Take a moment, consider.
Imagine for a moment that God actually will hear your request and grant your answer.
I think that more often than not we think exactly opposite. We tend to make a story up in our minds as to why he will not. We base it on performance modules like worth and mile-markers. We raise an impossible standard in our mind story, and it is usually just a little beyond our reach of stellar performance.
So when we come to God in prayer or request, we do not have the confidence that we will see success. We tell ourselves that he will take care of everybody else but will forget about us. Frankly we concede, ‘We don’t measure up.’ That might be true, but its role and strength are out of context.
The truth is we don’t measure up, but we were never supposed to. In the right context this thought propels us toward God but in this previous context, it steals our confidence before Him.
We don’t have confidence because somewhere our heart guard has been compromised. Either it is by something that we have allowed or something that has happened to us that has penetrated and hurt us.
We forgot the practical command, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)
So how do you get your confidence back?
Start by recognizing that you somehow dropped your heart guard.
Confess this to God through prayer. Get that straight; get your inside world back in order. Remember we have a promise that if we confess he forgives and cleanses. The confession is for our awareness. He already knows all; it’s not new to him. Confessing helps us realign our private world. We openly let ourselves know that he knows.
Confidence is all about transparency knowing that there are no secrets, hidden agendas or manipulative tactics at play. There are no shadows or pockets of darkness lurking and planting fear. “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God…” (1 John 3:21, NIV)
Come back into confidence. You have a God who loves you and wants that kind of relationship with you.
Just like in a great father-child relationship, I wouldn’t hesitate to jump up into my father’s lap, so that is what it looks like to come before God with confidence.
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15, NIV)
There is a lap of acceptance waiting for you.
Go ahead and jump!
You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!