every one that is godly pray unto you in a time when you may be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near unto him.
Psa 32:7  You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

This is a powerful passage that speaks about the cleansing power of confession to God. David writes in the Psalms that when he kept silence his bones grew old, but when he confessed his sins the Lord forgave his iniquity. David then calls the Lord his hiding place. This is the truth we often find in our confession. When we try to hide our addictive behaviors then it happens so often that our sins become known to others and we find shame and disgrace. But when we confess our sins to God, then in His grace we find a place of hiding, a place of safety from our shame and guilt. We can begin to sing songs of deliverance. 

Mat 3:5  Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, 
Mat 3:6  And were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 

Here we see the response to the preaching of John the Baptist and his calls for repentance. This was before Jesus had been introduced as the Messiah, the Chosen One. Nevertheless, we still find that people instinctively confessed their sins as they went through the process of baptism, repentance and cleansing. The truth circulated in 12 step circles that "we are as sick as our secrets" must have been written on the human heart for a long, long time. For here, approximately 2000 years ago, when people sought wholeness and healing, then confession was a part of that process. 

Act 19:18  And many that believed came, and confessed, and told of their deeds. 
Act 19:19  Many of them also who used magic arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 
Act 19:20  So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. 

This passage comes from the time when the apostle Paul was in Ephesus. After many demonstartions of the power of the Gospel, many began to believe in the Lord and confessed their deeds. Confession again seems to be part of the act of true repentance. Reflective of that time and place, there was also apparently quite a bit of magic being practiced, which often goes along with idolatry. Part of their repentance in this case was to burn the books that they had used for magic. In a parallel for our lives, we need to get rid of our sources of temptation as far as is possible (given the constraints of our living a godly life) so that they will no longer be a source of idolatry for us. In this way, the word of God can also prevail in our lives and give us the true freedom that is found in Christ. 

Jam 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 

James tells us that we should confess our faults to each other, and in so doing we may find healing. This is a powerful means that God has given us to find healing through an honest, trusting fellowship with each other, and finding healing through confession. 

1Jo 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here we have the principle of confession put in a very clear and straightforward way. We are to confess our sins, and God will be faithful to forgive our sins. To whom do we confess our sins? This verse does not say explicitly, but we can surmise that it is at least to the Lord, since He is the one doing the cleansing because of this. This does not preclude confession to others, either. As we see from the passage in James 5:16, confession is also pleasing when we confess to one another.