A Journey Toward Wisdom - Pt. 16

 

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you. (Proverbs 22:17-19 ESV).

 

These verses in Proverbs tell us that when we submit to and confess the Word of God in our lives that it will be pleasant for us. Verse 17 speaks of bowing our hear to hear the wisdom of the wise and then applying it to our hearts and lives. This simply means we are, not only to listen to God's Word, but we are to submissively obey it as well. However, according to verse 18, the way we keep God's Words in our mind, and believe them is to begin "confessing" them. This is because sometimes we will encounter a battle to be able to hold on to the promises of God, and this is when we must continue to "confess" in faith what the Bible says about our problems.

 

As Christians, our confession should be what we term a "Bible confession" instead of just a "positive confession." We are not talking about confessing our sins here, but rather confessing or acknowledging with our mouth the truths from God's Word. Certainly, the Bible tells us to confess our sins, but that is not the only confession we need to make. We are also told to confess or speak out loud the promises of God, in faith, so we can receive them.

 

In confessing God's Word, we must not pick out only the Scriptures we desire, but also the ones the Lord desires for us. He certainly desires to bless us, but He also desires to cleanse us. We must be as enthusiastic in our confessions to be cleansed from all that would offend the Lord, as we are in confessing the physical blessings He has promised us. We must learn to set a guard on our mouths, as it is very important to control our conversation. We will ultimately receive the things that we speak. If we speak evil long enough, it will come to pass; likewise, if we speak good. The wise person will speak good.