Spirit of Grace Ministries
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Spirit of Grace Ministries
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The Most Powerful Words of All

By Dennis Pollock

 

People talk a lot. They talk when they are excited and they talk when they're bored. One study found that women talk, on average, twice as much as men, but my wife isn't too sure about that. One researcher concluded that the average person speaks around 860 million words during his life, about 14 times the amount of words you would find in a large dictionary.

 

Today I want to share the most powerful and important words that can ever come from your mouth. This has to do with the Biblical concept of "confession." In Romans the apostle Paul writes: "…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." (Romans 10:9-10). This use of the word "confess" is not what most people think of when they hear this word. We think confessing is admitting you are wrong or committing a terrible crime. In the old Perry Mason TV shows, the killer would often confess his crime while being grilled by Mr. Mason on the witness stand.

 

But the confession Paul describes is a very positive thing. There is a place for confessing your sins, but in this case, Paul says that salvation occurs when people confess the Lord Jesus Christ with their mouths and believe in His resurrection in their hearts. This is not the confession of sin; it is the confession of Jesus Christ.

 

In Paul's letter to Timothy, he admonishes the young minister: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:12). Once again, we have the confession of Christ, this time called "the good confession." Paul is reminding Timothy that he has confessed to Jesus publicly, or as he puts it, "In the presence of many witnesses," and he calls this a good confession.

 

"Positive Confessions"

 

There was a point, some years ago, when many people in the church were talking about "positive confession." Some ministers told folks, "Never let anything negative come out of your mouth.” Others suggested that if you kept confessing and acknowledging some blessing you desperately wanted to receive, you would surely have it. Someone might be sick with the flu, coughing, hacking, sneezing, and lying in bed, with no energy. But when a friend called on the phone and asked how they were doing, they would reply, "Praise God, I'm feeling great, I’ve never felt better in my life!" They supposed that if they refused to allow any negativity out of their mouth, their sickness would soon disappear.

 

Some people thought that if they confessed over and over again, "I am a millionaire, I am a millionaire," then millions of dollars would come flowing their way. There would be no need to work hard, start a business, or create an invention that would revolutionize the world. Just keep saying, "I am a millionaire," and soon you will become one. Of course, that does not work, and after a while, most Christians grew out of the "confess it and you've got it" phase.

 

Confessing Jesus

 

Real confession has to do with the acknowledgment of Jesus Christ. It is not about what we have or hope to have, or what we are or wish to be, it is about who Jesus is. In the Gospel of John Jesus makes seven "I AM" statements. He declares Himself to be the bread of life, the light of the world, the doorway to God, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life, and the true Vine. Here is where the power lies, here are some of the most powerful and life-changing words that can ever come out of our lips, not about us but about Jesus.

 

Jesus is the I AM. It is not our job to say, "I am this" or "I am that." It is neither necessary nor productive for us to brag about ourselves. We do not need to mindlessly utter positives about ourselves: "I am somebody," "I am powerful," "I am smart," "I am successful," "I am a woman, hear me roar," "I am the greatest singer, the greatest speaker, the smartest businessman, the sharpest student, the most beautiful woman." When we focus on ourselves and our talents and abilities, we bring ourselves under a curse, the curse of pride. The Bible says "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." Focusing on our talents and assets is the worst thing we can do.

 

Instead, we focus on Jesus Christ. It is not self-confidence that we need to navigate this life successfully; it is Christ-confidence. So when Jesus says: "I am the Good Shepherd, I am the true Vine, I am the Resurrection and the life," and so forth, it is our job to say: "Yes, You are!" There is incredible power in the simple confession and acknowledgment of who Jesus is to us.

 

This is how we enter the kingdom of God. Jesus declares Himself to be the Savior, and we confess Him as Savior and believe in our hearts that He is the risen Savior. But we do not just believe Him to be the Savior of the world. That belief will not save anybody. We believe Jesus to be our own Savior. And when we confess Him and receive Him as our Savior, suddenly divine life flows into us, and we become children of God.

 

Power of Acknowledgment

 

When we confess Jesus as our Savior, we are not making Him the Savior. He already was that. But we are embracing Him as OUR SAVIOR, our own personal Savior. And at that point, salvation is released from heaven and enters our souls. We say, "Lord Jesus, You are my Savior; I trust you as my Savior." And He becomes just that to us. With our mouths, we have confessed the Lord Jesus and with our hearts, we have believed in Him, and we are saved.

 

But this goes beyond salvation. Throughout our lives, we learn of Jesus in His many roles toward His people. If Jesus says about Himself, "I am, I am the bread of life, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Way to God," it is our job to echo this back to Him, and confess, "Lord Jesus, You are my Good Shepherd, You are my Bread of life, You are the Son of God, You are the Keeper of my soul." These are the most powerful words that can ever come from any human mouth. When we say these things to Jesus, we are not making Him the true Vine, the Son of God, or the Good Shepherd. Jesus already was this to His people long before we ever came along. But by our faith and confession, we are releasing His power in our lives. It is one thing for Jesus to be the Good Shepherd to His church. That doesn't help me out much. But when I embrace Him as the Good Shepherd to Dennis Pollock, to me personally, that's when Jesus' divine shepherding grace comes into my life, and I start making one dead-on decision after another, because my Good Shepherd is leading me.

 

But faith must accompany our confession. You can teach a parrot to say things about Jesus but that does not make him a born-again parrot, because He has no faith. But when we exercise faith in Jesus in all His different roles, as Savior, as Keeper, as our wisdom, as our Provider, as our Defender, and we open our mouths in prayer, saying those powerful words, "Lord Jesus, I trust you as my …" that is when the devil must flee, and our blessings will flow. These are the most powerful words any human can ever utter, and this is where your victory lies. What simple, yet incredibly powerful, life-changing words: "Lord Jesus, I trust You."


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