"Oh Be Careful Little Mouth What You Say"
The Bible is the Word of God and contains God's thoughts. And of course, God's thoughts are different than man's thoughts. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways", says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:8-9). The more you study God's Word and you can know His thoughts, we can dare to think God's thoughts after Him as we get our thinking in line with His Word.
As you study about confession, you will learn that if our confessing is wrong it is because our believing is wrong. If our believing is wrong, it is because our thinking is wrong. And if our thinking is wrong, it is because our mind has not yet been renewed with the Word of God.
Sometimes the teachings of the Word of God may not seem reasonable to the natural man, but that is because his mind hasn't been renewed by the Word.
Mark 11:22-24 says, "... Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say...and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe...shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." The Amplified version of this last verse reads, "For this reason I'm telling you, when you pray, you trust and be confident that it's granted you. Then you are going to say, 'It's mine, I have it!"
Right and Wrong Confession
Looking into the matter of wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong confessing, let us ask the question, just what is a wrong confession! Wrong confession is a confession of defeat and failure, and of the supremacy of Satan. Talking about how the devil is hindering you and keeping you from success, about how he is holding you in bondage, about how he is keeping you sick, is a confession of defeat. And such a confession simply glorifies the devil.
Confession is witnessing for a truth that we have embraced, testifying of something we know, and affirming something that we believe. And many times our confessions, rather than witnessing to what God's Word has to say about a matter, admit to our defeat and glorify the devil rather than God.
Few of us are like the dear old sister who stood in church to testify, "The devil has been after me all week, bless his holy name." Yet many of our testimonies do more to witness to the supremacy of Satan in our lives than to Christ's dominion. Just as when we testify to what God has done for us, we are glorifying Him; by the same token, when we talk about what the devil is doing, of our failures and defeats, we are glorifying the devil. Many people lose the blessing that God has for them just by making a wrong confession. They are defeated and life is just a grind to them.
Actually a wrong confession that glorifies the devil is an unconscious declaration that God is a failure. Such a confession destroys our faith and holds us in bondage. The confession of Satan's ability to hinder and keep us from success gives him dominion over us. There fore, with your mouth you are goin to either give God dominion over you or you are going to give Satan dominion over you. The confession of faith and victory that, comes from your heart, out your lips will absolutely defeat the devil in every combat.
When we are saved, we confess the Lordship of Jesus. "That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus..." (Rom. 10:9) That means He is our Lord. When we confess His Lordship over us, He begins to have dominion over us and rule in our life.
But when we confess Satan's ability to hinder and keep us from success, then even though we may be a Christian, we are giving Satan dominion over us. He is the god of this world, and he will move right in .because we permitted him to do so. Even though it may be a permission of ignorance or an unconscious consent, it is nevertheless consent. And when Satan has dominion, we are filled with weakness and fear.
Overcoming Fear and Doubt, II Timothy 1:7
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Even though in the natural we may sometimes feel afraid, we should never confess fear. Fear is not of God. The above scripture says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, "but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Fear isn't something that is coming from the inside of you. It is something that is coming from outside, trying to get hold of you. It is the enemy. We should not confess fear, but rather we should confess "power ... love, and a sound mind."
The same thing holds true of doubt. Don't confess your doubts or your fears. This is not to say that you should not admit doubt and fear if you have them. Just don't confess them! Bring them to Jesus! And then don't say anything about it.
When we talk about things of the devil not only are we giving him rule over us but we erode our own faith by hearing the negative words. Doubt and fear are of the devil. They are contraband, illegal goods. Doubt and fear are evil. The Christian has no business talking about or fellowshipping with either! You may have been tempted to doubt and have listened to the devil, but you can put him on the run by resisting him and speaking positive word of faith!
So don't confess doubt and fear, confess faith. Start talking about who you are and what you are in Christ. You are a believer. You are a new creature. Talk that, believe that, think that. And if you are tempted, and none of us is above temptation, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). Refuse in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to doubt and fear and they will leave you. If you entertain them, however, they will come right in and rob and defeat you.
Confessing God's Word
Instead of confessing your doubts and fears, confess what God's Word says. God said, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee .. ." (Isa. 41:10). Therefore, you can say, "I am not afraid. I am a child of God and He is with me. He has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, and love and of a sound mind. We are not doubters, we are believers. We can stop talking the devil's language of doubt and fear and can start talking God's language of faith. God is a faith God. We are faith children of a faith God.
Remember, confession of fear gives fear dominion over you. Your fears become stronger and you come more into the bondage of the enemy. But if you will boldly confess your Father's care, confess His protection, confess His Word, and declare that what God says
about you is true, confess that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world, you will rise above Satanic influence every time.
When you confess your doubts and fears, your weakness and disease, you are openly confessing that the Word of God is not true and that God has failed to make it good. His Word declares that by His stripes you were healed.
I Peter 2:24
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Matthew 8:17
17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Him self took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
If instead of confessing that Jesus "took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses," we declare that we still have them, we will remain sick. But when we start confessing that He has already done something about our sickness, then we will receive healing. Too much of the time we take the testimony of our physical senses instead of taking the testimony of God's Word.
We have to practice God's Word for it to work for us.
In the past week what were your confessions, right or wrong?
