Have you ever thought about how important words are to your daily life? Words are powerful. Compare mankind to the rest of the animal kingdom and you will see the only humans can formulate and speak ideas through words. With our unique ability to use words we can communicate our thoughts, hopes and dreams to not only to those around us but to those in far off lands and to people of future generations. Words have great versatility. We can use words
- to express our deepest sorrow or our greatest joy
- to comfort those who are hurting
- to energize those who feel defeated
- to instruct those who are inexperienced
- to warn those who are unruly
- to enlightened those seeking knowledge
We can even use words to order a pizza!
The great thing about words is that they are containers that allow us to transmit all kinds of concepts. Words can contain emotions like joy or love. They can contain our expectations such us faith, hope or doubt. They can contain our opinions, our prejudices and our fears. They can even carry misconceptions, lies and deceptions. Thus, we humans have this power to express ourselves through words. This power was given to us by God. We were made in God’s image as spiritual beings with the power to speak words. In the book of Genesis we find that after God created man he put him to work naming birds and animals (Genesis 2:19, 20).
God uses words also. Looking at the first chapter of Genesis we see that God’s creative power was released through words: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light,” Genesis 1:3. The writer of Hebrews explains that it was by speaking faith filled words that God framed or ordered the universe: “By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible,” Hebrews 11:3. How does God use his word? The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 4:17 that, “God…calls the things that are not, as though they were.” God did not call or label conditions as they appear; he calls them according to what he wants them to become. This is similar to what Jesus taught his disciples in Mark 11:
As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. Peter, remembering, said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.” Jesus answering said to them, “Have faith in God. For most assuredly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says. Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.” Mark 11:20-25
The disciples were astonished at what had happen to the fig tree. Jesus told them that with faith in God, or literally, ‘the God kind of faith’ they could certainly experience the same results by
- Believing and not doubting in one’s heart
- Speaking to the problem
- And forgiving anyone who has wrong them
Those who meet these requirements will have what they say. Jesus also taught the same truth in Matthew 17:20, 21:21-22; and Luke 17:6. But the believing is not accomplished through the mind of man but through his heart or spirit; it is more than mental ascent or wishful thinking. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust or place confidence in the Lord with our all heart. The mind relies on what it can see and explain. Faith on the other hand does not look at any evidence but relies on the appropriation of specific promises reveled in God’s word. What God has spoken is true. We place our confidence in God to perform what he has promised. Those who know God recognize that he is faithful and he works to fulfill his promises when we meet his conditions.
Over and over again God’s word emphases the importance of the words we speak. According to Proverbs 18:20-21:
A man’s stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied. Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
Here the writer of Proverbs tells us that our lives are the result of the words that come out of our mouth and those who recognize its power and utilize it with be satisfied with its fruits. This is just as Jesus said in Matthew 12:
“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:33-37
Or take for example receiving Jesus as the Savior and Lord of our lives. Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God 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.” So when a person realizes that Jesus died to pay the penalty for his sin and that God’s gift of eternal live is available to anyone who will make Jesus his Savior and Lord. What does he have to do? Believe; that is to believe what the Bible says about Jesus’ death, resurrection and Lordship. And how does that person demonstrate that belief? Confess; that is to say he agrees that Jesus is who the Bible says: Jesus rose from the dead and he is Lord.
The word confession in the New Testament is the Greek word, ‘homologeo’, which means to agree, or to speak the same thing. So, in light of what we have read from Mark 11 let us take a moment and ask ourselves what kind of words have we been confessing? Have we been guilty of speaking doubt and unbelief to our problems? Have we been agreeing or speaking the same thing as our circumstances or have we been speaking the same as the word of God. Jesus said that person that believes what he says will have what he says. So if we have been experiencing negative things such as loss, sickness, failure, loneliness, rejection, tragedy, misunderstanding and hopelessness then we should check what we have been confessing with our mouths and believing in our hearts.
Now we see from the examples in the Bible that God did not speak words of doubt and unbelief. He spoke word that reflected his expectations. When the Angel of the Lord visited Gideon in Judges 6 he said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.” Of course at that time Gideon was still a coward, yet he did demonstrate his bravery as he obeyed the Lord’s instructions. So we see that when God speaks, circumstances will change. Listen to what is recorded in Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” The word that God speaks accomplishes the purpose it is intended for. Now we know that Jesus told us to speak to our problems. What kind of words; words of the God kind of faith. Words based on the word of God. What does the Bible say happens when we start speaking the word of God out of our mouths to our problems and over our lives?
- It says that God is watching over his word to perform it, Jeremiah 1:12
- It says the angels obey the voice of God’s word, Psalms 103:20
- It says the keeping God’s word in our mouths, meditating on it and obeying it will make one’s way successful and prosperous. Joshua 1:8
- It says the Jesus is the high priest of our confession; as we believe and confess God’s word, he brings it into fulfillment, Hebrews 3:1, 4:14, 10:23.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and we always get whatever we say. Therefore, we, as God children need to take charge of our destinies and begin confessing the word of God. The Bible is filled with faith filled declarations, God’s faith filled words. As partakers of God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) we should start calling things that are not in our lives as thought the are (Romans 4:17), according to the word of God. Like Joshua we should not let the word of God depart for our mouths, but let it take root in our hearts as speak it out (Joshua 1:8). Take for example the confession made by Paul in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
What happens when one speaks this declaration? He identifies himself with Christ’s death and resurrection. He connects with Christ, the anointed one and his anointing who lives inside of him and proclaims that his life is now based on faith in Christ who loved us and has given himself for us.
With this understanding of the power of confession I urge to take time each day to confess passages of scripture, especially ones that apply to your situation. And to help you in this practice, I have created a number of confessions on different topics that you can print and keep for your use.
Let me close by emphasizing how important it is to get the word of God in our hearts and in our mouths. The Apostle Paul tells us that God, “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,” Ephesians 3:20. What is that power that is at work in us? It is faith in his word; it is the word of God that we have hid in our hearts; and it is the word that is continually coming out of our mouths to confront the circumstances and challenges that come against us from the world, the flesh and the devil. When we speak words of faith, God is enabled to work on our behalf and our faith pleases him. But if we do not speak what we believe we will be continually governed by our circumstances. As Christians we should not be moved by what we see (1 Corinthians 15:58, 2 Corinthians 4:18) rather we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). This was the attitude of those who overcame persecution like the prophet Daniel when he was placed in the lion’s den for his practice of prayer. It was demonstrated to the prophet Ezekiel when spoke the words God commanded him to speak in the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-10). You don’t have to experience spiritual dryness in your life. You can speak faith filled words that will change your outlook and your circumstances. As the writer of the book of Hebrews says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope unyieldingly. For he who promised is faithful,” Hebrews 10:23.
Copyright © 2008-2011 by Alan Pasho. All rights reserved.
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