You might have heard the following phrase:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but word will never hurt me.”
Although this saying may have been meant as a defense against verbal bullying, when you look at the Word of God, it really is not true.
Words are very powerful and do have the power to hurt you, especially your own words.
Proverbs 18:20-21 | NLT (20) Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction. (21) The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
Proverbs 18:21 | ERV (21) The tongue can speak words that bring life or death. Those who love to talk must be ready to accept what it brings.
Your life is filled with what your lips are producing.
There are five types of confession taught in the Scriptures:
- Confession of sins under the Old Covenant
Psalms 32:5 | NKJV (5) I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
- Confession of our faith in the Lord Jesus
Romans 10:9-10 | NKJV (9) that 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. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
- Confession of our sins after the New Birth
1 John 1:9 | NKJV (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- Confession of God’s Word UNTO faith
Hebrews 10:23 NKJV (23) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 4:14 NKJV (4) Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Confession – (Greek: homologia) – to say the same thing
We are called to speak the same thing that our High Priest is saying over us.
What is your High Priest saying? You are strong, you are healed, you are well able, you are anointed, you are favored, you are free, you are redeemed, you are forgiven…
God created us to be able to hear our own words and build a capacity to believe them in our hearts.
When you are speaking God’s Word, you are building your capacity to believe God’s Word.
- Confession OF Faith
Mark 11:20-23 | NKJV (20) Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. (21) And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” (22) So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. (23) 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.
Jesus spoke to a tree and His Words affected that natural thing and brought about change.
Someone might say, “Well that was Jesus…” But Jesus said “whosoever shall say…”. He did not say, “I can say it and you cannot.”
This will work for anyone who will believe that it will work.
Don’t be misled because the change does not seem instantaneous.
Change did not appear in the natural immediately but in a realm where you could not see, in the roots.
The Word of God is designed to attack situations at the root, not the fruit.
Most of the time, you will not see any immediate results when you speak.
Mark 11:20 | NKJV (20) Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
The change did not happen where everyone could see it. It began where you cannot see it.
Hebrews 11:3 | NLT (3) By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
How many times did Jesus go back to the fig tree and check for anything changing? NONE! Jesus did not say to speak to the mountain and then check for the results. That is not faith.
What did Jesus say that we are to believe?
Mark 11:23 | NKJV 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.