What are you confessing?
What is a confession? In a court of law, a confession is an acknowledgement or admission, most often regarding having done something wrong, thereby being an admission of guilt.
Even in the Church, the act of confessing has been given a negative connotation by religion; limiting the purpose and benefits to admission of guilt for wrong doing.
Then there are others who confess the promises of God, trying to “work” the power of God-as though they are making God do something by saying it. In the same manner that some believe if you have enough people to pray with you, your prayers will have more power.
And some who confess, using it as the principal way they chose to relate to God. For example: repetitive prayers.
In consequence, the meaning of confessing has changed and/or been watered down throughout church history and saying “confessions” has become a religious exercise having little or no expectation of benefit.
While “confess” can be used for admission of guilt or of participation in something undesirable I’d like to look at it from a different perspective with you.
Let’s see what the literal word for confess means in the bible.
The basic meaning for “to confess” comes from the NT word in Greek “homologeo” and it means to speak the same thing, to assent, accord, agree with.
It also means to declare openly by way of speaking freely; such confession being the effect of deep conviction of facts. To confess by way of celebrating with praise. To gladly acknowledge.
When you apply this literal meaning to the word “confess,” a religious confession is simply the conviction of being in agreement with God; believing the same thing as God to the point of freely speaking it.
Now let’s look at what making a biblical confession might mean.
2 Corinthians 4:13 and since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.
In this scripture, we can see the importance of our confession. What are you confessing?
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Our confessions (the beliefs of our heart) when declared, have power in our lives.
- A confession is a reflection of what is at the core of our beliefs about God and who we are in His eyes.
- Our confession also has power to change our circumstances to be aligned with God’s will and purposes.
- Lastly, our confession assures our heart during difficult times and restores our confidence.
1 John 3:19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. What does it mean to assure?
Assure:
- to declare earnestly to; inform or tell positively; state with confidence to
- to give confidence to; encourage
When the pressure is on us, circumstances against us, and our hope begins to waiver, we can restore our confidence by confessing what we believe.
We can encourage ourselves in the Lord!
A spoken confession reminds us of what we know in our heart that is true about God.
For all three of these reasons, it is a good practice to speak confessions that agree with the word of God, daily. A confession doesn’t have to be book and verse, or word for word, just truth. Jesus said, “Thy word is truth.”
Experiencing Salvation is the result of a heartfelt confession. All the benefits of our salvation (healing, deliverance, and prosperity in our spirit, soul and body) also come from the confession of our heart.
Amen