The Key to Victorious Living 365 Days a Year
CHAPTER 2
Biblical Confession is Positive
Death and life are in the power of the tongue. -- Proverbs 18:21
Christianity is confession from beginning to end. The Christian faith is not merely something we believe--it also involves what we say or confess. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:10). The importance and necessity of confession is evident here. Jesus also informs us in Matthew 10:32-33 and John 12:42-43 that salvation involves confession as well as belief. We are admonished twice in the Book of Hebrews to "hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering" (Hebrews 10:23, 35-36), and Jesus teaches us in Mark 11:23 that whatever we confess in faith will come to pass. Since "death and life are in the power of the tongue," according to Proverbs 18:21, then it is imperative that we guard our words, and for m the habit of always making a positive confession. Just as a positive confession in harmony with God's Word will bring blessing and victory, conversely a negative confession of doubt, fear, sickness, or defeat will result in adversity and failure, for the Scriptures declare that you can be "snared with the words of thy mouth" (Proverbs 6:2).
Satan will keep you bound, poor, sick, and oppressed by ensnaring you with your own words when you make such negative confessions as:
The influence of the powers of darkness upon the human race is nowhere more clearly seen than in Satan's control and influence over man's mind and his confession. Generally, all you ever hear, whether over the radio or TV, on the plane or in a restaurant, has a negative emphasis. The newspapers and commentators seldom present a good report, as this seems to have no value.
Have you ever heard, for example, that there are about 201,000,000 Americans who are not on drugs? Was the fact reported that thousands of denominational Christians received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues last year? Were you informed through the news media that there were millions of college students who were not involved in any form of campus rebellion, or revolt against authority last semester? Was it reported in the press that there were over 90,000,000 men who were not involved in any major crimes in the United States in the past 12 months?
Did the last conversation you overheard in the restaurant where you ate edify you, or was it the usual negative report of the speaker's recent operation, his peptic ulcers, his accident, or his financial distress? When was the last time anyone complimented or reported to you any good news concerning some friend or acquaintance about whom they were speaking? Why is it we usually receive a complete medical history concerning all the pains and afflictions of most individuals when we simply address them with the friendly greeting, "How are you today?"
On every hand I find Christians being defeated by their negative confessions. No one would intentionally invite a doctor to inject flu germs directly into his blood stream; yet this is precisely what you do when you confess at the first symptom that you believe you are catching the flu, for the Scriptures declare, "thou art snared with the words of thy mouth" (Proverbs 6:2).
Your condition will always parallel your confession. The Word of God tells us why: "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7), and "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34). If you think you will fail, you will. If you say you can't, then you can't. If you confess you are sick, you will be sick. If you say you cannot overcome the problem, then you cannot. If you confess that you will be defeated, you will. Why? It is because you will generally experience what you think and confess.
It has taken medical science thousands of years to learn this truth, which God revealed to Israel in the time of Solomon, namely, that we actually precondition our lives for sickness or health, prosperity, or adversity, by what we think and say. As we have already pointed out, medical authorities tell us today that most physical illness is psychosomatic; that is, it results from wrong thinking, worry, and emotional stress. The fact is, how we think we feel and what we confess about it has a definite effect upon how we actually feel.
Jesus came to give us an abundant life -- a life free from sin, sickness, poverty, fear, depression, worry, and defeat. However, most Christians have allowed Satan to rob them of their joy and peace, as well as their health and prosperity, through his influence upon their thoughts and their consequent confession. The average Christian keeps his mind and speech so cluttered with negatives and doubts that he has forfeited almost all hope and expectation for anything better, and has accepted a certain amount of poverty, sickness, and failure as inevitable. In order to rise above all these circumstances and walk in victory with our inheritance restored, we must change our thinking habits and eliminate certain negative expressions from our speech. Then we can begin to experience the dynamic power of a positive confession.
You will reveal the nature and extent of your faith by what you say or confess, because what you confess is your faith speaking. Your confession will reveal whether your faith is strong, weak, great, or small. Since you generally receive what you confess (Mark 11:23; Proverbs 18:21), if your confession agrees with the Word of God, you will receive what He has promised.
A true confession of faith always agrees with God's Word. In fact, the literal meaning of the Greek term which is translated "to confess" in the New Testament is "to agree with," or "to speak the same language." If you confess what the Word of God says about your sins (I John 1:9), you receive forgiveness. In the same manner, if you confess what His Word says about your diseases (Psalm 103:3; James 5:14-15), you will receive healing.
On the other hand, if you say, "I prayed for the healing of my ulcers, but there are still certain foods that I would not dare eat, as I know they would make me ill," then you cannot expect to be healed by faith, for your confession does not agree with the Word of God. The Scriptures declare that "by his stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24). God's Word states, furthermore, that you are to believe that you have received the answer to your petition when you pray (Mark 11:24). Thus, any confession that does not harmonize with what the Scriptures say will invariably nullify the Word of God on your behalf.
It is important to see that you will never rise above the level of your confession. Your condition or circumstances always tend to parallel your confession. On several occasions in meetings where I have spoken, I have prayed for the healing of Christians with identical illnesses, in which one would later receive the manifestation of his healing, while the other would not. As often as not the cause for failure was clear -- either this individual's daily confession concerning his condition was not in agreement with God's Word, or else he did not maintain his confession of faith without doubting until the healing was manifested.
Some individuals who lack instruction in the Scriptures concerning the importance of maintaining a positive confession, even in the face of symptoms or contradictory circumstances, will ask, "But isn't it dishonest to say that I am healed when I still have my pain and symptoms?" Or they ask, "Isn't such a confession just mental suggestion?"
No. On the contrary, it is never dishonest to confess about your condition what the Scriptures tell you to say. It is not mere suggestion, but a confession of God's Word when you confess that God has heard and answered your petition when you pray (Mark 11:24; I John 5:14-15). The reason God requires us to confess, not what we feel or see, but what His Word promises us, is that our condition and circumstances generally remain on about the same level as our confession, for "death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21).
Mental suggestion is nothing more than denial of the reality or presence of the disease. As such, it cannot heal you, nor can it keep you from dying prematurely, should you have some terminal illness. However, we know of countless instances where all kinds of sicknesses and diseases have been healed through a positive confession of healing based upon one of the promises in the Word of God (such as Exodus 15:26 and 23:25; Psalm 103;3; James 5:14-15; I Peter 2:24; and III John 2).
I always encourage people to make a positive confession of what the Scriptures have to say about their condition or problem, in spite of what their feelings, symptoms, or the circumstances may imply to the contrary, for Satan's power to afflict or oppress increases or decreases in direct proportion to the positive or negative nature of one's confession.
When an individual finds it difficult to understand how he can maintain a positive confession of healing when he does not feel healed, and his symptoms seem to indicate the contrary, I remind him that after successful surgery, a patient's condition is medically cured, and although he is on the road to recovery, he never feels better for a few days after surgery, Nevertheless, he both believes and confesses what the doctors tell him about his condition, in spite of his contrary feelings, his pain and his symptoms. However, when the Heavenly Physician tells the average Christian to believe and confess the same thing about his condition after prayer for healing, if his symptoms do not immediately improve, he will not only begin to confess what he feels, but will also search the Scriptures for alleged proof-texts in an attempt to justify his sickness and pain.
God clearly tells us in His Word what He will do for us, and from that point on He deals with us on the basis of what we say and do about His promises. If, after claiming some promise in His Word, we begin to express doubt or make a negative confession concerning the situation, this will nullify His Word on our behalf. The importance of our confession is to be seen in Jesus' warning that "by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew 12:37).
Who do you think determines whether or not you can have the abundant life of health, prosperity, joy, victory, and fruitfulness which Jesus promised? Is it God? No. He tells you that with Him there is "no respect of persons" (Romans 2:11), and that His promises and blessing are for every believer alike.
Is it Satan? No. The Scriptures tell you to "resist the devil and he will flee from you," and that God has given His people power...over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). Moreover, God admonishes Christians, "Neither give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4;27). This means that Satan can have no place in your life unless you grant it to him. No, he is not the one who determines whether or not you have a victorious and abundant life, or whether you suffer adversity and failure.
Is it your circumstances, then which determine whether you will have victory of defeat? Again we answer, "NO," for your circumstances merely provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate the extent of your faith in the promises of God. Circumstances in themselves cannot cause victory or defeat, for Jesus promised that "if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you."
Who then determines whether or not you enjoy the abundant life promised you? It is you yourself. Are you aware that as you begin each day it is you--and you alone--who will determine the nature of the day you will have, as well as its outcome? Are you aware that you have been given the choice of deciding whether or not you will be happy or sad, sick or well, worried or calm, victorious or defeated?
I have never been able to understand why the majority of Christians will choose unhappiness, sickness, poverty, and trouble day after day -- for these are the result of their own negative thinking and negative confession. Yet God has promised to heal, protect, deliver, and provide all our needs abundantly, telling us again and again that the choice between blessing and adversity lies within our own grasp ("all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive," Matthew 21:22).
Every individual preconditions his life by what he thinks, believes and confesses. Insurance companies know, for example, that some people are poor insurance risks, because they are "accident prone." They fear that they may have an accident, then begin to express fears, and as a consequence they often experience what they believe and confess.
Most of the people who caught the flu last winter did so because they confessed that they would at the first sign of a symptom, saying, "I think I must be catching the flu." Many people are dying prematurely of coronary disease because they are confessing such fears as a result of reading the medical reports on the dangers of cholesterol, as well as the insurance statistics concerning the average life span of the American population. Medical science informs us that a large percentage of all illness stems from emotional stress resulting from wrong attitudes, negative thoughts, and anxiety, as well as from negative confessions concerning these things.
Christians are often in poverty, or are financially burdened, because they are confessing that they never really expect to get out of debt. many Christians are sick and afflicted, some are neurotic, and others are suffering nervous collapse or heart failure, because they have never learned that "as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he," and that "death and life are in the power of the tongue."
In Hebrews 3:1, Jesus is called the High Priest of our confession. This means that as our High Priest He can act in our behalf to save, bless, heal, protect, and deliver us, if we give Him a positive confession which is in harmony with the Word of God. However, a confession of doubt or fear concerning our situation or need hinders His ministry on our behalf, and opens a channel of access for Satan to enter and oppress.
"How are you today?" someone asks a fellow Christian as he enters the door of the church.
"Oh, I don't feel too well," he replies. "I must be catching a cold. It seems I always do at the first opportunity." It is as though he is determined to allow Satan to afflict him if at all possible. The question "How are you?" is merely a friendly greeting, not an invitation to inform the inquirer of your symptoms and problems, or to confess that Satan has the victory over you.
The Scriptures show that sickness or health, prosperity or adversity, are directly related to our confession. Therefore, it is important to know, especially when illness or other adversity strikes, that there are three factors to consider if Divine help is to be obtained:
In Revelation 12:10 Satan is called "the accuser of the brethren," who stands before the throne of heaven accusing us day and night. Jesus, on the other hand, is designated as our Advocate (I John 2:1), and the High Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1), who pleads our case without ceasing before the Father. On what basis is Jesus pleading on our behalf? On the basis of two things: His blood, and our confession. Satan, we are informed, is overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11).
As the High Priest of our confession, Jesus is pleading our defense against Satan's accusations. He pleads not only with His precious blood, but also with our testimony (what we say). Thus, when you say, "I don't feel well; I must be coming down with something"; when you say, "I'm afraid I cannot do this or that, as I don't believe I have the ability"; when you say, "I won't be able to afford it"; when you say, "I have prayed for my healing, but I am beginning to wonder if I will ever get well"; when you say, "I've tried and tried, but I just can't seem to overcome this problem"; when you say, "this situation seems impossible," or "there is no hope for a solution"; then you have joined your confession with that of your Accuser, Satan. Jesus Christ cannot act as your High Priest on the basis of such negative confessions of doubt, fear, or failure. He can only act as the High Priest of a good confession, which must be in harmony with the Word of God. A negative confession simply gives your accuser the fiery darts with which to wound you, for you will find that you have been "snared by the words of your mouth" (Proverbs 6:2).
The victorious life is based upon a positive confession of four Biblical truths. A positive affirmation of these facts will compel Satan to acknowledge your authority and victory over him. This in turn will have the effect of breaking the enemy's power to bind, hinder, and oppress you. God expects us to confess:
Since God promises us that all things have become new, He expects us to confess this fact -- that we have been liberated and renewed in mind, body, soul, and spirit -- for our circumstances and condition will never rise above the level of what we believe we are in Christ. The Scriptures declare that "ye are complete in him" (Colossians 2:10), that you have been liberated from the "power of darkness" (Colossians 1:13), as well as from the effects if the curse (Galatians 3:13), and that you are now sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Galatians 4:67). The victorious life is based upon our continual confession of our present standing in Christ.
2. Confess where you are in Christ (your position).
Many Christians are living a life of oppression and defeat at the hands of
the enemy, because they do not know where they now are in Christ --
their position
in Him. They believe they have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20); they
believe they have died with Christ (II Corinthians 5:14); they believe that they
have risen with Christ (Colossians 3:1); but they are unable to walk in victory
as they should, triumphant over the powers of darkness, because they do not know
that they have also ascended into the heavens with Christ, and are seated with
Him "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion"
(Ephesians 2:5-6, with 1:20-21).
God has not called us to contend with Satan for a place of victory, but to overcome him from our position of victory which we already have in Christ. Jesus tells us that He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:17-19), and that all power in heaven and earth has been given unto Him, which He in turn has committed unto us (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:17-20).
Too many Christians today are like the elder brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son who, ignorant of the significance of his position, confess that he had nothing and that his wayward brother had greater rights and privileges that he. His father the reminded him of his position as a son, and that all he had to do to obtain what he desired was to confess his position and claim his rights to whatever he desired.
The prodigal son was more a son in actual practice than his elder brother, for he came to himself, rose up from his position of poverty where he was glad to eat the "husks," returned to his father, and was restored to his position as a son and heir. Believers today need to "come to themselves" and rise up from their position of defeat, where they are barely existing on the "husks" of religion, and return to their Father, once more claiming their position as the sons of God.
Victory will not be your until you believe it and confess that it belongs to you. until you accept by faith the declaration in God's Word that you have also ascended with Christ and are now seated with Him in a position of power and authority, Satan will continue to exercise his power over your life. Boldly confess that you no longer need to contend with Satan for a place of victory, but that you shall overcome him from a position of victory at the throne of God.
The Christian has this authority by virtue of his relationship to Christ, but we must claim and confess our authority over Satan before we can effectively command him to obey. By virtue of our heavenly position, we have been authorized to put a bold resistance in the Name of Jesus Christ against the powers of darkness, and we have been assured that they must obey!
3. Confess what you possess in Christ (your
inheritance).
Satan keeps most Christians in bondage, to some degree at least, because
they do not know or claim what belongs to them as the result of their
inheritance in Christ. As a consequence they have allowed the Enemy to usurp
their rights and privileges, and to rob then of their healing, health, joy, and
peace.
Christians are rich spiritually, materially, and physically, but too few
are aware of the fact. Instead, they believe that they are not to receive any of
their inheritance now, not to benefit from it in the present life, but only in
the world to come. Scripture, on the other hand, declares that the believer's
inheritance belongs to him now. God promises that "all things are yours:
whether...the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to
come" (I
Corinthians 3:21-22).
God has given us all things in Christ now, as joint-heirs with Him (Romans
8:16-17). The Scriptures are filled with thousands of promises, whereby God had
made provision for our every need, both spiritual and temporal, as well as for
the accomplishment of the work he has commissioned His church to do. All these
provisions and blessings are available to the extent that we are willing to
press through by faith and confess that they are ours now.
It is tragic that Satan is able to keep Christians in such bondage because they have not been taught what really belongs to them as joint--heirs with Christ. If the tax appraiser cones to their homes and asks them to declare what goods and personal property they own, they have no difficulty in stating what belongs to them. If a thief tries to steal their car of wallet, they immediately challenge him, saying, "You cannot take that--it is mine!" And yet they will allow Satan, whom Jesus describes as a thief and robber (John 10:10), to rob them of their rights and privileges, and they will not lift a finger to stop him!
You must confess in faith that all those things which the Scriptures clearly state as belonging to you are actually yours now. Until you do, the Enemy will continue to keep you in spiritual, physical, and temporal bondage by robbing you of your inheritance and usurping your rights and authority.
4. Confess what you can do in Christ (your
empowering and ability).
Frequently we hear Christians confessing what they cannot do. We hear them
say, for instance...
... and so on. Sound familiar? It should, for this is all too often the way many Christians talk.
One thing is certain: you will never be able to do more than you are willing to confess that you can do in Christ, for "thou art snared with the words of thy mouth" (Proverbs 6:2). To walk in victory, you should never confess that you cannot do something, or that anything is impossible, for the Scriptures say that you should always confess, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).
When Moses insisted on confessing that he could not speak to Pharaoh, then he could not, and God was compelled to send Aaron his brother for him (Exodus 4). Peter began to sink when he confessed that he could not stand on the very water upon which he had been walking, and the Israelites perished in the wilderness because they confessed that they would (Numbers 14:1-2; 28-29).
It is a sin to limit God by a confession of doubt as to your ability and power in Christ, for He clearly promises you that "these signs will follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17-18). Jesus said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do" (John 14:12), and He promised us, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed...nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matthew 17:20).
Change a negative confession to a positive one, and nothing will be impossible unto you. One woman, for whom I prayed to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, said, after several moments of silence as she waited for the Spirit to give her new tongues, "Oh, I just can't speak in tongues, I can't! I can't!
"Don't say, 'I can't! I can't!' Confess, 'I can, I can!'" was my immediate reply. As she confessed, "I can! I can!" she found that she could and did. It was her negative confession which had bound her so that the Holy Spirit could not anoint her with utterance in new tongues.
In another instance, a minister's wife confessed to the hostess in whose home we had gathered for a snack after the service one evening, "I am sorry, but I can't ear this shrimp; it makes me deadly ill." We all chuckled after hearing this confession, as I had just preached a message on making a positive confession at all times. She quickly figured out why we were laughing and said, "Oh. I should never have confessed that, should I? After that message, I am confessing that I can eat shrimp, and that I won't get sick!" The next evening she shared with us that she had never felt better, not slept more soundly in her life, having suffered no ill effects at all from eating the shrimp.
The Scriptures declare that you are snared by the words of your mouth (Proverbs 6:2), and that "by thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew 12:37). So it is imperative that we guard our lips from giving expression to anything negative, which is an open invitation to the Enemy to oppress or to overcome us.
The Six-fold Secret
of a
Positive Confession
God deals with us on the basis of what we say or confess, according to
Matthew 12:34-37. In Mark 11:23 Jesus promises us that we shall receive
whatsoever we say. We are informed in Romans 10:10 that confession is the means
by which we obtain possession of that which we believe, while Proverbs 18:21
declares that "death and life are in the power of the tongue." The
reason the Scriptures place such an emphasis upon positive confession is that we
will never rise above the level of our confession, for our condition and
circumstances generally parallel our confession.
If we pray concerning a need and the express doubt as the outcome, we will
receive nothing. If we confess sickness when certain symptoms occur, we will be
sick, for by the "law of confession," sickness confessed is sickness
possessed. If you claim deliverance from some form of financial distress, and
them confess anxiety, or begin to consider what you will do in case the money
does not come, instead of resting in the confidence that God will supply your
needs according to His promise (Philippians 4:19), you nullify God's promise on
your behalf.
The Scriptures tell us that we shall receive whatever we confess; therefore, if we desire to walk in victory 365 days a year, we must develop the habit of making a positive confession when we speak. How is this accomplished? The secret of a positive confession is six-fold.
If we expect to walk in health, prosperity, and victory, then we must, first of all, pray as David, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips" (Psalms 141:3), confessing also with him, "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle." (Psalm 39:1).
In order to develop a positive confession, we must first learn how to be quiet, before we try to learn to speak effectively. As infants we struggled, slowly learning how to speak. After we have spent years developing our vocabulary, we now need to recognize that much of what we have learned must be unlearned, for it is a primary cause of many of our problems and failures, as well as our sicknesses and infirmities.
Much of what the average Christian talks about or confesses is negative and servers no useful purpose, either to himself or to others. Instead, this clutter of negative thoughts and speech robs himself and others of health, happiness, prosperity, and victory. As the Scriptures urge, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers" (Ephesians 4:29).
A positive confession begins with a sanctified silence. The Lord admonishes us to stop confessing our doubts, symptoms, and fears, as well as our uncertainties, and to "be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). In Ecclesiastes 5;2 He warns us: "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God...therefore let thy words be few." Learning to be quiet, or to speak only those things which edify both ourselves and others, is the secret of a positive confession.
Likewise, you should refuse entrance into your mind anything of a negative, contrary, resentful, or depressive nature. Guard your heart and mind, for this is the place the Enemy usually works the hardest, knowing that you will generally confess what you think and believe, for "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." Failure to guard the mind against Satan's depressive and negative suggestions is one of the major causes for the Christian's fear, oppression, sickness, and defeat. Therefore, we are admonished to "keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23).
There is a continual warfare going on between God and Satan for the control of your mind and thoughts. If Satan can gain the ascendancy here, he knows that he can largely determine what you will say and confess, which in turn will affect the course of events in your life. In this way he can limit or destroy your effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.
So, then, the secret of a positive confession is first of all to set a watch on your lips and to guard the door of your mind.
Admitting doubt, even in a small way, will paralyze faith and withhold God's blessings from you (James 1:6-7). You must absolutely refuse to confess doubt, fear, defeat, or anything of a negative nature. We have found time and again that Christians talk themselves out of their faith, as well the answers to their prayers, by what they say or confess after claiming some promise from God's Word.
"Brother Freeman, I have a hearing problem. Can you tell me why I can't keep my healing?" asked a concerned individual one evening. I have received prayer for this condition several times, and although my ears are opened after prayer, yet I find that I cannot maintain my healing for more than two days. Can you tell me why?"
"Why, yes," I replied, "that is very easy to answer. You yourself just revealed why you cannot keep your healing more than two days. It is because you are confessing, 'I can't keep my healing more than two days.' So when Satan seeks to afflict you with those symptoms a few days after receiving prayer for your healing, you begin to confess your symptoms instead of resisting Satan. You then confess that you have lost your healing, and, as a result, you have. Never confess symptoms--confess the Word and resist symptoms just as you would any temptation from Satan. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
"How is the problem concerning your teenage son?" asks one woman of another. "I remember you committed him to the Lord several months ago."
"Well, I'm afraid things don't look very promising," is the negative reply, "I'm about ready to give up if things don't improve soon."
One man greets another saying, "You sound like you are catching a cold. You don't look too well."
"Yes. I've asked God to heal me, but the old devil has put one on me this time for sure. I think I better not plan to go to the office for a few days, but just stay home in bed and see if I get any better," comes the listless reply.
And so on, ad infinitum, go the endless negative confessions of today's defeated and discouraged saints, who apparently have never been taught God's warnings that "death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21); that you can be "snared by the words of thy mouth" (Proverbs 6:2); or that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).
One of the greatest causes for defeat in the lives of Christians is the tongue. A negative confession, or a confession of doubt, is your own admission that you are defeated and that Satan has the victory. Never allow yourself to use negative or doubtful expressions in your speech, for it is a luxury in which you cannot afford to indulge, Develop a vocabulary of faith from God's Word.
Furthermore, you must refuse to listen to doubts, disbelief, skepticism, and uncertainties coming from others, for this can seriously undermine or weaken your own confession of faith. Never discuss the problems which you have claimed by faith, with those who do not believe that God answers positively (with a "Yes") every prayer of faith based upon His Word.
For example, after you have, by faith, claimed your healing from some illness, Satan often seeks to use the unbelief and skepticism of others to implant doubts in your own heart. Many of his tears are sown in just this way, and as a result, the seed of God's Word is choked and becomes unfruitful. It is actually possible to forfeit healing once obtained by faith if you allow doubt to affect your faith. We are personally acquainted with instances where this has occurred.
God deals with us on the basis of what we say or confess. You can easily
confirm this for yourself by determining to bring your confession into harmony,
not with what you feel or see, not with what others may say, not with what the
circumstances might appear to be, but with the Word of God. Study, and then
begin to confess, the promises found in such Scriptures as Exodus 15:26; Psalms
37, 91, 103:1-5 and 121; Matthew 6:33, 18:19 and 21:22; Mark 11:22-24; Romans
8:28; I Corinthians 3:21-22; II Corinthians 1:20; Philippians 4:13,19; Hebrews
13:6; James 1:2-4; and III John 2.
These are just a few of countless promises God has made to the believer which,
if confessed consistently, from a believing heart, will enable you to live
victoriously 365 days a year.
Keep in mind that the term translated "to confess" (homologeo in the original Greek) means "to agree with," or "to speak the same language." Your confession must agree with God's (that is, it must agree with what He has said in His Word), if you are to receive an answer from Him.
You say, "I prayed for the healing of my heart condition, and I hope that God will heal me some time, if it is His will." But based on that confession, you cannot expect to be healed. Why not? Simply because it does not agree with what God has confessed about your physical illness, for He has said that "by Jesus' stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24), that "the prayer of faith shall heal the sick" (James 5:15), that He "healeth all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:3), and that "what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). A positive confession must extend even to our praying, or we cannot expect God to answer our prayers.
God never works in advance of the level of your faith, for your faith is the channel through which He works to answer your prayers. God' s answers always keep in pace with your confession. Therefore, you must not confess what you feel and see, or what the circumstances may appear to be, but what God has said in His Word. Do not expect God to bless you in spite of your negative confession, for He has promised to help those who are willing to confess by faith what He has said and promised to do (I John 5:14-15).
Gideon and his small band of 300 men shouted the victory beforehand, and as a result the Midianites became so frightened that they destroyed one another in their confusion. The Israelities did not wait until the walls of Jerico began to crumble before believing that God had given the city into their hands, but they shouted the walls down by faith. The Apostle Paul tells in Hebrews 11:1 that "faith is the evidence of things not seen." Faith is not sight. Faith can only operate in the realm of the invisible, concerning those things which we have prayed for, but which we do not see manifested to our sight.
This is where most Christians run into difficulty. They have lived so long in the visible realm of the senses that it is hard for them to believe and confess that they have the answer to their prayers before they see or feel some evidence of it. For instance, we have often found that an individual will claim a promise of God for the healing of some ailment, and then, if the condition does not seem to improve immediately, he will begin to reason in his mind, saying, "Well, I must not be healed, since I don't feel healed, and I still have my symptoms." Then he will be even more firmly convinced, upon looking at his appearance in the mirror, that God has not answered his petition.
We must see that healing never depends upon how we feel, nor on what we see, but entirely upon what we believe and confess, for we are told that "as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he," and that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Until we learn that the manifestation of healing always comes after our confession of healing, we will be trying to put the effect before the cause.
Many Christians are trying to believe with their "eyes," and with their "senses" or "feelings," when the Scriptures say that man believes with the "heart." We must first believe and sincerely confess in faith that we have received, or the answer will never be manifested in our sight. Jesus tells us in Mark 11:24 to believe that we have received when we pray, and then we shall have it. (cf. I John 5:14-15).
We dare not depend upon feelings or appearances, for Satan works through the realm of the senses. He can manipulate the feelings with symptoms and pains, and he can also deceive us by what appears to be true to our sight.
Appearances can deceive. When Jesus cursed the fig tree, His word of faith destroyed it immediately. Although it did not appear to be dead until later, it definitely was dead, regardless of appearance. The sun "appears" to rise and set each day, but it is really the earth which turns in relation to the sun's position in the heavens. Sometimes when driving, the car begins to "feel" as if a tire is going flat. How often have you stopped to investigate, only to discover that there is nothing wrong?
On numerous occasions, those for whom I have prayed for healing have found that they did not "feel" or "look" healed immediately after prayer. But in every case, when they have continued to believe and to confess, not what they feel or see, but what the Word of God says (I Peter 2:24; Mark 11:24), they have found that the manifestation ultimately did come.
On one occasion, I prayed for the healing of a small child whose nose was broken. After prayer, the nose still appeared bruised and broken. However, I encouraged the parents to believe that God had answered our petition, and to confess their faith. In two days, the child' s nose was perfectly healed and once more straight, without a mark or bruise. Had we relied upon what we could see, or upon how the child felt, Satan would have robbed us of the victory.
I once prayed for a young man who had a cyst on his back. Several weeks later he told me that after prayer his condition seemed to get worse. The cyst began to increase in size, and then commenced to drain. "It was quite alarming," he confided, "and I was tempted to get medical treatment. However, I remained steadfast in my confession of faith, believing that I was healed in spite of appearances and feelings. After thirty days, the cyst drained and disappeared."
God often uses bodily processes (our glands, for example) to facilitate healing. It is nonetheless supernatural when He heals in this manner, for it is without the use of medicine or other remedies. In this case He caused the cyst to come to a "head" much as a boil does, thus causing it to drain and leave his system.
We have seen this happen in other instances also. After prayer, conditions may not seem to improve for a time, or may even appear to get worse, as God works the poison or disease out of the body. Thus, if we rely only upon appearances or feelings, Satan will deceive us and rob us of our healing.
Faith is confessing the victory ahead of time; it is confessing you have the answer when you pray, believing God to give the manifestation in due time as He has promised (Hebrews 10:23, 35-36; Numbers 23:19). You are only entitled to that which you boldly confess is already yours by virtue of God's faithfulness.
Often things will look no different after you claim some promise and confess your faith in it. It is at this point that you must be very careful to guard your confession, as Satan, who is a deceiver, will try to get you to admit to your feelings, symptoms, or circumstances.
Once you confess a promise of God, you must absolutely refuse to take a word of your confession back, regardless of the circumstances, or how long you must wait for the manifestation of the answer. Why? We are told in Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised."
We are to maintain a daily, constant confession of faith in the promise we have claimed until it is manifested. Many can believe a promise and claim it in prayer initially; but if the answer is not manifested soon enough, they begin to waver and doubt, giving up their confession of faith. As a result they receive nothing.
Healing, for instance, is always in response to a confession of faith; but a confession that can only persevere for a day, week, or a month, is not a healing confession. Many fail to receive what they ask from God because they cannot hold fast their confession without wavering in the midst of trial, testing, pain, or symptoms. Sickness is often overcome only by maintaining a positive confession of God's promises in the face of all apparent evidence to the contrary.
When you claim healing, you have thereby challenged Satan's right to oppress you. You have, as it were, entered his domain, and a battle often ensues. He will contest every inch of ground which you claim. Often he will not withdraw his symptoms until the last moment that God allows him, as he knows from past experience that if he can maintain his hold long enough, he can ultimately discourage most Christians and break their confessions of faith.
This is why a constant confession of faith in the promise of God will eventually overcome Satan's oppression, and he will have to release his hold on you and "vacate the premises." Satan's power to afflict and oppress you increases or decreased in direct proportion to your confession of faith in the Word of God which you have claimed.
It was shortly after suffering a heart attack that I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. At the same time, I also came to recognize that divine healing is valid for today, so I claimed my healing and disposed of my medicines, which the doctor had advised me to take for the rest of my life. Almost immediately Satan began to challenge my confession of faith, in an attempt to break it, by afflicting me with my old symptoms and pains of heart disease. But when the angina attacks would come, I would boldly resist them by reaffirming my confession of faith in God's promise that Jesus had healed me at Calvary (Isaiah 53:3-4; Matthew 8:16-17). As I mentioned my confession without wavering, the Enemy was forced to retreat more and more, until at last he was forced to release his hold on me entirely.
When Satan discovers that you have learned the secret of using God's Word to overcome him (Revelation 12:11), he will eventually be forced to release his hold on you or on your circumstances. But often he will not withdraw until he has exhausted his resources in an attempt to break your confession of faith in the integrity of the Word of God.
But he knows that your confession, if maintained without wavering, will ultimately defeat him and his work in your life. Therefore,
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised) -- Hebrews 10:23
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. -- Hebrews 10:35-36.
After claiming some promise in God's Word, Satan will frequently challenge your decision, and you may find yourself undergoing a period of trial. If, for example, you have claimed a promise of healing for some physical aliment, Satan will attempt to get your attention on your symptoms in an effort to cause you to doubt and break your confession of faith in God's promise. When tempted to doubt in such instances, a bold reaffirmation of your faith in God's Word will generally kill doubt as its roots.
Holding fast to your confession of faith without wavering (Hebrews 10:23) is a defensive measure whereby you keep faith in the promise of God until the manifestation of the answer. However, it is also necessary many times, especially during a period of trial, to take offensive measures against the powers of darkness. There will be times when you must boldly move deeper into Satan's territory by faith when he challenges your confession.
When Goliath threatened David, saying, "I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field," David immediately replied, "And I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee!" Then, when the giant arose and drew nigh to meet him, we are told that David did not retreat in fear, but that he "hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine" (Samuel 17:44f.).
If the enemy comes against you to challenge your faith in some unusual way, then, instead of retreating in doubt and fear, as so many often do, advance like David against him. Act your faith, boldly reaffirming your confidence in God's Word and asserting your authority over the powers of darkness.
Every time Satan advance one step against you in an effort to break your confession of faith, resist him in faith, and boldly advance two steps against him. The Scriptures assure you that, if you will resist the devil, "he will flee from you."
When my daughter's arm was badly shattered in an automobile accident, we were challenged by the medical authorities that, unless we allowed then to set the arm, it would wither and become useless. But we took a bold step of faith and brought her home from the hospital without any medical treatment or surgery. We boldly confessed to the doctors that God would be faithful to His promise and heal her -- which He did. Instead of retreating when our faith was tried, we met the challenge by acting boldly on the promises of God, confessing our faith ion the integrity of His Word.
In another instance, I claimed $1400.00 by faith to go to Israel, publicly confessing to others that God would supply the money for the trip. When the day arrived for me to leave, only about half the money had been received. Satan immediately challenged me, saying, "Well, what are you going to do now? You have ruined your faith ministry because you have publicly confessed that God would supply the money and He has not done so!" However, knowing that "faith is the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), I was confident that God had answered my petition when I had prayed several weeks previously (Mark 11:24). I resisted the devil's temptation to doubt, and boldly took another step of faith. I left for New York with the money which I had, believing that God would somehow provide a way. About 45 minutes before the plane left New York for Israel, a man came to me and said, "An anonymous donor wants to pay the balance of your fare, whatever it is!"
When tempted to doubt, a bold step of faith is one of the most effective weapons against Satan that the believer possess, for it take the initiative away from him, and keeps you in control of the situation. A confession of doubt or fear concerning the outcome is always as admission that Satan, not you, has the initiative. The devil will flee if you resist him with a bold reaffirmation of your faith in the Word of God when under attack by the forces of darkness.