Confession of Faith

Romans 10:9-10
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. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So even though you are saved by grace through faith, notice that Paul says that your salvation is not activated until you confess your faith. Confession brings God's truth from the realm of heaven into the earthly realm.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

How does the Bible say you "walk" according to either the flesh or to the Spirit? By "reckoning," by believing and confessing God's word, by walking it out.

Philippians 2:12-13 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Your salvation is a finished work, but you still need to "work it out" by walking in it.

This means that God's word and truth is activated in your life by faith and by active confession. So whenever it looks like or seems like God's word is not having its effect in your life, it is up to YOU to pray God's promises, take hold of them, activate them, and enforce them on the earth. You have to exercise your will and authority on the earth in all things, and if God does not have people on the earth to confess and enforce His promises, then those promises will not see fulfillment. Sounds heretical, but we see that every time in history that when God made a promise to man, that God sent a prophet to not only speak that promise, but typically to believe and to pray and confess that promise into fulfillment. God's promises are activated by our faith and our confession. This goes perfectly with the absolute truth that God will not violate man's free will. How important is the principle of man's free will to God? Obviously important enough for evil to run rampant on the earth and for all manner of wickedness to have its way. It is not God's will for innocents to suffer; yet nevertheless, people do suffer and people are victims of the crimes of others all day every day on the earth. In the same way, God's promises are God's will, and yet every day people suffer from not having His promises being fulfilled in their lives. Why? Because they are not activating and enforcing those promises through faith and confession.

Just because Jesus died for you does not make you saved. You have to believe it and confess it before it becomes a living, active reality for you. You would literally still go to Hell even though Jesus paid for your sins if you do not believe and confess that victory and that promise of God and activate it in your life.

So if it is that important to believe unto righteousness and confess unto salvation, then it should be obvious that it is equally important to believe and confess all of God's other promises to you as well.

Romans 8:37
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Question: do you feel like more than a conqueror in your life? Are you walking in victory? Or do you feel defeated? If your life does not reflect God's promise of victory, then the thing lacking is your belief and confession of that promise.

Colossians 2:15
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Jesus already disarmed the principalities and powers. Do they still exercise power? If so, then they are doing that illegally. God has delegated believers in Christ with the powers that Jesus took back from Satan. And so it is up to us to enforce them.

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."

Jesus took back the authority from Satan over the earth and He is sending us as His representatives, in His authority. In the same way He gave His disciples authority to cast out demons and heal the sick when He sent out the seventy in Luke 10, so He sends us all in His authority, "all authority in heaven and on earth," to make disciples of all the nations.

When we complain, we are confessing that God has not kept His promises to us. But rather than complaining, the Bible says we should mourn and lament. The difference is that complaining is selfish and makes you out to be a victim and God to be a liar. But when you mourn, you are confessing the truth, you are suffering in God's place, as God's representative, some sort of injustice, and you bring that injustice to the court of heaven to petition the Judge to render a verdict. When you pray God's promises back to Him, you plead with the court to render judgment on your behalf. And God's word is always true, so you can confidently use God's promises as if they are already a verdict; then when you confess those promises, you are ENFORCING God's verdict on the earth. We are called to enforce God's promises and enact God's will on the earth. Remember, Jesus's model prayer includes the words, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." We are bringing God's will into the material world. God's word is already living and active, and your confession of His truth takes that reality from the realm of heaven and activates it in the realm of the earth.

Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that your words are magic. I'm not saying that you can declare your own reality. That would be witchcraft. That is a New Age doctrine. I'm not saying that your words have magic power. What I am saying is that God's word in YOUR mouth is just as powerful as God's word in HIS mouth. You not only have the power to confess God's promises in your life and enforce them on the earth, but you actually have the RESPONSIBILITY to do so.

Let's look at 2 examples.

1, David's promise from God concerning the temple and God's promise to make David a "house" and then David's praying God's promise back to Him with thanksgiving.
2 Samuel chapter 7

2, Daniel's prayer claiming God's promise of the 70 years in Babylonian captivity with repentance.
Daniel chapter 9

If you do not enforce God's victory in your life, you are giving the devil permission to illegally encroach into God's territory, which Jesus already bought and paid for in His own blood. Spiritual warfare follows many of the same principles as earthly warfare. If you allow the enemy onto your territory and allow him to control that territory, then you've given that enemy the means to attack you and to push you back. The devil will break the law, and the devil will take whatever you let him take. He is a criminal and a liar and a murderer from the beginning. It is up to you to enforce the law and to not allow the devil to take any territory and not allow the devil to lie to you.

Ephesians 4:26-27 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

Do not GIVE PLACE to the devil.

So if the devil says "you are weak," you can respond with
2 Corinthians 12:10
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
and
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

If the devil says "you are a sinner," you can respond with
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
and
Romans 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So even though you are already dead to sin, your sin nature was crucified with Christ, you still have to "reckon" yourselves to be dead to sin; and even though you are a new creation in Christ, you still have to believe and confess that fact in order to activate it in your life.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

If the devil says "you are sick," you can respond with "Jesus HAS healed me; Jesus IS my healing."
Isaiah 53:4
Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses)
And carried our sorrows (pains);
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded (pierced through) for our transgressions,
He was bruised (crushed) for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
and
Psalm 103
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.

If the devil says "you are poor; God is not providing for you" you can confess God's promises of provision...

Philipians 4:19
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you

2 Corinthans 9:10-11
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Deuteronomy 8:18
You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

Do you lack the joy of the Lord, which the Bible says is our strength?

Confess the attributes of God and consider that He is absolutely trustworthy, so that you will find it natural and inevitable that you place your trust totally in Him.

He spoke the world into existence. He upholds the world with the power of His word. He knows the end from the beginning. He designed us in love for His good pleasure. He designed the whole timeline of the Earth for His own good pleasure. He designed us to know Him. He took upon Himself our nature, our sicknesses and our pains, our weaknesses and infirmities, joining us together with Himself in His body; He Himself bore our sins on the cross and put to death everything that stood against us, everything that had the power to separate us from God. Jesus's death was His victory over sin, and His resurrection was His victory over death, both of which He poured out onto us in His Spirit, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of revelation, the Living Water that flows from our innermost being, the mind of Christ.

John 3:34
For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. (NASV)

Acts 1:8
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

Acts 2:38
Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Corinthians 2:12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God

Galatians 3:14
in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Galatians 4:6
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Ephesians 2
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

God's plan for you is already written in your book in heaven.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

Your success in life is determined by how much of God's BOOK you accomplish on the earth. You have the power to LIMIT God by your unbelief, in the same way that your faith unleashes God's power in your life.

Psalm 78:41
Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.

You limit God by disbelief. You free up God's unlimited resources by your faith. Faith in what? Faith in God's eternal nature, in His omnipotence, His omnipresence, His omniscience.

God's word is more powerful than anything you can see or touch; it is more powerful than your experiences, than your past, than your perceptions, than your notions of truth, than anything. How is that possible? Because God's word literally defines truth and creates reality. Remember that God spoke and created the universe. God spoke "let there be light" and there was light (Gen 1:3). Throughout all the days of creation, God spoke into existence and things came into being according to His will and design. And Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power.
Hebrews 1:3
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high

And so when the Bible says that God "calls those things which do not exist as though they did" it literally means that His word defines reality. Everything that exists right now did not exist before God called it to exist. He calls those things which are not as though they are. Every time God speaks, He creates. When He says something, it is written in a book, and that book is the book of history. It has happened already. It will be revealed in its due time according to His good pleasure. But His word is surer than the rising and the setting of the sun.

Therefore, when God pronounces you accepted in the Beloved, and when God promises to send His Spirit into your heart, you can be sure of it, and you can be sure that it does not depend on you, and you can be sure that you are qualified, since He Himself has qualified you by speaking the reality.
Hebrews 6:18
that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

Romans 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?