Confidence through prayer...

Today we continue our devotionals on prayer.  We have prayed for workers for the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  We have learned about tarrying in prayer.  We have seen the need to continue to pray for unity and also for love, an increasing love for God and for each other.  Last time we found ourselves on our knees before God in a prayer of contrition, that of sorrow and submission.  We venture into prayers of confidence today.  Let's look at some more of God's scriptures to us and start with Isaiah 30:15, which reads,

"For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said:  'You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence.  But you are not willing.'"

Observe here the confidence of God and also the unwillingness of the people of God to accept this message from Him.  God is going to bring them back and they are not going to just return but they are going to return to a place to be in rest and in a confidence provided by God.  It is a "quiet" confidence.  Another way to say this is that the people of God will return in a peaceful trust of what God has said and who He is, a God of His word.  Are you willing to return and rest in what God has said?  Will you allow your strength to be the confidence that you have in the One who is saying things to us through His word?  May our confidence not be in ourselves but what God says will be.

Proverbs 3:21 through 26 says,...

Maintain sound wisdom and discretion.  My son, don't lose sight of them.  They will be life for you and adornment for your neck.  Then you will go safely on your way; your foot will not stumble.  When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down and your sleep will be pleasant.  Don't fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.

What wonderful verses again about our confidence given to us by God because we are following after Him.  There is a danger and ruin coming to the wicked but we can safely walk without stumbling and peacefully sleep without fear because we are maintaining sound wisdom and discretion provided by God.  God's got this and therefore I need to stick right behind Him.  Even in the midst of the turbulent storms of life, I can lay down with Him in the bow of the boat and fall asleep.  My confidence is not in myself but my confidence is the Lord who will take us through the storms of life to the other shore.

Ephesians 3:10 through 12 says,...

This is so that God's multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens.  This is according to His eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.  In Him we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

The great passages on confidence keep coming.  May we be in that confidence to experience the results of God's perfect plan.  God knows so much more than us.  He lays out how we and the church are to be so that we can live in His ways that will make known to others about Him.  This plan of God is eternal and has been accomplished by His Son, Jesus Christ, and His perfect willing sacrifice on the cross and rising from the grave.  Because of this known event, we can boldly and confidently come before God in prayer because we have faith in the One who raised from the grave!  Will we reside in the confidence and boldness that we can experience by living by His words and ways?

One last scripture passage this morning from Hebrews 4:14 through 16, which reads,

Therefore, since we have a Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens--Jesus the Son of God--let us hold fast to our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.  Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. 

There will be times of need.  There will be times when we will be tempted.  There will be times when we will need to hold fast to our confession of being a Christian.  In those times, we have Someone, Jesus, who will sympathize but also show us how to proceed through those times of trials and temptations.  We can have confidence in what He says because He has been there too.  He sits on a throne not characterized by power and authority but of grace.  He gives mercy and grace to those who come before Him.  Are you going to Him or are you still trying to find your own way and walking in your confidence instead of His?  

Surrendering our will rightly places our faith in God's goodness and sovereignty.  Agreeing with God's authority over us results in calm confidence through any difficulty.  What do you need to surrender to God today and start walking in quiet confidence because you are now walking in the footsteps He has laid out for you?  Do you trust Him to know what is best even when the other way looks much more comfortable and maybe more conforming to others who might respond negatively to your radical following of a God who has a path that cuts through sin rather than playing with sin?  Let us pray.

"Lord, confidence flows from honoring You.  Have Your own way in our lives and in Your church.  Convict our hearts to be people of the Word and prayer, that we may know You more truly.  Father, strengthen our confidence and enable us to stand firmly on the hope we have in Christ, so that we may winsomely proclaim the Gospel to a world that is in desperate need of Jesus Christ.  In Jesus' name, Amen!"

Pastor Adam