Dom has been doing some thinking about the power of what we confess...

A spiritual law too few of us realize is: Our confessions rule us. Now, this isn’t to do just with confessing sin, but what we talk about, what we say about ourselves and what we declare over our lives. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom 10:9-10) Notice saving power comes via the confession out of the mouth. “You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth.” (Prov 6:2)

What we say is our confession. And our confessions—the words we say—rule us. Jesus said they did.

“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:23)

Notice how Jesus uses the word “says” twice. What are you saying over your life, people, circumstances? Your faith, linked with your tongue, rules your world. It is always with the heart man believes, and with the mouth confession is made unto, any of the provisions of God. Listen to Jesus again:

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

Jesus links the fruit of your life to the condition of your heart and the words your mouth speaks to release that condition and content. Bill Johnson put it like this:

“Nothing in the kingdom happens without a declaration… our words create worlds” (Heb 11:3)

The majority of Christians—though sincere—live in the shallows of the kingdom life made available to them. And others actually live weak and in constant defeat. Often this is because they never really dared confess what God’s Word says about them. They have never dared confess that they are what the Bible says they are—that they are who the Bible says they are—and that they have what the Bible says they have. Some of this is couched in a false humility (which is actually pride) which believes they don’t deserve it or are somehow acting greedy or possessive in some way by receiving who they are, claiming who they are in Christ. In reality this robs Jesus of the reward He paid so dearly for at Calvary. 

 “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” (Phil 3:12, see also Eph 1:17-19)

In fact, many maintain a wrong confession instead of holding fast to a right confession. A wrong confession is a confession of defeat, of failure, and of the supremacy of Satan. They are always talking about what a time they’re having with the devil—what a battle they’re having— all they they’re going through—how the devil is keeping them from success—keeping them sick—holding them in bondage. Or they are constantly remembering their past, their upbringing, or what was done to them, instead of who they are in Christ now and what God wants to do for them now and into the future! And as long as they talk like that, according to what Jesus said, and many of the scriptures, that is what they are going to have. 

“Your words are so powerful that they will kill or give life, and the talkative person will reap the consequences.” Prov 18:21 (TPT)

I know people wouldn’t do it if they really knew what they were doing, but that kind of confession or declaration is an unconscious declaration that God, our Heavenly Father, is a failure. God is not a failure! Defeat is not of God, only victory, and reigning in life, through Christ Jesus (See Rom 5:17). When you talk about defeat you’re talking about the works of the devil. Jesus comes to give life in all its abundance. (John 10:10). God did not intend that the church should be defeated. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church! (See Matt 16:18.)

 

Faith Demands Expression and Testimony

Faith’s confessions create realities (Rom 10:10, Rom 4:17). If you watch the ministry of Jesus, He cast out spirits with a word, He rebuked the wind and the waves, He called forth Lazarus from the tomb. His words created and they pulled down. So do ours. As I have pointed out above, our hearts linked with our tongues is where the trigger to God’s power lies (Luke 6:45). As far as God is concerned everything you are or have “in Christ” is so. Jesus has done it, it was paid for at Calvary 2,000 years ago. Everything the Bible says is ours, is ours legally. The Bible is a legal document, signed with the blood of Jesus. Co-heirs with Christ, children of God, we have an inheritance, but it is up to us to receive it by faith.

Testimony also is a part of the faith life. If you want to develop robust faith—then continually tell what the Lord is doing for you. The more you talk about it, the more real He becomes to you. The less you talk about it, the less real. 

Faith is like love. It is of the heart, the spirit. And like love, it lives and finds its joy in the continual confession of it. In the natural, the more a husband and wife confess their love for each other, the more it grows. 

Another thing you’ll notice carefully in the life of Jesus is that from the beginning of His public ministry until He is led to the cross, He is ever confessing WHO HE IS . . . WHAT HE IS . . . and HIS MISSION IN LIFE. For instance He said, “I came to you sent from the Father’s presence, and I entered into the created world, and now I will leave this world and return to the Father’s side.” (John 16:28). This was a fourfold confession. It covers His life from the Incarnation to the Ascension. One of the boldest confessions Jesus made was, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). What a bold confession! “If you want to see the Father, look on me.” In John 12 it is recorded that He said, “He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” (vv. 45–46). Let me say it again. Jesus constantly confessed WHO HE IS . . . WHAT HE IS . . . and HIS MISSION IN LIFE. 

“Yes,” someone might say, “but that was Jesus.” I know. And the Bible teaches that Jesus left us an example and that we should follow in His steps. You should constantly be confessing who you are. Oh no, not who you are physically—the son or daughter of John Doe who lives on such-and-such street. No! But who you are according to the Word of God. That’s the confession we’re to hold fast to. (one reason we get SO excited about Thea’s IASMT book for boys and girls and all the products which go with them!)

 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! …2 Beloved, now we are children of God” 1 JOHN 3:1–2

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” ROMANS 8:14, 16–17 14

We are children of God! Sons of God! We’re heirs of God—joint-heirs with Christ! We joyfully confess our relationship with God. And in what way are we related to Him? We’re born of God. Children of God. He is our very own Father. We are His very own children. We dare to take our place as sons and daughters of God and confess who we are! Find Out What God’s Word Says About You and Make That Your Confession. (Ibid. Kenneth E Hagin, In Him)

How about making these Declarations today?

1. I get my identity from my future, not my past.

2. I can do what my Father does, because I have His DNA.

3. I carry the substance of favor and I don’t need to perform for people to like me.

4. I live from my spirit, and let my spirit have a voice.

5. I have unseen resources and spiritual blessings to overcome every negative circumstance.

6. My Dad’s God.

7. My thought life is deeply connected to who I am in God.

8. It is natural for me to believe like Jesus.

9. My spirit has authority over my mind.

10. God’s goodness is my anchor in the storm.

 

Much Grace, 

Dom