Don’t Buy Into This Lie About Confessions of Faith

There is great confusion among believers in Christ as to whether or not a confession of faith is a lie. The ninth commandment tells us we are not to lie. Proverbs 12:22 plainly says. “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” And a lying tongue is listed as one of the seven sins God hates the most. “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers” (Prov. 6:16-19). From these three verses alone we can gather that lying is a serious sin, and God hates it, and we are to speak the truth.

But then we read verses such as Romans 4:17, in which God says, “(As it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) before God whom he believed, and who raises the dead, and calls those things that do not exist as though they did.” Proverbs 18:21 clearly teaches us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 12:18 reveals right type of words bring forth healing, “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health.”

This sets my mind to thinking that there is a huge spiritual difference in the way in which words are being spoken. Some say it is a lie to say, “By His stripes I am healed” (Is. 53:5) when they still have physical symptoms of sickness upon them. But with the story of Abram, later changed to Abraham, he was to call those things that are not as though they already were. No longer was he to confess that he was fatherless with his barren wife, Sarai, later renamed Sarah.

The words that one speaks are so vital, that God changes Abram’s name to Abraham. So now, every time he introduces himself, “Hi, I’m Abraham.” He is actually declaring to everyone he meets, “Hi, I’m the father of many nations.” Now, from a carnal perspective that would be telling a lie. His wife was barren. They were elderly. He had one son with his wife’s servant, Hagar. One son, with another woman other than his wife still does not make him a father of many nations.

And God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, so she would start to declare that she would give birth to nations, kings, prominent people would come from her womb. This too with natural reasoning would be consider a lie. She didn’t even have one child, let alone be the mother of nations and kings.

James 3:1-11 warns about the power of the tongue: “My brothers, not many of you should become teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment. We all err in many ways. But if any man does not err in word, he is a perfect man and able also to control the whole body. See how we put bits in the mouths of horses that they may obey us, and we control their whole bodies. And observe ships. Though they are so great and are driven by fierce winds, yet they are directed with a very small rudder wherever the captain pleases. Even so, the tongue is a little part of the body and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. The tongue is a fire, a world of evil. The tongue is among the parts of the body, defiling the whole body, and setting the course of nature on fire, and it is set on fire by hell. All kinds of beasts, and birds, and serpents, and things in the sea are tamed or have been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring yield at the same opening sweet and bitter water?”

The power of the tongue either blesses or curses, creates or destroys ourselves, others, hopes, dreams and future plans. So what is a confession of faith for a healing or a miracle? Is it an arrogant lie? Is it a form of manipulation we use against God to try to get our way? No, it isn’t any of these explanations. What it is then?

A confession of faith for a healing or miracle is faith talk. It’s God’s form of speech. It’s supernatural vocabulary that produces what it declares. It’s based on faith and comes from the heart, and it believes what it is saying. And I’ll take this deeper, and make it clearer. When we speak a confession of faith for a healing or miracle, we are actually prophesying into the situation.