There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about the “Word of Faith Message”, or “The Power of Confession”, or maybe you’ve heard the term, “Name it and Claim it!” The question at hand is as to whether it is Biblical to teach that “profession brings possession” is a simple matter of checking the Bible, the Word of God, to see if the scriptures lend credence to this teaching.
An often quoted scripture is Romans 4:17, “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Note that God, it says, “makes alive the dead, and calls those things that be not, (are not in existence yet,) as though they were already in existence. This is the essence of what God did in Genesis when He said (in the Hebrew) “Light be!” and, light came into being! Before He said it, light “was not yet”, but once He said it, light sprang into being. “Well, yes,” you might say, “but, Dr. Bill, that was God!” True! I will give you no argument there! The question becomes then, does God want US to “call those things that be not as though they are?” Let’s look at what Jesus taught the disciples in Mark Chapter 11.
“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Mark 11:22-24) Now this is the King James Version, and I know that it can be a little “blind” to us sometimes, so let’s look at the same scripture in the “Bible in Basic English” translation, “And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God’s faith. Truly I say to you, Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and be put into the sea; and has no doubt in his heart, but has faith that what he says will come about, he will have his desire. For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it.” Notice it says, “Have God’s faith…” The Greek meaning here can be expressed, “have the God kind of faith,” or “use God’s kind of faith.” Now if Jesus is teaching us that we should actually use God’s Faith… which make no mistake, He is saying to do that… then, we should use God’s faith in the same way that God uses it…. by speaking! Let’s look at the rest of the verse… notice He says, “whoever will say.” The promise here is not to EVERYONE, no indeed! It IS to anyone that will “say!” The qualifier is that you be willing to speak God’s Word over the situation! And, note, He is not saying talk ABOUT the situation, He is saying rather to talk TO the situation, or thing! You must be willing to “say to the mountain” what you want it to do! A lot of people are simply not willing to “say!” They won’t speak their faith! But, notice, as Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin has pointed out so many times in teaching about these verses, there are three “sayings,” to one “believing!” Once you believe, you have to speak! 2 Corinthians 4:13 makes this clear as well, “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” We believe, therefore we speak!
Over and over again, the Bible makes it clear that once you believe, you must confess, or speak, the thing that you believe. Even in being saved, we follow the process of believing in our heart, and confessing with our mouth. Notice Romans 10:8-10, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The Word is near you, it is in your heart, and in your mouth! You must, it says, “confess with the mouth!” Notice, it is not enough to “think with the mind,” you MUST “confess WITH THE MOUTH!” This follows the method that God used, He spoke, and it came to pass! We speak His Word, and it comes to pass! Whether it is in salvation, or, as the Greek makes clear in the translation of this word “salvation” used in this verse, “saved, healed, and made whole spirit, soul, body, financially and socially!” The word used here means all these things! It is literally “wholeness,” or “complete restoration!” This Biblical principle of confessing God’s Word to bring to pass what is true in the spiritual realm into manifestation in the natural realm is a key Biblical principle!
Speaking the Word brings God’s power and authority to bear on a physical problem! Consider the fact that the centurion that Jesus marveled at (because of his faith) understood this principle. Matthew 8:8 says, “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Note, that he “was not worthy” because he understood that he had no covenant with God at that time, as he was not of Jewish heritage in the natural, but he understood that Jesus was walking in covenant, and in authority, with God. He said, “Speak the word only… and my servant shall be healed!” Then notice what Jesus said about him in verse 10, “When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Not even the Israelites of that day, though they DID have a covenant with God, had the faith of this centurion! Why? The centurion understood the principle of speaking the Word of God in faith! He understood that there is authority in God’s Word! Beyond that, God’s Word has the power within itself, to cause the Word to come to pass! This is a direct translation of the scripture in the Greek translated as, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37) Mary had asked the angel in effect, “How shall I conceive a child since I am a virgin?” The angel responded with the phrase above. Now, “with God all things shall be possible,” is certainly true, but reading the King James translation, we don’t get the full meaning! In the Greek, the angel was explaining to Mary the “how” of the situation, which is what she originally asked! “God’s Word contains the power within itself to cause what it says to come to pass.” Because God has spoken that she, as a virgin, would conceive a child, that Word spoken by God, alone, had the power within it, to cause it to become a material reality!
Jesus went on to explain the importance of words on another occasion. In Matthew 12:34-37, He said, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” He said this to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were supposed to be experts in the Word of God, yet He says they were evil. How can they, being evil, speak good things? Notice, He says that one speaks, “out of the treasure of one’s heart.” The word “treasure” used here, means “deposit.” So, out of what you have “deposited” in your heart, or spirit, you will speak out of your mouth! Notice that Jesus says that we will be judged for EVERY “idle word,” again, the Greek rendering helps us understand, “every idle, inoperative, non-productive word that we shall speak” is what we will be judged for! We should use words carefully, as we would power tools! You don’t haphazardly use a power tool, or you could get seriously hurt! In the same way, you shouldn’t misuse, or take for granted, the power of your words!
You might ask, “If words are so powerful, then why aren’t they coming to pass instantly all the time?” You might say, “That scared me to death!” But, you don’t drop over literally dead! True! Thank God! If so, we would have a lot of dead Christians to bury! No, the Bible teaches that the mouth, or the tongue, “sets in motion the cycle of natural events.” It is, therefore, a process! What the Bible says in James 3:6 is, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” The phrase “setteth on fire the course of nature” in the original Greek, translates, “sets in motion the cycle of natural events.” Satan therefore, tries to get you to speak contrary to God’s Word, and set in motion a chain of natural events, or a cycle, that will lead to destruction. No, you may not die immediately by saying, “That scared me to death!” But, you ARE setting in motion a cycle of events that enforces fear (“scared me”) and death in your life! In this way, satan can attempt to shorten your life! He uses the very power of your own words against you! The thoughts and temptations to speak those words of death and fear are the methods satan attempts to use to “set our tongue on fire of hell.” Ephesians 6:16 says, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” The “fiery darts” are designed to set your mouth against you!
What should we do, then? Whatever we want to come out of our mouth, we should deposit in our heart! Psalms 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Hide the Word of God in your heart! Store it up there! Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” If you want to be “prosperous,” and “have good success,” then you should meditate on God’s Word! Then, what you have stored in your heart will come out of your mouth… and that word, God’s Word, will have the power within itself to cause itself to come to pass!
Speak FAITH!
