Confession of Faith
To be confident in praying Scripture, you need some
understanding of how it works.
To understand the dynamic of praying Scripture, you must
have an understanding of the term “confession”
and the title “High Priest”. Both are embedded
in understanding our covenant relationship with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Oh!”, you are thinking, “this is going
to heavy.” Hang in here! If this concept is new to
you, then you are about to have your prayer-confidence
level raised several notches. I believe
“profound” is a more appropriate word
here…not “heavy”. So let’s go for
it!
Confession
in Scripture
In the Epistles
Jesus is identified as the High Priest of our
confession.
Hebrews
4:14
Seeing that
we have a great High Priest who has passed through the
heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our
confession.
Hebrews
3:1
Therefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider
the Apostle and High Priest of our
confession, Christ
Jesus.
“Confession” for most of us brings images of
someone in a confessional telling their sins to a priest.
That is part of the picture. The person
“confessing” is “acknowledging”
that they have done wrong.
But guess what? There are many positive things that need to
be “acknowledged”, including that:
•
Jesus is Lord
and Savior
•
He
has made a way for you to have intimate relationship with
God, His Father
•
you
are accepted by God in His Beloved, Jesus
•
you
are a joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ
•
through
covenant relationship with God, all of Heaven is on your
side
•
and
so much more, but you get the point!
Confession
in The Strong’s
Take a look at
the word “confession”.
It is found in the New Testament, which means it comes to
you from the Greek. Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance breaks it
down like this: (If you need more info on the
Strong’s, follow this link.)
#3670
homologeo
From a base of 3674 and 3056
•
To
assent as in covenant, to acknowledge
•
Con
(pro) fess,
•
Confession is
made
•
Give thanks
•
Promise
#3674
homou
•
the
same, akin to
•
at
the same place or time, together
#3056
logos from 3004
•
something said
(including the thought)
•
communication
concerning doctrine
•
to
show to reckon
#3004
lego
•
to
lay forth
•
to
relate (in words, usually of a systematic or set discourse)
•
show
•
speak
•
tell
•
utter
So, when you pray Scripture, you are acknowledging,
professing (homologeo), with words or thoughts, something
you believe (logos). And, you are proclaiming the same
thing that God is proclaiming (homou).
Now whatever term you use:
•
Scripture
prayers
•
Prayer
proclamations
•
Prayer
affirmations
the
principle is the same…you are in agreement with
God, speaking
what God is speaking, cooperating in releasing the power
of what He is saying.
You release that prayer toward Heaven and Jesus picks it up
as the High Priest of your confession. The Old Covenant
role of the high priest was to take the needs of the people
before the Lord. You have a great High Priest to do that
for you. So, Jesus takes your prayer, proclamation,
affirmation that you released. He takes it to His Father to
say, “Look Dad, s(he) is saying the same thing we are
saying.” Do you ever have the power of agreement come
into play!
That is why Paul tells us:
Hebrews
10:23
Let us hold
fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He
who promised is faithful.
Isn’t that a thrilling thought! But there’s
more.
God is Faithful to His Word!
God tells us
that He sent His words for a purpose and those purposes
will be accomplished. The seed will not fall useless in the
field. It will return to Him full of fruit. (paraphrase
from Isaiah 55:10-11) He sends His Word to you. You send it
back in prayer and proclamation. That Word is full of
power, released to accomplish its purpose.
So, let us
•
pray Scripture,
•
affirm and
proclaim what God is saying,
•
be
confident that the High Priest of our
“confession” is faithful
Praying along with
Prayer
Affirmations for the Journey and
No Storm Too
Great are prayer
CDs: a good way to get started if you are new to this
type of prayer. These recorded prayer affirmations are
also a blessing when you are under pressure and find it
difficult to focus intently in prayer. Check it out!