Christian Living

Confession to Commission

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
01/21/21
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are a people of confession. Our confession of faith is the core of all our activity for the glory and honor of our Lord. Through our faith in Jesus, we can find our assurance of our hope through Jesus and His Word of truth. His truth is the core of all our activity in life and leads us to fulfill the commission He commanded us. We believe in Him, but through our faith, we can see the things to come that the world cannot know the reality of. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

When we forsake the core of our confession, as Peter the disciple did on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion, we lose the profession we claim to be and destroy our testimony for our Lord Savior. “And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” (Luke 22:56-57)

One reason that lack of profession may be that we are not utilizing the power that the Lord has given us in the indwelling of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. We have read in the Scripture many times that we are to wait upon the Lord. Jesus told His Apostles, who were faithful men, to wait until the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them. “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

The Holy Spirit is the power of our confession of faith that gives us the Divine power to exercise our faith in supernatural completeness. Not long after the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit’s power fell upon the Apostles, Peter and John walked through the Beautiful Gate to Jerusalem. There a lame man since birth was sitting and begging for money. The Apostles had no money but had something greater, the indwelling Spirit of Jesus. They had the power that Jesus gives to heal the lame beggar. “But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!” (Acts 3:6)

One way for us to seek the power of the Holy Spirit is to be in and meditate on the Word of God. God gave us His Word not to enhance the bed stand or coffee table. Not to keep our family history recorded. God gave us His Word that we would know Him, know how to live through this world to the Kingdom He has planned for us, and that we could have His power in our lives. By His Word, our faith will increase as we learn His promises to guide our lives. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) Our power in the Holy Spirit will be less than filled if we are not filled with the Word of God.

Jesus taught His Apostles that the power of the Holy Spirit would make them effective witnesses of Him. When we witness to others about the goodness of Jesus, we are primarily using the Word of God. (Acts 1:8) It is the Word of God that was given to man in the power of the Holy Spirit. “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) In the example of our Lord, three times, Jesus fought Satan’s temptations with the Word of God. (Luke 4:4-11)

The words that Jesus spoke were Spiritual, and life is in the Spirit. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6:63) We are fighting a spiritual war not only here but in the heavenly places. We are but men, and we need the power of the Word of God to fight our spiritual battles. The Word of God is our offensive weapon. “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) When we use God’s Word in our witness, we are using the power that convicts men’s hearts. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The first way to have power in the Holy Spirit is to know the Word of God.

It is foundational to say that we must believe the Word of God, and it is essential to say that by our faith in His Word, we take action upon it. God has provided us with His Spirit to bring glory to Him in all we do. We can’t, like the Pharisees, live perfect righteous lives and bring others into the fold. We have to live it in our faith that God can do His mighty works through us. “So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:5)

With a solid knowledge of God’s Word and the wisdom to use it for His glory, we can accomplish the good work of His Kingdom far greater than we could imagine. “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

To access the power of the Holy Spirit is through prayer and sometimes with fasting. Fasting is not always denying food for our bodies. Denying food is just a simple way to fast and is popular. Fasting is denying something you cherish for a while and replacing it with time spent with the Lord in prayer and studying His Word. Not in your normal routine but sacrificially giving something up to spend time with God. We focus entirely upon the Lord and draw nearer to Him; He will draw nearer to us. (James 4:8) Praise and prayer are what the Apostles and the one hundred twenty did while waiting for the power of the Holy Spirit to fall upon them. “When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” (Acts 1:13-14)

This was exercising a promise that Jesus had given them when He taught them about the way to pray to the Father. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13) If we are to be earnest in our prayer, then we should also fast. Jesus fasted forty days before beginning His ministry, and it was that important to Him. When He returned from the wilderness, He was full of the Holy Spirits’ power. “And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.” (Luke 4:14)

The last point is that so often displace the Holy Spirit’s power that we so much want and need. The Apostle Paul warns us against doing that. “Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) If we resist the Holy Spirits’ lead in our lives, then when the opportunities come for us to present a good witness or testimony for the Lord, we will be unfit to display the power that is in us. We will have become too preoccupied with self-consciousness, fear, and worldly affairs that what comes from us is a bare trickle of the love of God.

Suppose we have a solid foundation built on the Word of God, a commitment to prayer conversing with our God through Jesus, exercising our belief through faith, and obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. In that case, the core of our activity will be for the glory and honor of our Lord. This is our confession that brings power to complete our commission.

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, March 26, 2019