Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Romans 10:9-10,
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
Understand:
Our passage for today is one of the clearest and simplest explanations of the gospel of faith that Paul has been proclaiming. It has served as some of the most helpful verses for pointing to the way of salvation. “Jesus is Lord” is a confession of faith! It’s a belief that permeates the depth of our being; it’s one that we can’t help but confess with our mouth.
This is also one of the clearest passages that affirms Jesus as God incarnate. The word “Lord” is the same word translated Yahweh in the LXX. Paul is clearly stating that Jesus is not only the Messiah, but He is also God. The man Jesus who was raised from the dead is the same man that shares the very nature of God. Jesus is fully human and fully God. This is the truth that all Christians believe and confess.
Believing and confessing are inseparable. Don’t think of believing and confessing as two separate things; they are both one and the same. Paul is describing a belief that is all consuming. So much so, that our being gives outward evidence of an inward faith—it confirms that very faith to the person speaking it. It’s a faith that not only believes in the resurrection, but also the whole complex of truth connected with it, particularly Jesus’s sin-bearing death in our place. It’s not some intellectual agreement, but deep inward trust in Christ at the core of one’s being. It is this belief in Christ Jesus as Lord that justifies us—nothing else.
Apply:
How does this truth—believing and confessing—encourage you?
*From what you have just read and considered, what is a personal implication/application for your life today?
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the Gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live out this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the Good News today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.