Romans 10:5-8:
For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth these things shall live by them.
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
But what saith it? The word is nigh (near) thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.
This passage of scripture begins by telling us what we don’t say. What we don’t say is, “Oh, I wish Jesus could come down from heaven and stand next to me and just be with me to meet my need.” Jesus has done all He is going to do to conquer Satan by spending three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, being raised from the dead, ascending into heaven, and being seated at the right hand of the Father. Everything has been done. For Jesus to come back down from heaven would be for Him to say, “Oops! There are a few things I forgot to do while I was on earth.”
For us to ask Jesus to come back to the earth to do something for us is tantamount to saying, “The cross wasn’t complete—the resurrection wasn’t complete. When you ascended into heaven, it wasn’t enough. There is more You need to do.” These verses are saying, “Don’t pray for Jesus to come and touch you—to come and meet your need.”
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and He left us His Word. The answers we are seeking are nearer than the person of Jesus could ever be. Verse 8 tells us the answer is “in your mouth and in your heart.” Everything we need to live an overcoming, victorious Christian life—everything we need to conquer Satan and the trials of life has already been given to us. The answers do not require the physical return of Jesus to earth. The answers require putting the Word of God in our heart and professing it with our mouth. The same creative power God had when He created the universe is the same power given to us!
Romans 10:5 says again, “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth these things shall live by them.” This verse is simply saying if you get caught up in the law it will become part of your everyday life and you won’t be able to break away from it. If you get caught up in the works of the law, it will literally encompass and envelope your life and you will never be free from working, working, working in trying to please God.
Satan’s devices never change. If you are working, trying to please God, Satan will always whisper in your ear, “You’re not doing enough.” You may have led five people to the Lord and Satan will whisper, “You should have led six people.” You may have studied your Bible for three hours, prayed for two, and worshiped for thirty minutes and the devil will still say, “You haven’t done enough!”
No matter how hard you work, if you are working to earn righteousness—to somehow please God, you will never be able to do enough. It is the Word that brings deliverance. It is the promises of God that will deliver you, not self effort.
Confession is not works. Confession is not, “I know if I say it enough God will feel sorry for me and will heal me. Maybe if I confess the Word fifty times or maybe even a hundred times, it will force God to meet my needs.”
Confession never changes God; it changes you! Fasting is good, but if you’re fasting to change God, you won’t accomplish anything. You may say to God, “I’m going to fast until You move in my behalf.” But God says, “Well, I guess you’re going to be hungry because your fasting is not going to change what I’ve already done!”
Often we give tithes thinking our tithe will prompt God to move. But tithing doesn’t move God; it just puts us in a position to receive from God. Even prayer doesn’t change God. We can pray day and night and God won’t change. But we may change and our mind may become quiet enough to hear what God is saying! The same is true with confession. Often we will confess, confess, confess thinking that somehow our confession will move God. But confession builds our faith to receive from God.
Romans 10:6:
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise…
I had often taught and thought this verse said, “Faith speaks.” But God illuminated this scripture in a way I had never seen it before. Faith does not speak—righteousness speaks! The righteousness which came by faith speaks, not the righteousness that came by the law. The righteousness that entered your heart when you were born again desires to say something. It is not you that changes things; it’s the righteousness in you that changes things! The righteousness in your heart desires to be released!
The world can never change your righteousness because “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” The world cannot change your righteousness but your righteousness can change the world. I need righteousness to be released. I need to work out my salvation with fear and trembling so the circumstances around me can be changed. As I work out my righteousness—as I work out my salvation with fear and trembling so circumstance around me can be changed, sin symptoms coming against me can be turned around. I can resist the things of the world because of the righteousness in me desires to speak out.
Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Again, this verse is referring to works. The works of the law try to manipulate God to send Jesus from heaven and give you some kind of vision, some kind of special touch into your life when the Word is so close to you. The Word is in your heart and in your mouth. Righteous lives inside a born again believer and says, “Quit trying to bring Him down from heaven. Listen to me on the inside. I can change the circumstances. I can heal sickness. Just release me through the words of your mouth.” In the same way God changed circumstances and spoke the creation into existence, you can change circumstances and cause things to come to pass as you speak your righteousness!
When righteousness speaks out, it speaks out against every enemy coming against it. Sin is not my enemy alone; it is also the enemy of righteousness. Sickness is not my enemy alone; it is also the enemy of righteousness. Temptations of this world are not my enemy alone; they are also the enemy of the righteousness of God that is on the inside of me.
Verse 6 is not referring to the voice of faith. Verse 6 is referring to the voice of the nature of our recreated human spirits. We have been made in God’s image. The part of us that has been recreated into His image is the spirit on the inside of us. This is where righteousness lives. Righteousness lives in our heart and that is why it is so close to you. Righteousness in your heart wants to speak out and as it does, it causes circumstances and situations to change.
Everything that God created had seeds of reproduction in it. When God made the plants, within each plant was the power to reproduce. Animals had the power to reproduce. And God gave man the ability to reproduce. Within God Himself are the seeds of reproduction. We have been born of incorruptible seed according to the Word of God. Man’s physical body came from corruptible seed, but the spirit within man is born of incorruptible seed. Righteousness lives in the heart of all who receive salvation.
God is simply saying, “You have spoken what is on your mind for years. You have spoken what your eyes have seen and your ears have heard for years. Why don’t you begin to speak out what is down on the inside of you. Why don’t you begin to allow My righteousness speak through you. Why don’t you let Me speak through you and see how powerful you can really be!”
The new creation reduplicates itself by the spoken words of our mouth. Our confession builds our faith as we speak the Word of God.
Romans 10:8:
But what saith it? The word is nigh (near) thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.
In both instances, the Greek word for “word” in this passage is “rhema.”
Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Again, the Greek word for “word” is “rhema.” There are actually two translations for “word” in the Greek. The first is “logos.” This is the written Word of God—the Bible you hold in your hand contains the logos of God. It is good and it is powerful but it will not change your life until it becomes rhema to you. Rhema is the second Greek word and it means “the communicated Word of God.”
You may have Bibles lying all around your house. Many people will go to hell who have Bibles in their homes. Just because you have the logos around you doesn’t mean it will change your life.
Rhema is the spoken Word of God. But even more than that, as mentioned previously, it is the communicated Word of God. Just because you hear someone speaking the Word today does not mean it is rhema unless you hear it and understand it. Rhema is God’s Word that has been illuminated in your heart. Often people will say, “Wow! That Scripture just became rhema to me!” In other words, suddenly you had revelation in your heart. What was once black words on a white page suddenly becomes life to you.
Just because you hear someone preach a message from the Word does not mean your needs will be met. The spoken Word must become rhema. You must have an understanding of the Word being taught.
You may go home and listen to a tape or watch a video or have a book to read in your home and it may minister rhema to you. But there is something more powerful than the voice of the pastor—more powerful than the voice of the evangelist, more powerful than a tape, video, or book. The most powerful voice in your life is your own voice—what you say and hearing yourself say it.
God didn’t say, “The word of God is nigh thee, even in thy pastor’s mouth,” or “The word of God is nigh thee, even in the evangelist’s mouth.” God said the Word is near you, even in your heart and in your mouth. The true power comes when you hear yourself speak the Word of God!
Romans 4:13:
For the promise, that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
One day, Abraham discovered the difference between the law and faith. He hadn’t even been given the law, yet he was trying in his own strength to make it come to pass.
Even before the Ten Commandments were given, Abraham was trying to please God by his own works and one day he realized it could not be done. One day Abraham realized he could only please God through the righteousness of faith.
I believe Abraham had righteousness all that time but he just wouldn’t let it work. God kept trying to get through to Abraham, “Let me do it Abraham,” and Abraham kept trying to help God through his own works. Abraham tried to help God for twenty-five years before he finally said, “Okay God, You do it!” All those years is was Abraham’s self-effort until finally he received revelation of the righteousness of God through faith.
Romans 4:14-17:
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise of none effect:
Because the law works wrath: for where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were.
Abraham discovered through the righteousness of faith that God calls those things which be not as though they were. Suddenly, from his inward man, righteousness began to speak. That righteousness spoke in the midst of the situation and Abraham began to call those things that be not as though they were.
It is not the number of times you speak the Word that is important. It is how many times it takes until you finally understand and comprehend the Word. The important thing is to not make it into a formula. Making confession a formula is works. You cannot bribe God, twist His arm, or force Him to meet your needs by confessing the Word a certain number of times. Confession does not change God. Confession changes you! Confession simply puts you in a position to receive what God has been wanting to give you!
Some may wonder what the term “empty confession” means. This is when a person quotes the Word but they don’t mean a word they are speaking. They just keep saying their confession over and over and over again mindlessly by rote. There is nothing worse than a Christian repeating the Word over and over again when they really don’t mean what they’re saying. Somehow they have turned the Word of God into a formula without any expectation to their confession.
Joshua 1:8:
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therin day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
The word “meditate” includes confession. This verse is teaching us not to confess with Word without meditating and that meditation should include confession. In Hebrew, the word for “meditate” is “hagah.” It means “to imagine, study, mutter, and speak.” Hagah does not mean to simply think about the Word. It means as you are thinking about the Word, allow it to come out of your heart. As you’re thinking, imagining, and studying the Word, also speak it. As you allow the Word of God to become part of your heart in this way, the words of your mouth become powerful.
As you study the Word, it becomes part of your heart. As you confess the Word, you water it and it begins to grow. But often, Christians confess the Word without first planting that Word in their heart. We are to plant the seed of God’s incorruptible Word—study it, pray over it, meditate on it, and get it into our heart. Then, we are to begin to confess that Word and as we do, we are watering that Word and a crop will grow that will set us free!
Proverbs 4:20-22:
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
This passage of Scripture indicates that we must search out the truths of the Word of God. We need to dig them out by opening up a concordance or commentary or topical Bible.
If you need healing in your body, look up the Scriptures dealing with healing in one of the many Bible study aids available in book form or online.
Next, you need to study the Scriptures you find. This does not mean to simply read the Scriptures. As you read each word in a verse, stop on each word. Think about what you are reading. Find out what some of the Hebrew or Greek words mean in the verse you are studying. The Bible does not tell us to read to show ourselves approved; it says to study to show ourselves approved!
Next, you need to think about the verse or verses you are studying. Replace other thoughts with the Word. This is how illumination come. As you think and think about a Scripture, suddenly you receive a revelation. The word “meditate” in the Hebrew is actually used to describe a cow chewing cud and then swallowing it and then chewing it again. This is an accurate illustration of mediation.
Fourth, you need to confess the Scriptures so you can hear yourself say them. Speak the Word so you can hear it with your own ears. That does not mean you need to scream out the Word. Just speak it so you ears can hear it.
As you confess the Word, you need to expect the manifestation of the Word you have been confessing. If you are believing for healing, you don’t have to keep begging God to heal you. You don’t have to wait to get to the pastor to receive your healing. The Word is closer than the pastor’s sermon on Sunday. It is even closer than God’s throne, because the Word is in our heart and in your mouth! You are carrying the potential to get rid of any disease or any attack on your life through meditation of the Word in your heart and the words of your mouth!
Confession for Healing:
I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. My righteousness came by faith in the finished work of Jesus, not by my own works. My righteousness speaks and declares, I am holy ground, the temple of the Holy Spirit. My righteousness is eternal. I am not a sinner getting rid of sin. I am the righteous resisting temptations. I am healed. I was healed at the cross by the stripes of Jesus. He has already taken my infirmities and born my sicknesses. If Jesus took them and if Jesus bore them, I need not bare them. I have been healed since I was saved. My healing is eternal. Nothing can change that. I am not the sick trying to be healed. I am the healed resisting symptoms of infirmity and disease. I have been bought with a price. I will glorify God in my body. Sickness is an unholy enemy. Sickness is an unholy enemy, trying to stand on holy ground, a trespasser on private, sacred property and a thief in the temple of the Holy Spirit. God has sent His Word and healed me and delivered me from all of my afflictions. His promises are medicine and health to all my flesh. The anointing of the Holy Spirit has also been sent to heal every part of my being, both emotional and physical. The same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead quickens my mortal body. No plague will come nigh my dwelling. I am under the shadow of the Almighty. Jehovah Rapha is my covenant Healer, and with the stripes of Jesus, I was and am healed. Sickness, leave my body in Jesus’ name!
If you like this outline, check out The Power of Confession at the BYM Store.
Copyright 2009 by Bob Yandian Ministries.
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