Rom 10:8 (NIV) But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: Just like you use your hands and fingers to pick up things and your legs and feet to walk and run places, you will be using your heart and mouth to accomplish things in Jesus’ spirit realm. And, just like you had to practice and train to use your arms, hands, fingers, legs, and feet skillfully, Jesus will be using these studies to train you on how to use your mind, heart, mouth, and other parts of your physical body to do spiritual things.

Rom 10:9 (NIV) 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. We will be taking your training and experiences with being saved and justified to help you move on into other parts of the Bible. If you have been practicing telling those around you that you are now living on the basis of Jesus being your Lord, then you are ready to start practicing other verses in the Bible. If you have been basing your life on the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you are ready to start believing the verses we will be looking at next.

Rom 10:10 (NIV) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. You have already experienced two of the greatest spiritual results you can possibly experience. You are now a child of God and a citizen of His Kingdom just by being born again. Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and Romans 10:8-10 led you into a powerful result that transformed your life. God now excepts you and is ready to help you work with Jesus to grow into spiritual adulthood. He is now willing to listen and answer ANY prayer you pray. Before this, He was only willing to listen to you pray a prayer that was asking for being born again.

Mat 5:48 (NIV) Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Remember how you were told in these studies that Jesus spoke with His mouth to storms and they calmed down, spoke with His mouth to diseased people and they were healed, and spoke with His mouth to dead people and they came alive? WELL, Matthew 5:48 is helping you understand what salvation and justification did for you when you were born again as God’s child. When Jesus says with His mouth things like: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” He isn’t telling you to try to reach this condition by your efforts; He is speaking perfection into your record with God.

Salvation forgave you and erased from your life-record every wrong, bad, and evil thing you have ever done. Justification is keeping you forgiven of all the wrong, bad, and evil things you are doing and will do in your future. It is your assignment to believe in your heart that Matthew 5:48 is now true of you. And then it is your assignment to confess with your mouth that Jesus has done Matthew 5:48 in you.

The only requirement for justification to apply perfection to your life moment by moment and issue by issue is, you CANNOT do anything wrong, bad, or evil ON PURPOSE. If you do, you must repent by praying Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. If you want help with that prayer, go to HELP eMagazine’s gray shortcut bar, select the problem that is bothering you the most, then select “Prayer” in the Life-Map’s blue shortcut bar, and then select, “The Lord’s Prayer For Sinning Christians.” This is at the top of the page in “The Prayer Course” studies. There you will find The Lord’s Prayer for a lot of possible situations you may go through.

Just like all relationships have to be built on trust, this is what you are going to be led into with God. Jesus is going to be helping you learn to completely trust your heavenly Father. Your next goal is to take a verse in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 (Heb 11:6) and use your heart and mouth to get it working in your life. Heb 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. These are two new assignments that God is now giving you. You are to confess them with your mouth and believe them in your heart.

Believing that God exists isn’t a problem with any human adults. God makes sure we all get that message through His creation. We may have different experiences; but, God will USE His creation and let each adult human know He exists. Some people will look up into the sky and God will speak the truth that He exists into their heart and mind. Others may look at the mountains or the forest and know. Some look at the human body or all the various living creatures and know; BUT, all adults know.

However, you probably have been exposed to someone who tried to convince you that all God’s creation came through evolution, the big bang, or aliens from another planet. If this or something else has damaged your original experience with God, you need to understand that God is taking care of those people who have hurt you.

Rom 1:18-19 (NIV) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

The wrath of God: God is going to punish those people who tried to take your faith in God’s existence away from you. He is VERY mad at what they tried to do to you. They will be punished in the most severe terms, if they don’t repent and stop doing that to the people around them. And, since God is going to take care of them and their punishment, you just need to pray and ask Jesus to help you forgive them.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness: People have and are continuing to try to keep the truth from getting to you and those around you. As you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord to the people around you, keep in mind that these evil, wicked people have attacked them too. But, when you make your confession to them, it will get them watching you to see how Christianity works for you. Your life will help prove to them that they have been lied to by these evil people.

Since what may be known about God is plain to them: These people, who are trying to steal the faith from everyone around them, know the truth about God’s existence. How? Because God has made it plain to them. They know you are telling the truth about God’s existence. Don’t argue with them; don’t believe that they are atheists; and, don’t listen to anything they have to say. They know the truth and have rejected it so they can live wrong, bad, and evil lives. Just go on to those who will allow you to tell them what Jesus has done for you.