THE ACT OF SPEAKING
ROMANS 10:8-10
ROMANS 10:8-10 NKJ
8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
OBSERVATION:
A spiritual truth that is important for us to grasp is centered around our words.
This may, at first, appear a bit strange to those of us who grew up thinking words are just words. But even though the concept may appear foreign, we must not dismiss this important truth.
Words are a form of action. We understand that we must act on what we believe. Every service at The Ark concludes with an opportunity to pray and confess Jesus as Lord. We proclaim the salvation that is in Him, so we also give people an opportunity to act on what they heard.
This is what Paul was saying as he writes the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. Salvation comes as we believe and confess. Not just believe, but believe and act by confessing, proclaiming Jesus is Lord and God has raised Him for the dead.
Salvation comes as we believe and speak. Because I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, salvation was believing and walking down an aisle to meet the pastor. But our pastor would always ask us to confess or speak that we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Walking an aisle is good, but the real power is believing and speaking what we believe.
APPLICATION:
It was a big deal for me to tell Joy that I loved her. We were dating at the time, but my speaking of my love made it more powerful.
We can take this same principle of believing and speaking and employ it in all areas of our walk with the Lord. We believe His word, and we act on His word by speaking what He says about us.
This is a book-sized topic but for today, embrace the truth of speaking what you believe based on God's word.
You can say, God is for me. God is with me, and He is helping me. I am not afraid.
The words may feel awkward in your mouth but keep speaking. The power is in speaking, not silence.