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Confession

Confession
Words of Faith 2-28-17
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2017
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
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John 17
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. [2] For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. [3] Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. [4] I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. [5] And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

As Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven in a typical Jewish gesture of prayer, He began to talk to the Father about His life purpose and where this moment was in that purpose. His first prayer was one of confession. Jesus confessed that ‘the time had come”.
To confess means to “agree” with God. Jesus agreed with God that the time had now come from Him to go to the cross. We have different things we need to agree with God about such as our sin, a truth, or a direction that God is revealing. We begin with confession.
Jesus agreed that “the time” had now come. From the very beginning of the Gospel account Jesus communicated His awareness that He was living by a calendar. When Jesus intervened at the wedding in Cana by turning water into wine, He first informed His mother that His time had not yet come (2:4). When His brothers urged Him to go to Jerusalem to gain publicity for Himself, Jesus refused to do so because "the right time has not yet come" (7:8).
Twice, when Jesus was engaged in controversy with His enemies, Jesus escaped death because "his time had not yet come" (7:30, 8:20). But now the time had come. Now Jesus acknowledged that the time of crisis had arrived (12:23, 13:1).
It was now time for all of the events of Jesus’ life to come together. The word "glorify" describes this culmination of all of the events of His life. The Word was made flesh and made His dwelling among us and now this Incarnation was coming to a dramatic conclusion. In His journey to the cross and beyond, the Son would glorify the Father by showing that God is sovereign over evil, He has compassion for men, and He has chosen to redeem those who will believe.
Jesus focused His entire earthly life on fulfilling the Father's purpose and on delivering the Father's message. He now petitioned the Father to glorify Him by returning Him to the place He had before the world was created.
There was an early Christian hymn about Jesus, which Paul used to describe this glorification (Phil. 2:5-11).
Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Paul directed that we should have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus. We are called to confess before the Lord where we are with Him and in His timing. Are we in perfect step with the timing of God as Jesus was, or do we need to adjust to His timing? Do we need to surrender to His plan? We need to surrender to the work and way of the Father in our lives. We need to seek to glorify Him in all things.

Lord, I confess my sin before You. I confess my need. I need Your timing. I need You. I surrender the direction and timing of my life to Your sovereign plan. You are the Lord God. Be glorified. In Jesus’ name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2002, 2017
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.