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III. Your Affection Determines Your Confession. Have you ever noticed that people talk about what is important to them. If sports are important they talk their sport of choice. If the party life is important to them, they talk about their last big bash. If material things are a priority the majority of their conversation is about material things.
This is confirmed by scripture: Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things (Mt. 12:34). People often, talk about themselves. Why? Because, most people are basically selfish and self-centered- at least until they begin to make Jesus the Lord of their lives. Before someone is truly submitted to the Lord, they think it's all about "Mesus" rather than all about Jesus. Even after we're saved we can be very selfish if we don't "die daily" The Apostle Paul said, I assure you] by the pride which I have in you in [your fellowship and union with] Christ Jesus our Lord, that I die daily [I face death every day and die to self]. He experienced a daily death to self. How, He went to the Cross in prayer, submitted to the Lord. Each time he came out of his prayer closet, a walking talking dead man. He was surrendered to Christ and His will. Because his desire was for the Lord ( Phil. 3). When we die to self, we talk more about the Lord than ourselves. When we are Christ centered, we like Christ centered conversation. We like to be around people who lift Jesus higher. Our affection determines our direction. Because our affection determines our confession and our confession determines our direction (James 3:1-4). Choose to change your affection and you can change your confession. You can't change your confession until you change your affection. For instance, if a man keeps saying, "but I really like to smoke," he can't quit smoking. His confession is evidence his affection hasn't changed, and until that changes it will be impossible for him to make a permanent change in his behavior. In order to change something we have to be convinced in our heart that it needs to change and we must want to change. When the affection changes the man changes. His confession automatically begins to take him in the direction he wants to go. When he starts saying, "I hate those cigarettes," You can substitute Fritos, or Big Macs, or diet sodas, or cocaine in place of the word cigarettes and break any habit with the Lord's help. Basically this is the essence of repentance. Repentance is a change of mind resulting in a change of heart that results in a change of confession that results in a change of direction (behavior). If you want to change something in your life, begin to see it as Jesus sees it. Then choose to change your affection for it. See how quickly you move in the new direction. It works for positive changes too. People who develop an affection for Jesus and start telling Him how much they love him are soon, praying, worshipping, attending church, tithing, and spending time in the secret place. Change your mind, change your heart, change your confession, change your direction today. Have a blessed week. Bishop Darrell Ellis
Anointed Word International Fellowship |
