Powerful Confessions - Psalm 23

Words have power. It is through words that our thoughts are made manifest. Words carry the power that our thoughts convey. Anything that happens in our thoughts that translates to WORDS UTTERED -- sets the power of that thought into motion.

Once uttered, words thats coupled with action leads to results. So our words carry the power from our thoughts that can change the course of our destinies. Of all the creation of GOD, we as humans have been given the unique ability to speak words. It is what makes us different.

But oftentimes we take it for granted. With the same mouth we speak words that praise GOD in Sunday service, and through the same mouth we speak words to curse people in the weekday. The same mouth we utter words to encourage people and with the same mouth we judge them with words. These are just signs of a mind that is not yet surrendered to GOD.

Today, my goal in this teaching is to remind us of the power of our confessions. And we’ll refer to Psalm 23 as our guide and look at how King David used powerful confessions to bring about change in his circumstances.

Are you ready! Alright, Lets get started. Psalm 23:1

The Lord is MY Shepherd, I shall not want.

This first verse is full of weight. Here David confesses truth about GOD. And HE makes that truth personal. What do I mean, well he said the LORD is MY shepherd. Not the LORD is A Shepherd. It’s personal to DAVID. My Shepherd – a real personal, existing, shepherd.

Why Shepherd? When David wrote Psalm 23. He was already KING DAVID. A King, who had everything he ever needed – Riches, Power, Wealth, Honor, Respect. He was King of a Kingdom that was feared throughout the earth. So he had reputation as a good KING.

Anyway, in this Psalm David looks back at his humble beginnings as a shepherd tending to his flock when he was just a teenager. About 16 years old. He looks back and remembers God as HIS Shepherd.

A Shepherd is one who takes care of His sheep, He tend to the sheep when they are injured so….

he is Healer,

He is protector,

He is provider,

He is PRESENT,

He knows the sheep personally, He know them by name,

and the fact that the Sheep follow the shepherd simply means

He is trustworthy.

We might think that KING David who had everything in this world, would instead declare. I am the king of the world. There is nothing I shall ever want. Instead he Professes with his mouth, he declares the first verse: THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.

In this very short sentence David confesses - The Lord is my protector, my provider, the Lord cares for me, He is my healer, He is present in my life, so the LORD is with me. The Lord is trustworthy. When we declare with our mouth the truths about GOD, when we confess with our words the truth about GOD, we acknowledge HIM as Shepherd.

Say the Lord is my shepherd.

Now, recognizing that God is our shepherd then means one thing. What is that – that we are his SHEEP. David, despite being KING, ruler of the great kingdom of Israel, recognized that despite everything he had – THAT HE WAS A SHEEP and that GOD is his shepherd. He is submitted to GOD. Completely and utterly dependent on GOD. How about us? Do we recognize GOD as the one in control of all things? Oftentimes we want to be in control, we want to control our own narrative, we want to write our own story, our own destiny. Oftentimes we DESIRE to get what we want!

So David finishes the verse with I SHALL NOT WANT. This is a confession of contentment. And contentment in this day and age is very difficult to achieve because we compare ourselves with others most of the time.

We compare ourselves with others and desire the things that others have. Here David is declaring I SHALL NOT WANT. LORD, my shepherd you are SUFFICIENT for me. You are my all-in-all.

And you might be thinking, its so easy for DAVID to say this because he was KING after all, he had everything he needed. That’s wrong thinking dear Friends.

He didn’t become KING because He desired to be KING. Being KING was not in his thoughts – He wasn’t content because he was KING, he was content because he had GOD as his shepherd.

God made David KING because of the condition of DAVIDs heart. David knew that GOD did not promise to GIVE us what we want. BUT God promised to give us what we NEED!

This is what separates wrong declarations, wrong confessions from truth and self-gratifying, self-exalting words. When we declare what we want, GOD is not obligated to fulfill it. People say I AM a Millionaire, I am a billionaire, even though it is not true. They fake it till you make it! Fallacy will never lead to authenticity. I decree and declare that by next week, I have 2 million in the bank. It’s not gonna happen, unless that’s what you need. BUT who determines what you need? Well GOD does. There is a thin line between what we need and what we want. Oftentimes our prayers contain utterances of what we want and not what we need.