Our Confession
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God unless we learn to do it by faith. I believe that our faith is measured by our confession. Our usefulness in the Lord's work is measured by our confession. So sooner or later we become what we confess.
There is a confession of our heart, and a confession of our lips. A spiritual law that we need to recognize is that our confessions rule us.
James 3:2 "For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." Notice that our own words effect or bridle our whole body. James went on to say in verse 3 about putting bits in the mouth to turn about the whole body. Of course he spoke this about a horse, but he had man in mind, because in verse 5 he began talking about the little member of our body, the tongue.
In verse 6, James says: "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." It defiles the whole body. But the law comes into being in verse 10: "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." The tongue is the member that can curse us or bless us.
When the confession of our lips perfectly harmonizes with the confession of our hearts, and these two confessions confirm God's Word, then we become mighty in our lives. When we confess His Lordship and our hearts fully agree, then we turn our lives over into His care, and that is the end to worry, the end of fear, and the beginning of faith.
Jesus said, "Thy faith has made thee whole." It was the faith of the person that made them whole. Faith is believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. Paul said in Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Paul said in Romans 10:10.."For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made salvation." Again it's our confession, our mouth, our tongue, having control over our bodies.
Hebrews 4:14, "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." Our profession is our confession. So having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Your words are your confession. They confirm or deny the Word of God. To maintain your confession and hold fast to your confession is the secret of success and victory in your life.
Hold fast your confession that God laid upon Jesus your sin and that gives you eternal life, hold fast to your confession that by His stripes you are healed, and that gives you your healing. Hold fast to your confession that "Nay, in all these things, ye are more than conquerors," and you are a conqueror. Hold fast to your confession that "My God shall supply every need of yours," and every need is supplied.
If you waiver in your confession, and deny your confession, then you annul the Word as far as you are concerned. Your confession in your "estimation" of the value of the Word of God. Jesus said that "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and life."
Now faith (faith filled words), this is what God wants us to walk in. He wants us to put them into practice in our lives. Our confession will show others our trust in God or our confidence in His Word. Remember, he who lives in the Word and lets the Word live in him, he who practices the Word and acts upon it, is the one who reveals the Father.
On the other hand... few of us realize that our confession imprisons us. The right kind of confessions will set us free, but the wrong confession will bring us into bondage. It is what we confess with our lips that really dominates our inner man. God uses faith filled words and satan uses fear. We unconsciously confess what we believe. If we talk weakness and failure, it is because we believe in weakness and failure. In the same way we speak faith the same way we speak fear. The same law is in effect (blessing or cursing, faith or fear).
Some years back a dear Saint attended the same church as I told me one day his greatest fear. He said that he feared that cancer would come upon him and that he would die from it. Just like Job, "the thing that he feared the most came upon him." A short time later I was preaching his funeral. His confession caused him to become more fearful and his confession caused cancer to grow.
If we confess our lack and we build up a sense of lack, then it gains the supremacy in our lives.
Revelation 12:11 says, "And they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb, and because of the word of their testimony." Their :confession" they conquered the devil with words.
David Peoples