CONFIDENCE IN GOD - PART 2

WEDNESDAY 16 AUGUST 2023

When you develop a full-grown confidence in God, you'll observe that you have the living consciousness of your loving Father anywhere you go. You will have a clear sense of security, dominion and homelike repose, where God is fully grounded in your heart as a result of your fraternal union with Christ. Indeed this level of confidence in the Lord grows, fortifies and solidifies the consciousness of the Father's love, and causes us to rejoice in the abundant riches of His glory. More below!

Reference: 2 Corinthians 3:4 New International Version (NIV) "Such confidence we have through Christ before God."

Without doubt, true confidence in God is through Christ Jesus, not through ourselves, our good works, our earthly parents, loved ones, friends and family, work mates or business associates. So don't be mistaken; It is the kind of confidence we have in and through Christ alone - towards God.

Why Christ alone? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ" (NLT). It is through Christ alone that we were made righteous before God, not by any other means. So we should never have confidence in our own self-righteousness or good works, but in Christ alone.

Philippians 3:9 reads, "and may be found in Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but [possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" (AMP). Here apostle Paul emphasised the importance of possessing that genuine righteousness which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. That's how to develop or know that you have the right confidence. When you accept God's own righteousness, it produces an effect, which is confidence and assured rest of mind.

To that effect, Isaiah 32:17 says, The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever (NIV). Got it? Again the effect of God's own righteousness received in Christ Jesus is quietness (assured rest of mind) and confidence. Zero wonder the Lord keeps [him] in peace [whose] imagination [is] stayed—peace! For he is confident in God (see Isaiah 26:3 LSV). A guaranteed way to work on or grow your confidence in God is by feeding on the Word, trusting what it says, and acting on it intentionally.

The more stable and convinced we become in partaking of the things of the Spirit through the Word, the more we develop a strong confidence in God, because confidence in God has levels and dimensions. Therefore to gain the "unwavering" level of confidence in God, you can't afford to leave practising the Word to chance, which is an assured way of obtaining plain access to divine encounters and experiences that build such confidence.

Another guaranteed way of shaping an unwavering confidence in God is by building an effective prayer lifestyle. 1st John 5:14 says that we live in the bold confidence that God hears our voices when we ask for things that fit His plan (VOICE). The next verse reads: "And if we're confident that He's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours", meaning that our confidence is surely rewarded, which makes it an effective prayer. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - 2 Chronicles 32:8; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 10:35-36.

Guided Prayer: Gracious God, I'm joyful that your eternal Word can build me up and shape my confidence in you without limits. Therefore, I grow and increase my love for you, plus my faith and trust in you - by feeding and cogitating on it day and night and by engaging in continual prayer. Blessed be your holy name for counting me worthy of receiving your abundant grace in Christ through the Word of truth that nourishes my soul, in Jesus' Name, Amen.