Aloha Dearest Family,
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21)
As Christians, we know that life has many trials and challenges. It is important to NOT CONFESS our present situation but confess the victory that God has for us. It may be challenging because many of us listen to the people around us and tend to repeat their negative language. God has given us many promises in His Word for us to claim so that we can always be victorious, no matter the situation we may be facing. One such situation is recorded in Exodus chapter 14.
After more than 400 years, God’s people, Israel, are finally leaving Egypt. After 10 devastating plagues, the Pharaoh had finally ordered Israel to leave the country. Israel wasted no time and left in haste. This was God’s orchestration and He directed the people exactly where to go. They ended up stopped at the Red Sea, not able to go any further.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon.” (Exodus 14:1 and 2)
Meanwhile, Pharaoh and his advisors realized what they had done in letting their slaves go and decided to go after them. (One needs to wonder about the sanity of Pharaoh at this point. The plagues had decimated his country and the first-born of every household had been killed – including his own).
“When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.” So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt* so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly. The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon.” (Verses 5-9 )
*(It is important to understand that God always gives us free will to make our own decisions. God never forces His Wil upon us. In this verse the figure of speech of “permission” is employed. It is more accurate to say that God ALLOWED Pharaoh’s heart to be hardened).
Pharaoh called together his army with his chariots and best soldiers to bring back their slaves. Israel was now hemmed in and capture seemed imminent. When the people saw Pharaoh’s mighty army on the hill, all hope was lost and they told Moses this.
“As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (verses 10-12)
Moses could have been swayed by their words but Moses refused to be moved by their fear and unbelief. God had promised that He would bring His people out of Egypt and Moses would stand firm on this promise. The situation was most desperate and Moses knew that the only way out now was for God to perform a miracle. Moses believed that God would stay true to His promise so instead of confessing defeat, he confessed total victory.
“But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Verses 13 and 14)
Moses wasn’t sure WHAT God would do, but he was convinced that God WOULD deliver His people this day. Moses told the people to “stand still”, but God said, “Don’t stand still-GET GOING!” God told Moses to lift his staff over the Red Sea and as he did, the Red Sea parted. The scope of such an event is almost beyond imagining. It’s only because of movies like The Ten Commandments that I can even picturing it happening. But our God is a God of the impossible. Also on this day, Pharaoh would lose his entire army - drown in the Red Sea.
When you know that God is on your side, the impossible becomes possible. So why not confess victorious thoughts instead of thoughts that will limit God? God wants to go to work in our lives, but it is us who limit Him. When we confess our own words or thoughts, we will remain defeated in life. But when our words “mirror” God’s words, we will be confessing what God has already declared as true. If we confess that our sins have been forgiven, we are just confessing what God has already told us. When we believe God’s Words and confess them, we are confessing the victory that God already says is ours. It’s simple.
God has promised the believer:
Health
Prosperity
Peace
Guidance
Love
Spiritual Power
Wisdom
And much more
God can promise these to us because of the finished work of His son Jesus Christ. God has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Why not confess some of them in our lives today.
We have been conditioned to confess what we feel and declare what we are seeing. But this will never change our situation. Let’s re-train ourselves to always confess God’s words of power instead of our own words of lack. Let’s introduce “words of truth” in our lives and see things change.
What you confess in your life is what you will see.
Love Always, Ray
“Confession of belief equals receipt of confession.”
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