DON’T CHANGE YOUR CONFESSION

Saturday 26 October

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

Romans 4:20 (KJV)

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV)

There are times in our lives where what God has said and our circumstances don’t seem to line up. It brings to remembrance what the serpent said to Eve. ‘Did God really say’? This is the devil’s modus operandi. He tries to plant seeds of doubt in our minds in the hope that it will produce unbelief from our mouths. All in an attempt to get us to question two things: God’s integrity and our identity.

Think about Jesus after the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove and God spoke out of heaven and said ‘this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased’. Almost immediately after this, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to fast and pray where He faced temptation by the devil. What was Satan’s first words ‘if you be the Son of God’. He immediately questioned God’s integrity and Jesus identity. Jesus despatched Satan through the scriptures; ‘it is written’.

Jesus knowledge of the word was the deciding factor in Him gaining the victory over Satan and his schemes. It is the same for us today. A major key is that Jesus didn’t allow Satan to fill his mind with doubt by entertaining the words that the devil was saying. Doubt is of the mind which can produce unbelief which is of the heart. Remember the Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. This shows us the difference between doubt and unbelief.

If we allow doubtful thoughts to go unchecked in our minds, unbelief will result in those words coming out of our mouths. The solution is we must fill our minds with the Word of God so instead of words of unbelief coming out, words of faith will be released. We can even use our mouth to redirect our thoughts if we become sidetracked.

The story of Abraham is also a good example of someone who did not allow adverse circumstances or situations to change his confession about what God had said. ‘He staggered not’ means he did not waver or was not double minded as James says. ‘He was strong in faith’ meant that he did not change his confession in the midst of what looked like by all accounts an impossible situation, which is why he is the father of faith.

Proverbs 18:21a says ‘death and life are in the power of the tongue’. We need to realise the power of our words to produce life or death that are fuelled by our thoughts. We therefore have to ‘bring every thought into captivity and make it obedient to Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5b). When we do this we are able to ‘hold fast to our confession without wavering’.

Let me encourage you that no matter how tough the challenge you may be facing, don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t change your confession by speaking something contrary to what God has said concerning your life. Rise above the situation and ‘walk by faith and not by sight’. Let the Word of God redirect and reprogram your mind to speak words that will produce life for you always.

APPLICATION

Speak life and not death over every situation by filling your heart with the Word of God and see your life progress from glory to glory.