Because of the many abuses of the faith movement, some have shied away from the confession of faith and don’t have the slightest understanding of what confession has to do with the Christian life.
Many believe the only type of confession that exist is the confession of sins and of the lordship of Jesus. However, God has designed confession to be an integral part of bringing victory into our everyday life.
This confession is not the “name it and claim it.” Yet, there is a truth to that. When we know the promises of God, there is a naming of them and a claiming of them that God has given to us. This is not to be applied to our own lusts. We’re not to be naming things into our life that we really have no understanding of. Many ask and have not because they desire to heap it upon their own lusts.
We cannot claim people. Just because you may want someone to be your husband or wife doesn’t mean you can claim that person. This is an abuse of confession. On the other hand, we cannot throw out the teaching simply because it has been abused. God desires to prosper us in this life; He delights in the prosperity of His servant.
Confession unleashes the power of the life of faith within us. Faith is not meant to be kept on the pages of the Bible, nor is it designed to be kept within our hearts. Faith without corresponding action is dead. (See James 2:17.) Faith must be released and there are two ways we release faith in corresponding actions.
Colossians 3:17
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
God has intended that the faith which is in our heart be released by the words of our mouth and the actions of our life. Then, faith comes to its full potential as God has designed. We often focus solely on the actions of faith — laying hands on the sick, ministering to people’s needs — but we leave out the other part of the equation—the words of our mouth.
Romans 10:6
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 thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach. [quoted from Deuteronomy 30:14]
This is telling us it is senseless and useless to beg Jesus to come back from heaven and stand beside us when a need arises. But at one time or another, we have all wished that Jesus could physically walk into the room and take care of our need. That is saying, “The cross wasn’t enough. Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth wasn’t enough. Being seated at the right hand of the Father wasn’t enough. Jesus needs to get off the throne, come back to Earth, and personally take care of my need.”
Why did this verse say, “…to bring Christ down from above or to bring Christ again from the dead”? When Jesus died on the cross, He descended into the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. There He conquered sin and the curse that was against us. When He arose from the dead and sat down at the right hand of the Father, it wasn’t because He was tired. He didn’t flop down on the throne and say, “My God, it’s been thirty-three years! I’m glad that is over!” No, He sat down because the work was finished. There was nothing left to be done.
For Him to get off the throne and come back down to visit us personally is saying, “The cross wasn’t enough. The resurrection wasn’t enough. And sitting at the right hand of the Father isn’t enough.” When Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father, He gave us everything we need to overcome Satan and have victory in our life. God has given us His word and His Holy Spirit. Even if Jesus did come and stand next to us, the answer would be closer than Him standing there because the answer is in our heart and in our mouth. Our deliverance is in us, not on the outside of us. The answer is the word of faith which we preach, even hidden in our heart and spoken through our mouth. The word of faith is the declaration of the Word of God. It is the power that is released when we speak God’s Word which is hidden in our heart.
The Word of God in the Bible is the raw power we need. We take His Word and hide it in our heart by studying and meditating on it, by going to church, by listening to the service, by reading books, and by listening to sermons throughout the week. That is hiding the Word in our heart, but that is simply the first step. The next step is to release the Word of God by the power of the words we speak.
It is more than simply speaking words. Our words should either be the Word of God or words which line up with the Word of God. It is the Word of God in our speech that brings power into our life, much like the ability of Jesus to say to Satan three times, “It is written, it is written, it is written.” It took study and meditation to hide the Word in His heart, but it became powerful and stopped Satan when it was released by the words of His mouth.
Romans and in Galatians point out that Abraham was not only an example for the Jewish believers of the Old Testament, but also of the Church today. Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, we also believe the Lord. Abraham not only teaches about salvation by faith, but also about the walk of faith after we have received salvation.
When we became born again, a principle was set up in our life: we believed in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confessed with our mouth Jesus Christ as Lord. Believing in the heart and speaking with the mouth does not stop when we become born again. It carries on every day afterwards. If we can believe in our heart and speak with our mouth and get translated out of Satan’s kingdom into God’s kingdom, out of darkness into light, then that same principle will carry over into our physical life, our financial life, our family life, our job situation, and even our social life. Every aspect of our life would benefit by a power that took us out of death and into life and that principle can continue to work each and every day.
We can learn these principles by sitting under the greatest teachers of the world, but we can’t be with those teachers every day of our life. However, we can be with God all the time. Pastors can teach us faith, but God can teach it better. Pastors teach it and fail, but God can teach it and never fail.
Abraham decided to set his attention on God to learn about faith. What a great lesson for us today. So many people want to follow evangelists around the country and go from one meeting to another just to catch the glory. But, to save you thousands of dollars and lots of time, you can find the answer in God. Study Him from the Word and you will learn the principles of how faith works.
Romans 4:17
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations.) before him [God] whom he [Abraham] believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
The word before means in front of. If I am standing before you, I’m standing in front of you. This means that Abraham studied the One that he was in front of. He was in front of God — constantly face to face with God. He studied how God operated and he found a principle that is always true with God: God calls those things which be not as though they were. Abraham began to do the same thing.
Romans 4:19-20
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Verse 19 has been mistranslated in the King James Version but correctly translated in other versions. Scratch through the word not in verse 19. It doesn’t appear. Abraham did consider his own body; he did consider the deadness of Sarah womb, but he staggered not at the promise of God.
It is not wrong to look at your circumstances, but do not be moved by them. If your checkbook is in the red, don’t ignore your checkbook but don’t let it move you from the promises of God. God calls those things which be not as though they were.
Abraham didn’t look at himself and Sarah and say, “We’re not dead.” He looked at both of them and said, “No way. There is no way in the natural for us to have children.” But he found out that God took His promises and spoke them over the circumstances and the circumstances were changed by the unchanging Word of God.
The fact: Abraham and Sarah could not have a child. The truth: God said, “Yes, you will have a child.” The facts did not change the truth; the truth changed the facts. Are you speaking fact or are you speaking truth? It is okay to examine the facts, but speak the truth. Speak the truth over the thoughts and the thoughts will change.
We are so used to speaking the facts. “The doctor’s report said...” “The bank statement said…” “The counselor said…” We go down the list of all the reports of men, and they may be factual, but there is something that overrides them — the report of the Lord. The reports of men will not change the report of God, but the report of God will change the reports of men!
Romans 4:19-20
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Abraham learned this by watching how God operates. God operated one way and Abraham decided to operate the same way. Abraham noticed that God calls those things which be not as though they were.
Genesis 1:1-4
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. [The earth in Genesis 1 has already been created but darkness is covering it. There is deep water surrounding the earth and the earth is completely dead. It’s just a ball floating through space around the sun with no life to it.]
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good.
God said, “Let there be light.” The Hebrew says, “Light, be.” One translation says, “Light.” God saw darkness and said, “Light.”
Notice He didn’t say, “There is no darkness.” Christians run around saying, “There is no disease, there is no disease, there is no disease.” Or, “I don’t have a problem, I don’t have a problem, I don’t have a problem.” Speak the answer into the problem. God did not say there is no darkness because that would have been a lie. God does not lie. He’s not a man that He should lie. (See Numbers 23:19) God saw a problem and spoke the answer. He didn’t ignore the problem; He changed the problem with the Word.
We are so used to trying to ignore the problem or admitting there is not a problem when that is a lie. Confession is not a lie. We can’t ignore the facts. Abraham did not ignore the facts. He saw his body dead and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, but he staggered not at the promise of God. He placed the answer of God’s Word over the problem and the problem began to change.
God spoke it and it came to pass; then God saw it. We want to see it before we say it. We have to say it before we see it. We have to let God’s Word fill our lips.
Ephesians 6:16 says, Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. But we have Christians today who won’t lift up a shield. They just want to admit the fiery darts don’t exist. There is a real devil out there with real fiery darts. There are problems and persecution in life and we are to lift up the shield!
It doesn’t say we’ll quench some of the fiery darts. It says we’ll quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. But we have to lift up the shield of faith. Faith operates from our heart, spoken through our mouth to form a shield around us to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Don’t ignore the problem. See the problem for what it really is. Speak the answer into the problem. This should clarify prayer. Prayer is not telling God the circumstances. Let your prayers be what you desire, not what the problems are. Most people spend their time in prayer describing the problem to God. The Bible says, “Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.” (See Mark 11:24.)
Tell God what you want. Speak into your situation. When you see sickness, speak health. When you see lack, speak wealth. When you see poverty, speak prosperity. When you see financial trouble, speak financial blessing into the situation. God saw darkness and said, “Light.” After He said light, light came into being and Genesis 1:4 says, “He saw the light.”
The Word of God is in your heart. Speak it to the problem. Wait patiently on God. It will manifest and you will see it.
What is confession? Confession is simply speaking the Word of God into a situation. Confession is not just speaking anything you want. It is not positive confession. You can speak positively all you want and not change anything. It is not your positive outlook that will change the situation; it is the Word of God. You and your mind don’t have the ability to turn anything around. But you and the Word of God can turn any situation around. God is simply looking for a voice for His Word to be expressed. Sinners can speak positive words. Bookstores are full of self-help books for people trying to change things through their mind.
John 12:49-50
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”
Why can’t we be as smart as Jesus? Even Jesus didn’t just make things up and speak them. He spoke what His Father told Him to speak because those words contain life. We are to speak what God has declared in His Word to be true. It needs to become part of our vocabulary. We need to meditate on God’s Word day and night. (See Joshua 1:8). Then we will have great success in whatever we put our hand to. Wherever we go, great success will follow us.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Voice your desire. God spoke His desire into darkness and darkness became light. You are surrounded by darkness every day. It is time to start speaking light into those situations. Quit saying, “God, there is darkness. God, there is a problem.” He knows all that. He is waiting for you to say something He can use.
Instead, say, “God, in the midst of this darkness, I speak Your light.”
God says, “Fine, let’s go to work.” God is in the business of changing cursing into blessing, darkness into light, poverty into great wealth, and sin into forgiveness and righteousness.
John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
When God’s Word abides in you and you abide in God, you become so wrapped up with Him that what you say is in line with His Word. He says, “Ask that and I’ll see that it comes to pass.” This is the power of meditating on God’s Word and getting it into your heart.
Along with having God’s Word in our heart, we must learn to speak it through our mouth. The sad thing is many Christians speak God’s Word when they are in church, but the rest of the week they talk about the filth of the world. They fill their mouth with unbelief and doubt toward the things of God, but have a sudden revival when they get to church on Sunday morning.
James 3:10-11
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
In nature, there is no such thing as a fountain that shoots out bad water, then good water. Either the water is bad or the water is good.
If you want to find a total contradiction to nature, come to church. You’ll find people praising God out of one side of their mouth, and walk right out of church and speak bad about a brother or sister. You’ll see people in church praising God, then turn right around and use His name in vain. People will say, “Trust God,” while they are at church, but when they go to work on Monday morning they say, “What are we going to do?”
This is the behavior of a carnal Christian. His Word needs to become such a part of us that it literally comes out of us in every area of our life. We’re no different on Monday at the office than we are on Sunday at church. The same praises that come through our lips in church come from our lips on Monday morning. The same trust in God that comes out of our mouth during Sunday school comes out of our mouth during the week.
James 1:26
If any man among you seem to be religious [spiritual], and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion [spirituality] is in vain.
If you think you are spiritual and are following God, but you haven’t learned to bridle your tongue, you are deceiving yourself. The tongue is the great one that directs your life.
A rudder on a ship is not very large. James says it is probably one of the smallest pieces on the entire ship, yet it can turn the whole direction of the ship.
The tongue is probably one of the smallest members of your entire body, yet it can turn your whole life around. Your tongue can either set blessings in your life, or it can turn loose cursing in your life. One you learn to bridle your tongue, you can turn your life around and head it in the right direction.
Psalm 141:3
Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
The door of my lips is the heart. We are to set a guard over the words of our mouth. Our prayer should be, “Alert me when my words are not in line with Yours, Holy Spirit; speak to me. Make my words in line with Yours. I desire to speak Your words, but when doubts come and I begin to voice those doubts, nudge me, Holy Spirit. Convict me, Holy Spirit, because I want to set a watch, a guard over the words of my mouth.”
Matthew 12:34
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
You can say anything for the moment. You can come to church and say, “Praise God. Jesus, I love you. Hallelujah!” But in those times when you’re not concentrating on it, what is in abundance in your heart comes out of your mouth.
Have you ever said something that surprised you and you wondered where that came from? Too much television? Too many movies? You should double up and triple up on your Word intake and drop those other things. See fewer movies and television and fill yourself with the Word of God so the Word is in your heart in abundance. Then when tough times come along, you won’t even have to think about it and God’s Word will come out of you because it is in your heart in abundance. “Praise God, I know He is on my side. If God be for me, who can be against me? Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God is going to deliver me out of them all. Situation, I speak life into you. God will bring me through.” That is speaking out of the abundance of the heart.
2 Corinthians 4:13
We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.
We don’t need to imitate Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, or Pastor Bob. We need to imitate God. We have the same spirit of faith as God. When we became born again, man didn’t impart eternal life to us; God imparted eternal life to us. Someone preached the message, we believed it, and God gave us eternal life. Man didn’t impart faith into our heart, God did. If faith came into us, it came from God, therefore, God gave us the same faith He has.
What does God say? “According as it is written, I believed, therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” The way God releases faith is by the words of His mouth. He speaks answers into problems. If we, like God, believe something, we ought to do the same thing. Having the same spirit of faith, just like Abraham, we pattern ourselves after God. As God believes and speaks, I believe and speak.
God gets results. We should get results. It’s the same Word. We can speak the same things God does with the same faith God has, and if faith-filled words created a universe and brought light out of darkness, then we can order our universe. We can send light into our area of darkness. When God believes and speaks, things change. It should for us also. Glory to God!
Luke 17:21
The kingdom of God is within you.
The kingdom of God is within you, but it shouldn’t stay there. It needs to come out. Jesus told Satan three times, “It is written. It is written. It is written.”
Isaiah 55:11
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Although this is God speaking, read that verse again and this time don’t think of God saying it. Think of you saying it. You may think it sounds too egotistical. No! God said it and believed it, and because you have the same spirit of faith as God, you can say it and send it forth to accomplish things in this earth.
God desires His Word to be in our heart, spoken out of our mouth, and what we send forth doesn’t return back to us void, but accomplishes that which it was sent to do. If it works for God, it will work for us.
Your daily confession frames your day with blessings. Get your eyes on the Word of God from the beginning of the day and not onto yourself.
We often get out of bed, dreading the day because we are thinking we have to solve our problems. We are thinking of all the things we have to accomplish in one day. We should be starting our day with a confession.
Prosperity is wonderful, but if we don’t know the will of God we can waste our money. Healing is wonderful, but it is best to use healing when you know the will of God for your life.
We are going to believe God for divine guidance. Here is a confession of guidance for you to start putting into practice.
Although my day may be filled with darkness and confusion, I speak light. The Lord is my light and my salvation, who then shall I fear? I have ears to hear, therefore, I will hear God’s instruction today. God’s Word will be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. His promises are a light into my life today. God’s Word will give me guidance. God’s Word will show me what to do. The Holy Spirit has been sent to show me things to come. The Holy Spirit will also be a light into my life today. Because I am a mature child of God, I am led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will show me what to do. Angels watch over and protect me. They will keep me from dashing my foot against a stone. No problem is bigger than the Word of God. No problem is bigger than the Holy Spirit. No problem is bigger than my angels are. Therefore, no problem is bigger than me. God will arise in me. My enemies will be scattered. If God be for me, who can be against me? I am God’s sheep; I know His voice. I will not follow a stranger. I am righteous; I walk in God’s ways. Therefore, my path grows brighter every day. I am walking away from the darkness, away from the confusion, and into the light of God’s will. Today will be a good day. It is another day the Lord has made to rejoice and be glad. God is leading me. Goodness and mercy are following me. Because God loves me, when I lay down tonight, God will give me sleep. This will be a good day because I cannot fail.
By the end of the day, you will be better than you were at the beginning of the day, stronger at the end of the day than you were at the beginning of the day. This confession frames your day. Rejoice before you ever leave the house. Set your eyes on the Lord and you will realize you are anxious for today.
You can say, “Satan, send your problems. I won’t ignore them; I’ll defeat them! I won’t say they aren’t there. I’m going to speak light into every bit of darkness you send my way. Life into every bit of death you send my way. I have the heart, the faith, and the voice of God. I will say, ‘Light, be in the midst of darkness,’ just as God has said it. Just as it works for God, it will work for me. The words I speak will not return unto me void because they are God’s Word and they will accomplish those things which I send them out to do.”
If you like this outline, check out The Power of Faith at the BYM Store.
Copyright 2009 by Bob Yandian Ministries.
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