But that is the negative side of confession.
And the Bible does say, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous. They do not understand what the B i ble says about "confession." When we use the word "confession" people instinctively think of confessing sin, confessing failure. The sixth hindrance we shall look at is the reason many fail. All of them, of course, are in connection with a lack of knowledge of God's Word. We have been looking at six hindrances to faith. Instead of growing in faith, it looks as though they deteriorate in faith. It is a tragedy that folks can believe God more when they are first new baby Christians than they can after they have been Christians for years. I would be concerned if I did not have a growing faith.
If faith is not growing, our know ledge of God's Word is not growing. Faith will grow when our knowledge of God's Word grows. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If you gain knowledge of God's Word, you will have faith. It is a mistake to pray for faith when what is really needed is a knowledge of God's Word. Therefore the greatest hindrance there is to faith is a lack of knowledge of God's Word. The Bible tells us, ".faith cometh by hear ing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Our text says, "Fight the good fight of faith." If there were no hindrances or enemies there would be no fight. Too many people want God to do all of it, leaving nothing for them to do no part for them to play. You see, God puts it all on a faith proposition. I have heard others actually pray, "Lord, make it easy for me to be filled with the Spirit," and never be filled. You, too, will have to do something about the obstacles which confront you yourself. But she did not pray that God would overcome the obstacles or remove them for her. Some of her own church teaching stood between her and getting to Jesus. Public sentiment stood between her and healing. You could say that the multitude stood be tween her and healing. And, of course, when she got to where Jesus was, the multitude was there. She just got right into the midst of the crowd. She didn't pray that God would make it easy. Women in that country, especially at that time, didn't have the rights and privileges of mixing freely in public that they have in most of the world today. She had an obstacle of some church teaching to overcome to receive healing. But she got right into that crowd, mixed and mingled with them, and reached right through and touched Jesus' clothes. If anyone came close they were to cry out, "Unclean! Unclean!" That was her church teaching. They were not supposed to be in public mixing and mingling with other people. First, according to the Book of Leviticus, a woman with an issue of blood was in the same category as a leper. To receive her healing she had a number of obstacles to overcome. It was not Jesus' faith, nor someone else's faith, but her faith that made her whole. Jesus said to her, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole" (Mark 5:34). Take for instance the woman with the issue of blood. It would have been easy then." However, if you go back and read the four Gospels you will find that it was not so easy. Sometimes folks have said, after having a little battle in the area of faith or a little fight in obtaining healing, "If I had just been there when Jesus was on the earth. UNDERSTANDING OUR CONFESSION - by Kenneth Hagin (Sixth in the series: Six Big Hindrances to Faith)