Day 36

Is Positive Confession

Totally the Work of Satan?

Roger and Eileen Himes

www.ThePracticalGospel.com

We have lost the benefit and the power of a great truth today! We assign this truth to ‘the positive confession movement,’ and in so doing we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I was doing some research in college. I came across something that had absolutely NO meaning to me at the time. But it was something I now know GOD filed away in my subconscious mind for a later time. This was the fact that silent reading, as we know it now, was not invented until 300-400 A.D. Before this time, when people read, they spoke it vocally — out loud. The article went on to say that this also applied to things like thinking and praying, to lesser degrees. People could think without doing so out loud. Proverbs 23:7 says so. But, they seldom did. It was their culture to speak aloud.

Today we make jokes about this. If someone talks to themselves out loud, we tend to look at them as being at least a little ‘different.’ Can I say ‘weird’? But this wasn’t true in the days of the first century church, — and before.

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GOSPEL TRUTH #71

Folks living before about 300 years after the time of Christ talked to themselves. They prayed out loud. They read out loud. They spoke out loud. It was their custom. In fact, they knew no other way. This was the way they lived. It means both JESUS and PAUL spoke to themselves. Should this be the way we should live too?

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The Bible says Jesus’ disciples were fascinated by his praying, and they asked him to teach them to pray. What he both SAID AND DID while praying fascinated them. This would NOT have been true if he only prayed silently, in his mind, as we so usually do. Jesus prayed out loud. I think he also prayed demonstratively: with his whole body and soul. Others could both hear and see him pray. They could see the peace and joy in him: total connection with Abba Father in every way. It was something they lacked and they wanted it.

What about Hannah and Eli the priest in the book of Samuel? Eli accused her of being drunk in church! Why did he accuse her of being drunk? It was because, in prayer, her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out of her mouth. Everyone else was praying out loud — it was just the way things were. Why Hannah wasn’t speaking? Perhaps she had the flu and had lost her voice. Scripture doesn’t tell us. But what we do know is that Eli thought she was drunk because she wasn’t speaking — out loud.

What about Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts? The story says that the Ethiopian was riding along in the desert alone in his chariot. Then God caused Philip to somehow ‘materialize’ in the desert with him, and Philip heard him reading from the book of Isaiah as he rode along. Ask yourself: who was he reading to — his horse? Again, the fact is the man didn’t know how to read silently. The only way he knew to read was out loud — vocally. Silent reading had not been ‘invented’ yet.

We are told Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their long, loud prayers in public. But notice he didn’t condemn for praying out loud. After all, it was the only way they knew to pray. Jesus himself prayed vocally. What he condemned them for was their motive: they wanted to be heard and honored by other people for their loud, long prayers. They weren’t truly connecting with God! They were praying to impress other people. In the story of the Publican and the Pharisee (who were also praying out loud), Jesus said the Pharisee was only praying ‘thus with himself.’ I often wonder how many of our prayers Father sees us only praying ‘thus with ourselves.’

Hopefully, if you are reading with what I call ‘gospel eyes,’ you already see the implication of this. We’ve lost a LOT today in silent reading and praying. Let me reiterate: the invention of silent reading is a real blessing — in many ways. We can learn a lot more, a lot faster, by means of it. But spiritually, I see Satan involved in this invention. We should not speed-read the Bible. In prayer, we should dynamically connect with our loving Father— responding to him in passion, in peace, in joy, and in love. This is very hard to do silently.

The problem with positive confession is it plays on human desire. They use scripture (often out of context), to help them get what they want out of life. This is dubbed ‘name it and claim it.’ It was founded in ‘the kingdom of SELF,’ not the kingdom of God. They say if you just confess something enough, then you get it. This is wrong!

‘Name it and claim it’ is not scriptural, but it IS scriptural to believe gospel truth in your heart, and speak it with your mouth! By all means, speak the truth of God that you have in your heart! Confess it long and hard! I hope you see what I am saying is different from what the positive confession movement says.

As you read the Bible, and about the Jews in particular, they were very demonstrative. They did not do anything half-heartedly. They moaned, wailed and were loud. They waved their arms and stomped their feet. They poured ashes on their head! Nothing they did was just by means of words. Their spiritual life was a whole person experience.

We have LOST a lot in a silent approach to faith. But we have also lost a lot in our half-hearted, non-physical approach to our faith!

You’ll be amazed how your Christian life will change, for the better, if you are more passionate — with your whole spirit, soul and body. We believe what WE say more than we believe what anyone else says. We are told: as we think in our heart so are we (Prov 23:7). We also know what we believe is what we say (II Cor 4:13). Our MOUTH is a computer print-out of what is going on inside our MIND!

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GOSPEL TRUTH #72

In John 2, we are told Jesus knew what was inside a man. So do we if we listen to their words. In John 5, Jesus said to some Pharisees: “I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.” We also know what is in a person, and if they know God’s love, just by listening to their words. In this way, we can actually read a person’s mind and heart — by the words they say.

Like Jesus, we know what is in a person. We know if they know the love of God or not. This is especially true when you live in gospel truth. But don’t miss this: other people, including Satan, can also read our minds by what we say. They can’t do so literally, just like we can’t, — but they can by what we SAY and DO!

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As we talk about in spiritual authority, Satan knows whether we live in the truth and the power of the gospel or not. If we don’t live in the truth and the power of the gospel he says, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but WHO are you?” (Acts 19:15). If we do live the gospel he says, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul — and I know YOU too!”

How do we live life in passion? It begins by means of positive confession, but also by means of DYNAMIC GOSPEL DECLARATION. The positive confession movement is not wrong — as long as you build on the Rock of God’s gospel, and not on the sand (the kingdom of self). The gospel is the process of God in us. This is restated, in many ways, in A 40 Day Gospel Fast. Paul says it is the gospel that produces good fruit from us (Col 1:5-6). It is not us, it is God’s gospel IN us that does the work. We talked about this when we talked about ‘The Seed, the Root and the Fruit.’ It is one way of planting good seed in you! It is NOT just what is called ‘name it and claim it.’

You do this by means of taking God’s gospel truth, and by faith believing that what God says is totally true (Heb 4:2). This becomes ‘what you believe in your heart’ — the root that grows in you. Then you then RELEASE it in DYNAMIC GOSPEL DECLARATION! This is one way good fruit comes forth from you. You don’t do it silently. You do it vocally and out loud. Plus, you don’t JUST do it vocally and out loud. You do it dynamically, with (1) your breath and (2) your body: by means of your tone, authority, and passion, — and by means of gesture, in the way you use your whole body.

Have you ever heard about the 55-38-7 rule? Studies show that our believability is only derived from our words alone 7% of the time. 38% is derived from our tone, our passion, and the authority in which we speak. Recall that people were amazed at Jesus, “Because he spoke with authority — not as the Scribes and Pharisees.” The same studies show that 55% of our believability comes from how we use our bodies in our communication — our posture, gestures, movement. This involves the VISUAL impact of what we say — ‘our body language.’

We are The Whole Person (as we saw on Day 12). Our words alone, even vocalized out loud, are not enough to really cause us to live life in passion. We must use our spirit, our soul, and our body. We speak in authority by means of The Whole Person.

Much of the gospel is a dynamic declaration of our identity: who we are in Christ. This is often referred to as righteousness, sanctification, perfection and in many other ways. What we should do each day is to dynamically declare the gospel — out loud, with all of the authority and passion we can muster, and while using our bodies. After all, we are only saying what GOD says about us! Start by dynamically declaring the gospel found in I John 4:17:

AS Jesus is, so am I in this world!
As JESUS IS, so am I in this world!
As Jesus is, SO AM I in this world!
As Jesus is, so am I IN THIS WORLD!
As Jesus is, so am in THIS world!
As Jesus is, so am I in this WORLD!

Then dynamically declare the gospel found in Philippians 4:13:

I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
I can DO ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me!
I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me!
I can do all things through Christ WHO strengthens me!
I can do all things through Christ who STRENGTHENS me!
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens ME!

Repetition, by emphasizing different words, is a powerful dynamic. Let’s look at a few other DYNAMIC GOSPEL DECLARATIONS: “I have been raised and seated with Christ in heavenly places!” — “Every angel of heaven and every demon of hell sees me this way!” — “I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ for good works!” — “I reign in life with Christ because right now I receive his abundant grace, and his gift of righteousness!” — “God gives me every good gift his kingdom has to give, and I have ALL spiritual blessings!”— “I am the righteousness of God in Christ!” — “Jesus became sin for me so I could be made his righteousness!”

If ALL you say are these verses, on a daily basis, using your whole body in gesture, and authority of voice, life will change dramatically for you. God’s truth becomes his power in our lives when we put it to use in passion. Paul says, “All things become new.” But there is no need to stop here. The gospel is full of hundreds of truths like these.