Faith Bible Study Guide
In this lesson, let us talk for a while about wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong confessing. Then we’ll bring confession back to the positive side again before we conclude. Wrong confession, of course, is a confession of defeat, of failure, and of the supremacy of Satan. To talk about how the devil is hindering you – how he is keeping you from success, how he is holding you in bondage, and how he is keeping you sick – is a confession of defeat. Such confessions as those simply glorify the devil. Confessions that glorify the devil are wrong confessions!
Remember, our confession is proclaiming a truth that we’ve accepted wholeheartedly or it is declaring something we know to be true and stating something we believe. Testimonies that we give in church, for example, are our confessions. And sad to say, many of them glorify the devil rather than God.
I remember some time ago, one woman got up in one of my meetings, and said, “The devil has been after me all week, bless his holy name.” I know she got her praise misplaced and didn’t mean to praise the devil! She meant to praise God, yet she was glorifying what the devil was doing by getting up and talking about it.
Now I want to ask you a question. When you talk
about what God has done and what Jesus has done and is doing, aren’t you glorifying Him? Well, by the same token then, if you talk about what the devil is doing and what he has done, you are glorifying the devil. And so many times people miss it by making the wrong confession. They lose the blessing and they are defeated, and life is a grind to them.
So a wrong confession glorifies the devil, and we don’t have any business glorifying the devil. Actually, a wrong confession is an unconscious declaration that your Father God is a failure. And as I said, many of the testimonies and confessions we hear today glorify the devil. Such confessions simply sap the very life out of you. A wrong
confession destroys your faith; it holds you in bondage. But the confession of your lips that has grown out of faith in your heart will absolutely defeat the devil in every combat.
On the other hand, the confession of Satan’s ability to hinder you and to keep you from success, gives the devil dominion over you. You see, with your mouth you are either going to give God dominion over you or you are going to give Satan dominion over you! For example, to be saved, you had to confess the Lordship of Jesus. Romans 10:9 says, “. . . if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [or, Jesus as Lord]….” That means you are to confess Him as your Lord. You are to confess Jesus’ Lord-ship over you. Then He begins to have dominion over you as you give place to Him in your life.
But, you see, when you confess Satan’s ability to hinder you and to keep you from success, then even though you are a Christian, you are giving Satan dominion over you. Satan is the god of the world (2 Cor. 4:4), and he will move right in to your life if you permit him to. Now it may be a permission of ignorance or an unconscious consent, but if you give Satan dominion over you, it is still consent. And naturally, when Satan has dominion over you, then you are filled with weakness and fear. Don’t ever confess your fears.