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Tuesday: Faith: Be Confident — 6 Comments

  1. Just when we need to exercise our faith that is when the devil lays before us the multitude of our sins even though we've already repented. When this happens we loose confidence in approaching God. But we should always remember what the bible says in (psalms 103:12) and always approach the Mercy seat with confidence, faith and boldness.

    (7)
  2. ”There are two ways to obtain Christian confidence and maintain it in faith. One is through faith itself (Eph. 3:12; the other is through faithful Christian service for others (1 Tim. 3:13)." Very true but I think we need to be mindful of the fact that sometimes our works can fool us:

    "Not everyone who says to Me,`Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day,`Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them,`I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matt. 7:21-23 NKJV).

    It is when we both love God and the people around us (Mat 22:36-40) in spite of differences that we can be confident through works. Yet we can still have a prideful boastfulness in this that is not good. Besides, our works have a tendency to get us focused inward rather than outward.

    Therefore to me the most secure way to have confidence is in God who can do the impossible for us. It is this kind of settled assurance that the poor tax collector (publican) had in his prayer to God (Lk 18:10-14). It is the kind of assurance anchored in faith that Hebrews 11 talks about.

    (5)
  3. The battle has be fought and Christ has already won. All we ought to do is to claim the victory in Jesus Christ's name.

    (5)
  4. [Moderator note: please use first and last names when commenting on this site. Thanks!]

    Confidence is an attitude. It does not dwell on things that might impact the outcome but has as its focus the goal that will be achieved. It is not a case of merely hoping that we will be saved. We have been saved, the price already paid, we need to focus on the outcome and rejoice in the future promised for us where there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying for all these things have passed away. Eternity with our Saviour is promised we can have confidence in the love that surpasses all love that he will never leave or forsake us.

    (3)
  5. I think the lesson's conclusion that there are "two ways to obtain Christian confidence and maintain it in faith" is at best a little awkward and, at worst, misleading. Tyler Cluthe demonstrated that in his comment. He concluded that our works can be inward focused and fool us. I say the same for "faith." It, too can be a kind of "works" that is inward focused and leads to pride.

    Faith alone is dead, and works alone are dead.

    I think it would be best not to mention faith and works as "two ways," because there really is only one way, and that is by true faith in God - a faith that works by love. As Paul put it in another place, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love." (Gal 5:6 ESV)

    For myself, I define faith as full confidence and trust that has motivates us to act in accordance with our confidence and trust. It is faith that works. 🙂

    (2)

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