Fresh Confidence

Phil 1:14 “and you also have derived fresh confidence because of my victory…” I’ve been speaking lately that success breeds motivation. I think this is what Paul is saying here. Because they saw his success, it caused them to step out and do something for God too. We never know who is watching us and how we are succeeding with God’s call on our life. When we succeed it may inspire someone else to do what they are called to do. Then more success will encourage someone else and on and on until we are the church we are supposed to be. Let others see your success today so they have fresh confidence in God too.

Judging God Faithful

Heb. 11:11 “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.“

This verse was quickened to me this morning.  I was standing yesterday on a promise that God had given me regarding having a mighty, mighty worship team at our church  I was definitely doing it by faith because every minute it seemed that the worship team was falling apart and not going the direction it needed to.  But God!  As I left the church I said, “You said that we’d have a mighty, mighty worship team.  And I chose to believe You!”  Then this morning He comforts me with these words from Heb. 11:11 “because she judged Him faithful who had promised.”  The first part of the verse says she received strength for the promise.

Thank You, Father, for strength to conceive the seed you’ve planted in my heart for a mighty, mighty worship team.  You are faithful to Your word to me.  I judge You faithful to Your word and Your plans.  You will cause them to succeed, not me!

Is My Confidence Showing?

Colossians 1:4 “For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you [have and show] for all the saints (God’s consecrated ones)…”

I wonder if people will be able to say this about me?  Do they see my confidence in God yet? Or better yet do I see my confidence?  Paul says here that we have heard of your faith.  That means more than one person heard about someone elses confidence in God.  When we are confident, people talk about us. What we are doing for God and with God will be visible to others.

It wasn’t just their confidence others were talking about; Paul said “and” of the love you have for all the saints.  Is my love showing?  I hope so.  Is my confidence showing?  Not sure.  But I’m working on it.

Joyful, Exultant Confidence in Jesus Victory

Hebrews 3:6 But Christ (the Messiah) was faithful over His [own Father's] house as a Son [and Master of it]. And it is we who are [now members] of this house, if we hold fast and firm to the end our joyful and exultant confidence and sense of triumph in our hope [in Christ].

Joyful, exultant, and triumph are all words that speak of an attitude of winning.  We are not losers because of Jesus. We are winners! We can be confident in His victory that He’s already won for us.  If we believe He has already won and given us the rewards of His victory, then we should have a joyful and exultant attitude.

Too many days, I’m just going about my business like it says in Mark 4. The cares of living just pushing out the Word that Jesus has already won the battles of daily life for me.  I just have to believe and live as if it’s so.  Sometimes all it takes is a reminder. Sometimes it takes time alone with the Holy Spirit so I can encourage myself in Him. Sometimes it takes someone else encouraging me to put the Word first place and act like it’s so.

Today I chose to be joyful and exult in the victory that Jesus gave me to live in.

Confidence – Solid, Unmovable Force Keeping the Victory That Jesus Won

Colossians 2:5 “For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the sight of your [standing shoulder to shoulder in such] orderly array and the firmness and the solid front and steadfastness of your faith in Christ [that leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].”

I’m meditating on the phrase “standing shoulder to shoulder in orderly manner, firm, solid, steadfast” today.

Standing reminds me of Ephesians 6 where Paul tells us to put on the armor of light and stand so that we can keep the victory that Jesus won for us.

Shoulder to shoulder tells me that there are others who will stand with me in an effort to enforce the victory Jesus won for us.

In orderly manner says that there is no confusion, everyone is in their appointed place, doing their appointed jobs.  In 2 Chronicles people were appointed to do specific tasks including singing, worship, teaching, taking care of God’s house and people and each one of them did their specific task and didn’t turn away from doing it (or quit).  When each person is in place doing their job, God’s business will go forward and continue taking the victory that Jesus won for us.

Firm, solid, steadfast means we aren’t going to bend our morals or our way of speaking the Word. We are going to be consistently, consistent and constant in our moving forward as a solid front against the attacks of the enemy.  We are a firm, unbending force that cannot be moved and we are taking the victory that Jesus won for us.

Hallelujah, I’ve written myself happy and determined to succeed today!

Nothing Means…Nothing – The Goodness of God

Hebrews 4:2 “For indeed we have had the glad tidings [Gospel of God] proclaimed to us just as truly as they [the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones [Joshua and Caleb] who heard (did believe).”

We have to have absolute trust and confidence in God’s goodness if we expect to receive anything from Him.  We have to believe that God is not the one who causes bad things to happen to good people.  We live in a world that is dominated by the god of this world.  The devil has freedom to do as he chooses, when he chooses, and to whom he chooses for a limited time UNLESS you are not of this world.

Paul said we are ambassadors of Christ, aliens to this world.  We were sent here to bring the glad tidings to the people of this world who are being held in bondage by the devil.  We have the good news that God loves them.  We have the good news that He sent Jesus to pay the price for the sin in their lives.  We have the good news that they don’t have to be broke, sick, have accidents, have loved ones taken from them.

When we know that our God, Jehovah, is a good God, then we won’t believe that God took our children in an accident.  NO! God didn’t take them.  We as ambassadors may not have been doing our job of interceding for them. We may not have applied Jesus blood as protection for them that day. We may have allowed satan a foothold into our lives in some way, which gave him permission to do what he wanted…and he took the opportunity.  Could God have stepped in and stopped him?  Yes, He could but if He did He may have violated a spiritual law that was put into existence by the person.

If someone keeps saying over and over, someday my child is going to be killed because of their stupidity or carelessness, then we are speaking a curse over them and it will come to pass unless God has mercy or someone else is interceding for the child.  Watch what you are speaking over your family.  Speak blessing not cursing over them.  Pray the blood of Jesus over them every day. Pray Psalm 91 protection over them. Take the authority that has been given to you as a believer and use it to defeat the plans of the enemy. Luke 10:19 “Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.”  Nothing means nothing in English, Hebrew, Greek, any language.

Do you believe in the goodness of God?

Floating in God’s boat with Confidence

Today I’m fighting to hold on to my belief that God has a good plan for me. He wants me to succeed at whatever I set my hand to do.  He is busy watching over the details of my life today and causing all that I do today to prosper.  I believe God will take care of my business today and so I will not shipwreck my faith. My confidence in God is still floating in His boat!

1 Timothy 1:19 “Holding fast to faith (that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence) and having a good (clear) conscience. By rejecting and thrusting from them [their conscience], some individuals have made shipwreck of their faith.”

Think clear and exercise self-control

1 Peter 1:13 “So think clearly and exercise self-control.”  That’s my thought and encouragement for the day.  I’m going to think clearly and exercise self-control so I don’t make the Father unhappy today.

Jesus, Faithful Jesus

F A I T H F UL

Hebrews 3:6 “But Christ (the Messiah) was faithful over His [own Father's] house as a Son [and Master of it]. And it is we who are [now members] of this house, if we hold fast and firm to the end our joyful and exultant confidence and sense of triumph in our hope [in Christ].”

Jesus, faithful son.  Jesus, faithful friend. Jesus, faithful healer. Jesus, faithful deliverer. Jesus, faithful Saviour. Jesus, faithful provider. Jesus, faithful, faithful, faithful, Jesus.  There is no one else as faithful as Jesus.

He proved it on earth and is now proving it in heaven beside our Father. Jesus, faithful to do only what He saw His Father do and say only what He heard His Father say.

Jesus, faithful friend to His apostles. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law.  A friend would do that. He provided tax money for Peter and Himself. A friend would do that. He fed His friends. He taught His friends how to be successful in business (fishing). He protected His friends from storms. He rescued His friends from death (Lazarus). He stood up for His friends when others were saying bad things about them (Mary and the oil on His feet).

Jesus, faithful healer. He was healing everyone who would believe while He was on earth and even now while He sits at the Father’s right hand.  He’s always a healer!

Jesus, faithful deliverer. He delivered people from their old ways of thinking while on earth and then delivered all of us from the devil when He went to hell. He is still delivering people from their ways of thinking and from the devil’s plots.

Jesus, faithful Saviour.  He went to hell to save us from having to go.  He was soooo merciful to us. We should be going to hell because of the way we have constantly missed God’s ways of doing things. But Jesus said “NO!”. He paid the price of His life and suffered our pain in hell so we can be part of His family.

Jesus, faithful provider.  While on earth He provided tax money, food, shelter, healing, deliverance from bondage.  His work is still having an effect on us today.  He hasn’t stopped being the faithful provider.

Jesus, faithful Jesus.  I’m so glad He’s my brother, friend, healer, deliverer, Saviour, provider.  Jesus. He is so faithful.

Confidence – Mustard Shrub Faith

Luke 17:6 “And the Lord answered, If you had faith (trust and confidence in God) even [so small] like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, Be pulled up by the roots, and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.“

If you had confidence in God, you would say what?  Whatever God says.  It doesn’t take much confidence to say what He says, just a little bit and God will work with it.  A grain of mustard seed is so tiny, it’s almost invisible.  Sometimes I feel like my confidence might be invisible, but it’s not to God. God sees the smallest dna inside our bodies; so when my confidence feels small I know God sees it and can work with it. If I start small with a little bit of Word in my mouth, it will grow just like the mustard seed grows into a mustard shrub/tree.

According to Wikipedia, “Mustard seeds generally take three to ten days to germinate if placed under the proper conditions, which include a cold atmosphere and relatively moist soil. Mature mustard plants grow into shrubs.”

That says to me that if I stick with my mustard-seed faith confession for 3-10 days it will start to grow and spout up too.

According to eHow, “The tree grows to about 20 feet high and has an irregular shape. It is nearly as wide as it is tall. The branches start to grow very low to the ground.”

That means that my “shrub” is really a huge tree.  And according to Answers.com, it takes about 4-6 weeks for the shrub to grow to four feet tall.  In no time at all, our faith can grow as well.

eHow also says, “Mustard tree branches are used as toothbrushes in some rural communities, as the branches contain ingredients that resist bacteria and plaque. The fruit is edible and contains many nutrients. The seeds are also edible. The tree is used for shade, and because of its low growth height the mustard tree makes an ideal landscaping tree. The tree shoots are also edible and feed people and animals.”

So my faith can heal, feed, provide comfort, and beauty. Regular, well-drained garden soil is enough to provide the tree with a healthy life. Regular feeding in the Word will provide me with a healthy life of faith as I continue to speak His Word.

My confidence is growing!