I found this article on gracethrufaith.com. I hope it is helpful
[h=1]Confess With Your Mouth And Believe In Your Heart[/h] Friday, September 7th, 2012
Q. In Romans 10:9,10, I have come upon many different types of interpretation by pastors and commentaries. And I’m always in a debate with other Christian members when comes to this verse. I’ve always interpreted “confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus” as simply asking God with our (mouth or mind) to save us because we agree that Christ is God and he died for our sin and he rose again from the dead. Is this correct?
A. There are two important points in
Romans 10:9, which says,
“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.” The first is the Greek word translated confess. It means to acknowledge or agree. It’s a compound word whose roots mean to speak together, or to say the same thing. When we confess that Jesus is Lord, we’re agreeing that He is who the Bible shows Him to be, the one who came to die for our sins.
The second point is believing that God raised Him from the dead. After the resurrection Jesus ascended to the Father to sit at His right hand. Since Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of mankind, and since sinful man cannot exist in God’s presence, the fact that Jesus is with the Father is proof that the penalty for all the sins of mankind were paid at the cross. If even one of our sins remained unpaid Jesus would still be in the tomb and we would be without hope.
People ask, if Jesus died for everyone’s sins why isn’t everyone automatically saved? The answer lies in verse 10.
“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
The word “believe” means to be persuaded that something is true. We have to be persuaded in our heart that Jesus came to die for our sins and that the resurrection proves His death was sufficient to pay for our sins in order to be saved. It’s this belief that justifies us. (To be justified is to be made righteous in God’s sight.)
When we ask Jesus to come live in our hearts as Lord and ask for forgiveness, our sins are removed away from us. Jesus asks us to begin to walk in His Spirit and become more like Him as we mature in Christ. Right now, you are young in age, and need help from others to resist falling back into harmful thoughts/actions. I recommend that you read the Bible, attend Church, get to know older Christians to be prayer partners and mentors. You will benefit from a good youth group where teens are honest and will to deal with problems. I pray you receive assurance of God's love and peace that He has not forsaken you, rather He wants you to seek His face. I pray the embrace the basic steps that I listed upon to begin having victory in your life over sin. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and power to make better choices. You are welcome to send me a private message for further encouragement.
