Confident Before Almighty God

 

"For this is the message you have heard from the
beginning:  You should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him?  Because his own actions were evil and his brother's righteous.  Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.  Anyone who does not love remains in death.  Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.  This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.  This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his  presence whenever our hearts condemn us.  For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.  Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God..."  I John 3:11-21

 

Confidence.  With enough studying, practicing or compliments, we may be able to attain a level of confidence.  But confidence before God? That only comes in the Spirit!  Confidence before God occurs when we have peace in our hearts that all is well between us and the Father.  It only happens when we have no unconfessed sin, and know that we are walking in the center of God's will for our lives.

If our hearts do not condemn us, we can attain the confidence that is presented in this verse. God is such a gracious, loving Father.  He places the Holy Spirit  within us to convict us.  He gives us a conscience that serves as an alarm system announcing when we have trespassed against the law of God.  He is not a vengeful, hateful God  who hides his expectation and then is angry when we fail to live up to it.

There have been a couple of times in m professional life that someone has held me accountable for duties that I have not been informed were in my job description.  It is beyond frustrating to be blindsided with a perceived failure I did not know I was responsible for.  Thank God he does not handle us that way!  He allows the "prick of conscience" to let us know that we have strayed from the narrow path.  When this happens, we need to quickly confess, repent and turn from our sins.   Then automatically, we can go right back to God-confidence.

Dear Lord, thank you that you allow me to have confidence in your presence.  I am so undeserving.  Thank you for your love and favor.   In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri

 

 

 

 

 

Facing Your Enemy

“Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.”  Psalm 27:3

 

What powerful imagery! It is easy to be confident when we are up against one foe, which is smaller and weaker than us.  But in this passage, David is saying even if an entire army comes against him, he will not fear.  Even if a full-scale war breaks out against him personally, he would be confident.

How could he possibly say such audacious things?  He said them because he knew Whose he was.  He understood that he belonged to God and that no matter how many come to attack him; no matter how big they were, how well armed they were; no matter how powerful they were; they were no match for his God.  Our God is just that big, powerful and sufficient.  That is why we can rest in him even when life kicks up some major storms.

Like you, I currently have a few enemies I am facing- discouragement; delayed answers to prayer and even a little despair.  But passages like this cause my spirit to rise up within me and say:  “Yes, He can handle this!  It is going to work out.”  Usually when our problems loom too large, it is because we have shrunk God down to our size. 

We can choose to be fearless.  We cannot help the emotion of fear that comes our way, but we can do as Joyce Meyer recommends and “Do it afraid.”  No matter how our emotions tremble and quake, we can choose to not allow fear to limit what we do for God or what we allow him to do through us.

Lord, I am struggling today. Please help me to stand firm as David did.  Help me to remember your goodness and the times you have come through for me.  Increase my confidence, in Jesus Name.  Amen.

Sherri