Words of Prayer – Words of Faith (Part II)

(Romans 10:9,10 KJV) 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. 

This morning we continue our series entitled, “Re-Energizing Your Prayer Life.”  Yesterday I told you that the Bible has a great deal to say about the importance of our words.  At the end of the day it comes down to this: good or bad, we will have what we say.  With that in mind, I told you that “words of prayer must be followed and supported by words of faith.”  I will continue to flow in that same vein today.

Once again, our focus text is commonly used for salvation.  The Holy Spirit through Paul teaches us that if we confess Jesus as Lord, from a believing heart we will be saved.  Think about that for a moment.  We use our mouths (words) to make a confession (declaration of faith) in order to receive salvation.  To get a better understanding of this we need to look at the original language.  The word translated “confess” in v.9 and “confession” in v.10 is the same word.  It is the Greek word “homologeo.”  This is a compound word.  It comes from “homo,” meaning the same as; and “logeo,” where we get “logos,” meaning the written Word.  In this case it is a reference to the written Word of God.  So, in context, to confess with your mouth is to literally say the same as the Word of God concerning… whatever you are believing and speaking.  In the case of salvation it is saying the SAME AS the Word of God about who Jesus is and who He is in your life.  Once you confess Jesus as Lord, from a believing heart, He then becomes your Savior and you are translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God.  You are saved by speaking words from a believing heart.  Or in other words, speaking words that you believe!

Just like speaking words from a believing heart can change your eternal destination, the same can hold true for other things.  This is a series on prayer, so let’s apply it to prayer.  When you pray you are speaking words to the Father.  In this series you have learned that if you want your prayer to be heard and responded to, then you must pray in faith, not doubting, and not wavering.  In others words, you must pray from a believing heart.  If you don’t believe what you are saying WHILE you are praying, then you can rest assured that your prayer will not be effective.  However, we must remember that most prayers are not answered immediately.  If you prayed at 5:00am and received your answer at 5:01am (on the same day), then the only words that would be factored in to the equation would be the words you spoke during your prayer.  The Father would have checked your words (to ensure they align with His Word and will) and your heart (to ensure you were in-faith while you were praying).  But guess what?  Since most prayers are not answered in a minute, we have learned in this series that we must remain in-faith while we are waiting on the manifestation of our prayers.  There is normally a space between the prayer and the performance, between the confession and the completion, between “Amen” and “there it is;” and we must remain consistent in our belief and language in that space.  We will stop here for today.

So what does this mean to you today?  It means that praying in-faith in the morning and then speaking words of fear, doubt, and unbelief ALL DAY LONG:

1.  Proves you did not really believe what you prayed.  If you believed what you prayed, you would not speak against your prayers.  Instead, you would be telling everyone what you believe is about to happen, before it happens!

2.  Cheapens the value of your words.  If you don’t believe what you say, then the spiritual realm will not respond to your words.

3.  Proves you don’t understand the power you release when you speak.  Solomon said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov 18:21).

Closing Confession:  Father, I thank You for this teaching.  Not only do I understand that I must speak words of faith, from a believing heart, while I pray, but I must also back-up those words of prayer with words of faith all day long.  I truly believe I receive when I pray.  When I pray to You Father, in accordance with Your Word, I am so in-faith that I leave my prayer session fully expecting to see the manifestation of what I prayed.  I am so convinced that I remain in-faith, no matter how long it takes.  Whether it is one minute, one month, one year, or ten years, I will not speak words of fear, doubt, or unbelief.  I will remain in-faith no matter how long it takes and my words will testify of my belief.  When You hear me speak, it will always be from a believing heart, fully expecting my prayer to come to pass.  My prayer life has been re-energized and I am expecting You to do great things in, with, and through me!  I declare this by faith.  In Jesus’ name, amen!

This is Today’s Word!  Apply it and Prosper!