A Confident Faith

"Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrews 10:35-36

I just finished studying the book of Hebrews. There was a recurrent theme I found in this incredible book of the Bible. Confidence! It begins in the first several chapters explaining how Jesus is the new high priest and he has come to replace the old. It goes into how the old order of the Levitical priesthood was trumped by Jesus' much higher calling of establishing a new law, a new order and filling that gap between us and God. In Hebrews, it explains, that Jesus' new covenant is founded on "better promises". I just love that!

In Hebrews 8:10, the Lord says that in this new covenant, "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people." This says that no longer will there be this separation for which a priest will need to shed an animals blood for repentance of sins. Jesus has already done all the shedding of blood there will ever be! So "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19). 

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" Hebrews 4:16. Jesus has thrown the door open!!! We can rest at His feet, ask for wisdom, seek his guidance, praise His name, rejoice in his mercy and ask for forgiveness and know with confidence that he hears us and will what receive what he has promised us. 

So I looked up this word, confidence, and in all the different Bible translations and in dictionary definitions, I found these words: fearless, assurance, boldness, believing, trusting and having no doubt. We as Christians need to stand firm on His promises, on His word and be confident in the face of doubt. We need to be confident in the face of fear, in the face of uncertainty, in the face of insecurity, in the face of unemployment, in the face of failed relationships, in the face of sickness and in the face of mental strongholds. Anything that takes captive our God-given talents and abilities to reach our potential, needs to be thrown away, not our confidence. Do not let other people's negativity or even your own negativity keep you from accomplishing all that you were created to be. 

I went through a season where all my confidence felt stripped away. All it took was a few whispers of self-doubt from Satan and it had my mind spinning. Instead of dismissing the lies, I considered them. Big mistake! I went into a tailspin of second-guessing myself, doubting that God could use me and focusing on my weaknesses. When instead I should have quoted with confidence, Hebrews 13:6, "The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?" We need to be aware that what Satan has used before to bring us down, He will try it again. He nearly had me thinking that I was in relapse of old behaviors and thought patterns. In my mind the negativity was screaming at me, but in the stillness of worship is when I heard God's sweet voice in my head. God was speaking to me that it was all merely a distraction. If the devil can keep me from fixing my eyes on Jesus and instead focusing all my efforts on myself and what is wrong with me, I can not focus on what the Lord wants me to focus on. He wants me to focus on my strengths, He wants me to focus on my future, He wants me to focus on fulfilling the callings of ministry placed in my life. Satan wants nothing more than to make an enemy of your circumstances, your spouse, your church, your family and even yourself. If he can get you to believe those lies of inadequacy, fear, doubt or worthlessness then you won't produce any fruit. 

Get bold! Get courageous! Get fearless! Get confident! Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". Believe Him for your healing, believe Him for your relationship restoration, believe Him for your future. I read all the examples Hebrews 11 gave of Noah, Abraham, Gideon,  and Moses and how although all these people had trials and weaknesses, they persevered anyways and received what they were promised!! (Reference scripture at the top). So I wrote my own passage of faith that started with..."By faith Michelle believed this...and it happened". If you need to sit down, read Hebrews 11, be inspired and write your own "passage of faith". Believe God for it, pray about it and be confident that God will hear you. 

"Lean on, trust in and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths" Proverbs 3:5-6.