Positive Confession

The other night I saw a program on the Navy Seal training, about how rigorous and frightening the training was. Only one in three persevere to the end.


Seals are the first who are called in on dangerous and deadly missions. Since they will be facing fear constantly, from the first moment they begin their training, they are constantly put in terrifying situations.

In one exercise he soldiers are put in a swimming pool with diving gear. While they are underwater, their trainers do everything in their power to cut off their air supply. The Seal must free himself from their trainers and survive underwater. Most people fail this test because of panic. So many failed, in fact that their trainers created a special program for those who failed to deal with panic.

The program involved three aspects. First, they must have a clear purpose. Second, they had to rehearse it mentally before they did it. Third, and most important, they were given a list of affirmations to say to themselves. We all have an inner dialogue going on at all time, which can either work for us or against us. They must answer fear with faith, despair with hope, and “I can’t” with “I can.”

What the Seal trainers his upon is old wisdom. It is the wisdom of confession.

Last week we began discussing of the skill of confession. Confession means agreeing with God. We agree that is sin and that righteousness is righteousness.

In the NIV version of the New Testament, “confess” is used ten times. Out of those ten time, only two times does it mean confession of sin (and one of them is problematical). I John 1:9 and James 5:16, though in the latter case, we are not told to confess our sins, but our shortcomimgs. In the other eight uses, it refers to the confession of Christ.

John 1:19-20 Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."

Rom 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Phil 2:10-11 At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Heb 3:1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess

Heb 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name.

In each of the passages, we confess we that Christ is sufficient.

This has a direct bearing on our prayers. When we pray, we should not pray in faith, nothing doubting. Yet our minds are full of doubt. Our faith is tentative at best. We can name a thousand reasons for fear. Fear is basic, animal instinct. Panic is natural.

But positive confession is the answer to fear. It is God’s way to reprogram our hearts and minds to obey and believe the voice of God.

Romans 12 1 says “Brethren, urge you by the mercies of God that you present yourselves a living sacrifice to God, wholly and acceptable to Him, and to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind through the Word.”

Confess the truth to renew our hearts and minds. Prayer depends upon faith, and faith depends upon a renewed mind. It is a gift that God gives us through our agreement with Him. ]

So many things seem impossible. But when we look at the world from God’s perspective, nothing is impossible. In our worldly vision, we are brief candles, easily blown out.. We are simply bags of meat and chemicals, holding together for seventy to a hundred years, and then falling apart, We are tiny specks on a giant world, hardly significant at all. But when we look at things from God’s perspectives, we are greater than the angels. We are eternal children of an eternal God, not bound by time and space forever, but the most endurable thing in the entire universe. When the rest of the universe has collapsed in upon itself, we will still be with God.

So in prayer, we need to reaffirm what we confess.

Many Christians misunderstand the concept of positive confession. This is not positive thinking. Neither is magical manipulation of circumstances. It is rather our minds agreeing with God’s mind, and affirming what has always been true.

The dangers misapplication of positive confession are obvious. Once I attended a hospice seminar where a chaplain/psychologist was lecturing a group of volunteers about helping dying patients. One volunteer raised his hand and told about a wonderful patient he had. He said the man was told he was dying and refused to accept it. Instead, he told everyone that he would recover and refused to let anyone else tell him differently. To the volunteer, this was a good thing. But the lecturer merely said. “If you stand in the middle of the road while a truck is coming, and refuse to believe in the existence of trucks, you will be just as dead as if you did.” Positive thinking if it is not real can ruin faith, not encourage it.

So here are some guidelines to keep in mind.

\1. Positive confession must also be true confession. No positive confession will a dog into a cat, or poison into healthy food. Whatever we confess to must be true. No amount of belief in our athletic abilities will compensate for a lack of talent, training, and conditioning. No amount of positive faith will hold back the clock or guarantee us eternal life on this world. We will not win every battle, neither will we stay alive forever. Neither can everyone be rich and popular just by claiming that we will be. It is not God’s will that we all live forever on this world, and if God intended for there to be no sickness, then why did He not wipe out all germs. No, We must accept what is true, and what is from God’s hand.

2. Positive confession is Christ confession. The Gospel is our standard of truth.

The Gospel declares

--We are sinners. We should not tell ourselves over and over that we are good people when we are not.

--We cannot save ourselves. The ability to be good people comes from God, not from our own inherient nature. Jesus is the atonement for our sins.

-- Jesus died for us as an expression of a benevolent and caring God.

--Anyone can start over with God. No matter how many times we have sinned, the blood of Jesus still cleanses us from all sin. Any belief that leaves us at odds with God does not understand the nature of the atonement, or the Gospel.

3, A positive confession must be what God has said. The best positive confessions are those which reflect Biblical truth.

The Bible is a treasure trove of helpful affirmations. For example.

“Nothing is impossible with God.”

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

“He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on You.”

“For He will never leave you or forsake you.”

“For you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

“God is working in all things for good for those who love God and are called accorgind to His purposes.”

“Nothing can separate us from the Love of God.”

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

There are thousands more verses from which me may form our positive confessions. The more we study the Scriptures, the more His promises leap out at us. We can use those verses as a basis for our prayers.

4. Positive confessions should be personal and specific. Do not just claim a general list of promises Do not just say “nothing can separate us from God.” Say “Nothing can separate me from God.” Just as last week we saw that if we keep our negative confession general, it is no good for cleansing our sins, so we also know that the same is true for positive confessions. We need to claim God’s promises for ourselves and not just for others. Make those claims personal.

5. Positive confessions should be repeated often. People who have trouble with faith do not accept a positive confession on the first hearing. They must repeat to themselves over and over. Studies habve shown that we are constantly talking to ourselves, saying in our minds more than three hundred to a thousand words a minute to ourselves. Much of what we say is negative and doubtful. If we are so prone to say the wrong things to ourselves over and over again, why should be not also say the right things, over and over again? The more we repeat the truth, the more it wbill cast out the lie.

6. Positive confessions should be public. Confess not just to ourselves, but to others. Tell others what you are saying. Let them know what you affirm. By telling others, it becomes more real to ourselves.

9. Positive confessions should be accompanied by positive action. Step out on faith. Do what you say you are going to do. Keep with people who are positive, and do not wallow in negativity. We become like the company we keep. Keep repeating the truth, and do not conform to the lie. Don’t allow yourself to fall into patterns that would be true if God’s word were not, but fill your mind with positive faith and joy.

For with the mouth, confession is made, Positive confession is the key to faith, just as faith is the key to prayer. Keep telling yourself the truth and it will take root in your heart.