The power of words
Read Genesis 1:3. Before God began his creative work, what condition was the earth in?
What action brought the first change to the earth’s condition?
God spoke “Light be”and light was. Read Hebrews 11:3 and Romans 4:17. How does the scripture describe the method God used to accomplish his creative tasks?
When God speaks, he speaks faith filled words. Read Isaiah 55:10, 11. What will God’s word accomplish?
Calling things that are not
Notice that God does not call things as they are; he calls things as he intends them to be. For example, let us look at the story of Gideon; read Judges 6:7-12. At the time the angel of the Lord visited Gideon, where was he working?
He was working secretly in a wine press, which is blow ground. Was he acting very brave or valiant?
But what did the angle call him in verse 12?
So God called Gideon what he intended him to become rather than what we already was. Another example is Abram; Read Genesis17:1-6. Why did God change Abram name to Abraham?
Did God say he would make him the father of many nations or that he had already made him the father of many nations?
From Abraham’s perspective he had not yet become a father; yet from God’s perspective it was already done. What the Lord was doing was teaching Abraham that what God speaks comes to pass and when our words line up with God’s words, then what we say will also come to pass.
The creative power of the tongue
In what way are we like God? What does it say in Genesis 1:27?
God is a creator and as beings created in his image we also have a capacity to create things. What then can be do with our words? Read Proverbs 18:20, 21. By what fruits are we satisfied with?
What power does our tongue have?
Now, let us move forward to the New Testament. Read Luke 17:5-6, Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:18-22. What does Jesus say we can do if we have genuine faith?
Read Mark 11:20-25. Jesus said that a person can have what they say if they believe what they say is happening. How can we know what we believe is happening? By basing what we believe in God’s word. That is our source of faith. God’s word is true. The Lord told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:12 that he is watching his word to fulfill it.
Back to Mark 11. In verse 22 Jesus says, “Have faith in God.” or some translations phrase it like this: “Have the God kind of faith.” What kind of faith does God have concerning his words?
How many things that we pray about should we believe that we receive?
What does Jesus say we will take place when we receive what we ask?
Does he way when we will have them?
And in verse 25 and 26, what condition does Jesus command that we deal with when we are praying?
Taking Control our Tongue
How can we learn to bring our works in line with God’s word? First we have to developing our faith. Read Romans 10:17. Where does faith come from?
Does faith come from reading?
No, it come from hearing; we need to be listening to the word all the time.
Read Luke 6:43-45. What determines the kind of words we speak?
So what should we be continually putting into our hearts?
And read 2 Corinthians 4:13. What should we be speaking?
Read John 12:47-50. Notice how Jesus characterized his words; in what way did Jesus limit the words he spoke?
Let us rephrase the question: Why were Jesus’ words always in line with his Father words?
Can we do the same?
Because we always get what we say, which is a reflection of what is stored in our hearts, then it is necessary for us to be cautious about what words we allow to come out of our mouths. Read James 1:26. What is the result of an unrestricted tongue?
Now let us look at the example of Job. Read Job 1:4,5. What fear did Job voice concerning his children?
Then we see that calamities and sickness came on Job in chapters 1 and 2. Read Job 3:25. What did Job say in response to the negative things that happened to him?
Is it possible that Job could have avoided many of his sorrows if he had changed what he was saying?
Another example can be found in the story of the children of Israel. In Numbers 13 we read that the children of Israel, when they reached Kadesh in the Desert of Paran, sent men to spy out the land that God had promises them. Read Numbers 13:30-32. What did the majority of the spies say about the land?
Read the people’s response in Numbers 14:1-5 and the Lord’s response to the people in 14:27-30. What did the people say was going to happen to them?
What did God say would happen to them?
We should guard our mouths and our hearts. Read Psalms 141:3 and Proverbs 4:20-27.
Thus, when faced with a problem what should we be speaking about? Should we be talking about the problem and our negative expectation or should we start calling our situation the way God see it and expect a positive outcome?
How can we know how God see our circumstances? Spend time in his presence and in his word.
To confess is to agree
The Greek word for confession is ‘homologeo’, which means to agree, or to speak the same thing as. Thus as believers our word should agree with what God says about us. This is the key to receiving the promises of God. In fact, a person can not receive Jesus as his Saviour unless he or she makes a confession of faith. 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 that Jesus rose from the dead and that he is Lord.
Jesus, our high priest
Read Hebrews 3:1 and 4:14-16. Who is the high priest of our confession or profession?
What does this mean? It means he is the one who see that our confession that we believe in our heart is fulfilled.
Finally Read Hebrews 10:23. What does the writer of Hebrews say we should do when if does not look like our confession will become a reality?
Summary
From this study on the topic of confession we have learned that:
* Words have power and God’s words accomplish the purpose for which they were intended
* Jesus taught that our words also have power when we speak accord to what we believe.
* Our faith will not work if we have unforgiveness in our hearts.
* The words that we speak and our faith in those words are determined by what we allow into our hearts.
* We see the results that we desire in our lives when we make our words line up with God’s words concerning our circumstances.
* Jesus is our faithful high priest who oversees our confession.
* We will have to hold to our confessions if we want to receive the results we desire.
Copyright © 2009 by Alan Pasho, www.disciplepedia.org. All rights reserved.
Recommended Memory Verses on Confession
You will receive insight, comfort and encouragement from memorizing verses such as these along with their scripture references. Go over them twice a day until you can quote them word for word. Then review them once each month.
Romans 4:17, 19-21 – As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were…Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
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.
Mark 11:22-24 – 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.
Mark 11:25, 26 – 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. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
Luke 6:43-45 – For there is no good tree that brings forth rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that brings forth good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don’t gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.
John 12:49, 50 – For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.
Hebrews 3:1 – Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus…
Hebrews 4:14 – Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession.
Hebrews 10:23 – Let us hold fast the confession of our hope unyieldingly. For he who promised is faithful.
Scriptures taken from the Word English Bible (WEB)