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“That if thou shall 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.”
- Romans 10:9
God has given us His recipe for life. There are two main ingredients that we must choose to mix together. These are a believing heart that holds fast to who Christ is, that He is Lord of All, and the bold affirmation that He is risen and is sitting at the Father's right hand. The moment the heart believes the gospel, which constitutes the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and declares that Christ is now Lord, an exchange occurs from within. The law of sin and death is broken over us, and the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus recreates in us a new nature, the nature of God, and we become new creatures in Christ.
God instituted the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus to bring us into His redeeming grace by us believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths the word of truth (Rom. 8:2, Eph. 1:13). Paul referred to it as the word of faith (Rom. 10:8). This same law works to bring us into everything Christ accomplished for us. It is how we initially came into salvation. It is also how we further that work in us. Whenever we face a situation that needs to be turned, changed, redeemed, or restored to life, we have the power of the gospel to see it come to pass. Christ’s death paid for everything: sin, sickness, disease, poverty, oppression, guilt, condemnation, weakness, and every curse contained in the law (Deut. 28:15-68). Galatians chapter three tells us, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).
These two ingredients are essential to changing every area of lack or want we face in life. Listen to what James says concerning the power of the tongue: “Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they are so great, and are driven of fierce winds yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listed” (Jam. 3:3, 4). Think about what he is saying. On land, the horse was the most powerful means of transportation. On the sea, ships were able to overcome great storms by maneuvering through rough waters and virtually impossible odds to reach their destination. While a bit in a horse’s mouth and a small rudder on a ship could turnabout what seemed strong and withstanding, the tongue among our members has a similar effect to overcome the forces of nature that seem difficult to contain or control.
James begins this chapter, saying, “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (Jam. 3:2). Bridling our body is all accomplished with a single member, our tongue. As difficult as it may seem, it is possible to steer our lives in a specific direction, even when we are in the midst of a crisis or facing hardships. God gave us the recipe to bring us out of death, darkness, gloom, and despair and bring us into life, blessing, joy, and victory. It is a principle that will work every time, everywhere, and over everything.
Genesis chapter one tells us how, on each day of creation, God spoke His Word, and it was so. If there is anything that this should teach us, it is how important the scope of God’s Word is toward how things were made. God did not think it, and it was so. He did not wave His arm, and it was so. It came to be because He spoke it! The scripture tells us, “Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Heb. 11:3). God made the worlds with His Word. The fact that we were made in His image after His likeness helps us to understand how we are to shape our world. After all, John did write, “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). The word “as” means something to be compared to. It describes a resemblance of things done in the same fashion or the same manner. We take our lead from God. Romans four says, “(As it is written, (which was originally spoken) I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him (or as the Greek states, “like unto him”), whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17). Abraham agreed with God by saying what He said. That is the meaning behind the word confession. It means to speak the same thing. We are “as He is” by comparison because we are of His kind. We are a spirit just as He (God) is a Spirit, and we have within us a heart to believe and a mouth that can utter words. When we realize this is the recipe for all things to be formed, constructed, fashioned, and made into conformity to God’s will, then it will become our job to use it to not only overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil but bring to pass every promise God has declares to be ours (1 John 5:4, Gal. 5:24, 1 John 4:4, 2 Cor. 1:20, Eph. 1:3).).
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