Confession of God’s Word Builds Faith
Kenneth E. Hagin
Central Truth: Confession is faith’s way of expressing itself. Faith’s
confession creates reality.
It is always possible to
tell if a person is believing right by what he says.
If his confession is wrong,
his believing is wrong. If his believing is wrong, his thinking is wrong. If
his thinking is wrong, it is because his mind has not been renewed with the
Word of God - the Bible.
All three – believing,
thinking, saying – go together. God has given us His Word to get our thinking
straightened out. We can think in line with God’s Word.
In our studies on the
subject of confession we have
dealt with three types of confession:
- the confession of the
sins of the Jews,
- the confession of the
sinner today, and
- the confession of a
believer who is out of fellowship with God.
In this lesson we will
discuss the confessing of our faith in God’s Word.
As we mentioned in a
previous lesson, whenever the word “confession” is used, we instinctively think
of sin and failure.
But that is the negative
side. That is important in its place, of course, but there is a positive side
and the Bible has more to say about the positive than the negative.
Confession’s Five Parts
Confessing is affirming
something we believe. It is testifying to something we know. It is witnessing
for a truth that we have embraced.
Our confession should
center around five things:
1. What God in Christ
has wrought for us in His plan of redemption.
2. What God, through the
Word and the Holy Spirit, has wrought in us in the new birth and the infilling
of the Holy Ghost.
3. What we are to God
the Father in Christ Jesus.
4. What Jesus is doing
for us now at the right hand of the Father, where He ever lives to make
intercession for us.
5. What God can do
through us, or what his Word can do through our lips.
Confession at Work – Preaching
the Word
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they
cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it
shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with
them, and confirming the word with signs following.
God works through us by
His Word through our lips. Jesus said, “Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
That is the way God
works through us. We carry the Word to the lost. If we do not carry the Word to
the world, then we waste our time praying that God will do something.
In other words, it would
be useless to pray for someone who is lost if we do not also carry the gospel
of salvation to him.
If we could just pray and get people saved, we would not
have to send missionaries all over the world. We could just pray all the
heathen into the Kingdom. However, the Holy Spirit works only in connection with
the Word of God - the Bible.
In obedience to Christ’s
command to go into all the world and preach the gospel, the disciples went
forth preaching the Word everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and
confirmed the Word with signs following.
God did not do a thing
until the disciples preached the Word. Then signs followed.
Speaking of signs
following, they do not follow an individual, they follow the Word. Give the
Word out and the signs will take care of themselves. You don’t follow signs.
Signs follow the Word.
In the last church I
pastored I became greatly concerned that there weren’t enough signs following
my ministry. I shut myself away in prayer for several days asking God for more
signs to follow.
Finally the Lord spoke
to me and said, “You have been
praying that I would confirm my Word and that signs will follow, but all you
have to do is to preach the Word and I will confirm it. If you will preach the
Word, signs will follow. If the Signs aren’t following, then you are not
preaching the Word.”
I was startled by this,
but upon closer examination of my preaching, I discovered that it was true. I
had mingled a lot of tradition and personal opinion into my sermons.
And God would not confirm
tradition with signs following. As I began preaching more and more of the
undiluted Word of God, I began to see more signs following. The more Word I
preached, the more signs I had.
God moves only in line
with His Word.
He has magnified His Word above His name. And we cannot expect
to get help from God if we are taking sides against His Word, even though it
may be an unconscious act on our part. We should treat the Word of God with the
same reverence that we would show to Jesus if He were present in the natural.
Confession Dispels Fear
Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I
will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the
right hand of my righteousness."
Have you ever noticed,
in reading the Bible, how many times God has told His children to “fear not”?
When Jairus sought Jesus
to heal his daughter, the Lord said to him, “… Fear not: believe only, and she shall
be made whole” (Luke 8:50).
When Christ was
preaching to His disciples, He said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
When the Lord appeared
unto Isaac, renewing the covenant He had made with Isaac’s father Abraham, the
Lord said, “… Fear not,
for I am with thee, and will bless thee …” (Gen. 26:24).
If God had just said, “Don’t be afraid,” and left us there, we might say, “But I can’t help being afraid.”
But not only did He say, “Fear not,” He also said, “for I am with thee.”
Can we really believe
that He is with us and still be afraid? No, if we are afraid, it is because we
are doubting Him.
“But,” someone
might say, “I am so weak.” God
said, “I will
strengthen thee.”
“But I am so
helpless,” someone might say. God
said, “I will uphold
thee.”
Psalm 119:28 "My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy
word."
130 "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto
the simple."
It is true that in
ourselves we may be weak and helpless, burdened down with cares and problems.
But in our weakness we
look to His Word for strength, for “The
entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
Our confession can be, “God is with me.”
We can say, “… Greater is he that is in me than he
that is in the world” (I John 4:4).
“… If God be for me who
can be against me?” (Romans 8:31).
You may be facing some
problem that seems impossible.
Instead of talking about
how impossible it is, look to Him who is inside you and say, “God is in me now.”
You’ll find that your
confession of faith will cause Him to work in your behalf. He will rise up in
you and give you success.
If you have received Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Master of Creation
is in you. You can face life
fearlessly because you know that greater is He
that is in you than any forces that may be arrayed against you. This should be
your continual confession.
Confession Increases Faith
There is no faith
without confession.
Confession is faith’s way of expressing itself. Faith, like
love, is of the heart, of the spirit.
And we know that there
is no love without word or action. We cannot reason love into people nor can we
reason love out of them. It is of the heart.
As faith too is of the
spirit or heart, we can safely say that there is no faith without confession.
Faith grows with confession.
The confession of the
believer does several things for him.
- First, it locates him.
- Second, it fixes the
landmarks of his life. He will never have more than his confession. “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea;
and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he
saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23).
If we say that we cannot
do something, then of course we cannot. But if we say that we can, then we can.
According to Mark 11:23, we can have whatever we say, or
confess, whether it be belief or unbelief, success or failure, sickness or
health.
What they must do is
find out how in the mind of God He looks at them and then confess it. When you
discover all that God has for you, then boldly confess what the Word declares
you are in Christ. As you do this, your faith will abound.
The reason that faith is
throttled and held in bondage is that you have never dared to confess what God
says you are. Remember, faith never grows beyond your confession.
Your daily confession of what the Father is to you, of what Jesus is doing for you now at the right hand of the Father, and of what His Holy Spirit is doing in you will build a solid positive faith life.
You will not be afraid
of any circumstances. You will
not be afraid of any disease. You will not be
afraid of any conditions. You will face life fearlessly, a conqueror.
And to be a conqueror
you must confess that you are one. “Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).
Looking again at the key
scripture in Romans 10:10, we see in capsule form God’s law
of faith. “For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation.”
In seeking anything from
God, we must first believe in our heart, because the Word said it.
We confess with our
mouth that it is so.
For example, to be saved
a man must believe in his heart and then confess with his mouth what God’s Word
says about it.
And third, we see the
answer to our prayer. Believe it, confess it, receive it. “… Whosoever … shall believe that those
things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23).
Study God’s Word and
learn what His Word says you
are, who you are, and what you have in Christ
Jesus.
Even though it may not
seem real to you, start confessing, “Yes,
that’s mine, according to God’s Word.”
You will then find that
faith’s confession creates reality.
Memory
Text: “For verily I say unto you,
That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast
into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those
things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark
11:23).
Faith
in Action: “But be ye doers of the
word, and not hearers only ….” (James 1:22).
Would you want God to
change your life?
God has made it possible
for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in
your own life through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and have
eternal life.
Say the following
prayer:
“Father God, I confess I am a sinner and my sins have
separated me from You.
I am truly sorry. I
now want to turn away from my past sinful life and live a new life pleasing to You.
Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that Your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was
resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and
reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank You that according to Your Word,
I am now born again.
Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do
Your will for the rest of my life.
Use me for Your glory.
In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
Related Posts:
http://puricarefiles.blogspot.com/2016/05/how-to-walk-in-divine-promises-of.html
http://puricarefiles.blogspot.com/2016/05/are-jesus-words-in-red-more-important.html
“Ah Lord
God” DON
MOEN
lyrics
Verse:
Ah, Lord God, Thou has made the heavens
And the earth by thy great power
Ah, Lord God, Thou has made the heavens
And the earth by Thine out - stretched arm
Chorus:
Nothing is too difficult for Thee
Nothing is too difficult for Thee
Great and mighty God
Great in coun - sel and might - y in deed
Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing
Nothing is too difficult for Thee
(Repeat All)
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