Declaring God’s Word?
What does it mean to “declare” something?
Many Christians have adopted a practice of constantly making positive declarations, or “faith confessions” of God’s word as an expression of their faith. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. We don’t want to be speaking negative words or making declarations that speak against our faith. The problem with this practice is, that there is no scriptural example of anyone doing this in the Old or New Testament.
Let me give you three scriptures that Christians often use to justify this practice,
- Hebrews 10:23 (KJV) Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)
To “hold fast the profession of our faith” means that we are to be anchored, immovable, and unchangeable. Since we claim to have our hope in Jesus, we are to live out that hope by remaining faithful to Him and being obedient to His word. Holding fast to our profession, or “confession” has far more to do with our acts of obedience that demonstrate our faith than it does our confession.
If all we do is confess the word concerning His promises without obeying the word, our faith is dead.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Confessing the word is not the same as being a doer of the word. Obedience to God’s word is the highest expression of our faith.
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Only faith expressed through works of obedience is alive. It is possible to say all the right things and never have a living faith.
- Job 22:28 You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.
This is another favorite scripture for confessing Christians. Again, I am not bashing people who confess God’s word, I am emphasizing that obedience to god’s word is far more important.
The word “declare” in the above verse is translated as “decree” in the KJV. This word means to divide, or cut off in the Hebrew language, not make declarations with our mouth.
King Solomon judged between two mothers who were disputing about whose baby it was. One mother’s child died in his sleep, and she stole the other mother’s child and replaced it with her dead son. When they brought this matter before the king for judgment, this is what Solomon said.
1 Kings 3:25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.
The word “divide” in this passage is the same Hebrew word “declare or decree” used in Job 22:28.
- 1 Corinthians 4:13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,
Believing comes before speaking and believing is expressed through acts of belief, not mere words. We can’t express our faith without corresponding action. Our actions reveal our hearts, not just our words. Out of the abundance of our hearts, our mouths will speak. (Luke 6:45)
Many are speaking in the hope of believing, thinking that if they say it enough they will eventually believe it.
What we do, how we behave, and how we live out our faith in Jesus is the greatest declaration of our faith. Our lives should speak louder than our words.
Saint Francis made a powerful statement that sums up this line of thought:
“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”
Declarations and positive confessions are good, let’s just make sure we are declaring our faith in Christ by our love and commitment to obeying God. Our actions speak louder than our words.
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