THE FAITH CONNECTION (THIRTY DAYS OF THANKSGIVING)

A devotion by husband Steve Long - Visit his blog at Reflecting the Light

“… For he himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’" (Hebrews 13.5-6)


These are some of my favorite bible verses. Did you catch those two phrases?

“For he himself has said,”
“So that we may boldly say”

I love that!

God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
We say, “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear.

Everything in those verses was taken from the Old Testament scriptures. (Joshua 1.5 and Psalm 118.6)

When we speak according to the word of God, we are agreeing with him. The word “confess,” (Greek - ὁμολογέω homologeo) means to say the same thing.

One section of scripture on the subject of confession is Romans 10.8-10. This is the section God brought to my memory the night I was born again. It says this:

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): 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. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

As we agree with God about his Son, we are entering into a life of faith. God says that we’re sinners; we agree. He says we cannot fix this sin problem ourselves; we agree. He says our sins separate us from him; we agree. He says that he loved us and sent his Son for us; we agree. He says that the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was in behalf of our sins; we agree. He says that Jesus was buried and rose back to life from death; and we agree.

Hallelujah! This is faith – agreeing with God. We simply say with our mouth what we believe in our heart. This is confession.

So the verses in Hebrews are talking about faith. It is agreeing with God that he will never abandon us. Our response is: “Lord you are with me, and on my side, so what can anyone else do to me?” “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 31)

“… giving thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13.15)

Faith that God is taking care of us gives us so much to be thankful for. Those who don’t trust God, don’t thank God either. Those who trust him thank him for the good he is doing for us, both seen and unseen.