August 14 – Seems Right and Right – the Difference

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” – Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)

“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.” – Proverbs 14:26 (ESV)

Two Proverbs with promises. One a promise of death the other a promise of salvation. Discussions with those who do not yet believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior often effect resistance. Many people simply cannot see that the way they are is not the right way. It seems so reasonable and so much makes sense in their minds. At the same time, the message of the Gospel seems unreasonable and even silly. The truth is this, rejection of God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ leads to the way of death.  Jesus made this clear in Matthew 7:13-14. “For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Our second proverb is a Christian paradox—confidence—issues out of fear. Abraham sacrificed his son in the fear of God: but he was fully confident “that God was able to raise him up from the dead.” By faith, our fear of God gives us victory over the doubts, of the the enemy.

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July 27 – Trusting In Our Refuge

“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” Psalm 118: 8-9 (NASB)

We might ask what it means to take refuge in the Lord? We are glad that the psalmist really explains it by what he says in the last part of each verse. There he uses the word trust. If we take the time to listen to what people are concerned with ⸺ we are talking about faith believers, ⸺ we find many who trust in “a way of life.”  They fret and worry about how our society is changing and what once was common piety is being cancelled by a sinful world. God has been left out of the process of reckoning and replaced by wanton heathenism. We turn to take refuge in the Lord by reaffirming our trust in Him. Our teach us that it is better to put our confidence (trust) in the Lord than in any human being. Our presidents, princes, and kings are not good object of this kind of trust. So if we need to depend on the help of any person us let’s be sure that our real trust is first and always on our God. Trusting in God is a sure and safe means to find God’s way that never fails us. 

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June 29 – In Spirit and Truth

“For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,” -  Philippians 3:3 (NASB)

Our verse selected today is straightforward and direct. It pulls no punches presenting truth. But first, let's understand the first phrase. When God commanded of Abraham to perform circumcision on every male child on the eighth day after birth, it was to be established as a covenant sign. The practice wasn't foreign in the culture of that time but it was given by God with special religious significance. Physical circumcision identified a male as belonging to the physical and ethnic lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). Christians are not commanded to abide by the physical act. But it is a spiritual characteristic of a person whose wages of sin has been forgiven and removed. We find three proofs of a true believer. First: “worship in the Spirit of God” means we render inner and respectful spiritual service with our spirit as one with the Spirit of God.  Second: “glory in Christ Jesus” means⸺to boast with exultant joy⸺giving all the credit for all that we are to Christ Jesus. Third:  “no confidence in the flesh” references our unredeemed humanness, ability, and achievements apart from God. It’s us trying to prove ourselves good enough for God’s approval.

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January 21 – A Promise of Promises

“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Hebrews 10:35-36 (ESV)

The promises God has made us and blessings He’s given us in these promises will never fail. We are reminded in today's verses that we need to continue to believe and have faith in what God has promised. Hold on to our confidence in the face of whatever God allows to be put in our path of our lives. Due to persecutions, the recipients of this letter to the Hebrews were tempted to run away from their outward identification with Christ and Christians and to apostatize. His promise in the Bible is that He gives us the confidence and the endurance we need each day. It is His will for us to not lose the reward He’s promised. Each day we come closer than ever to our promised eternal reward. It’s no time to turn back. We don’t receive the great reward through our own effort of being good enough but by trusting each day in what God has promised. Our promise today is that we will receive what is promised by doing the will of God — which is to trust in Christ fully by living daily in the will of the Father.

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June 8 – Finding Overflowing Joy Part 2

“Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.”  - 2 Corinthians 7:4 (NASB)

Continuing the question from yesterday’s blog. “Where do we learn the joy that Paul found overflowing?  Consider now Four more sources to the three we studied yesterday.  It comes through faith, that is, from believing God. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” Romans 15:13. Fifth, it comes from seeing and knowing Jesus as Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always” Philippians 4:4.  Sixth, it comes from each other, from supportive believers who work hard to help us focus on these sources of joy, rather than deceitful circumstances. “We work with you for your joy” 2 Corinthians 1:24. Seventh, it comes from the sanctifying effects of suffering trials and tribulations. “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” Romans 5:3–4. If we are not yet like Paul when he says, “I am overflowing with joy,” Jesus calls us to be and so does Paul. “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” 1 Corinthians 11:1. And for most of us this is a call to earnest prayer. Because a life of joy in the Holy Spirit is a supernatural life.

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Material for this blog was gleaned from Dr John Piper’s Desiring God 

June 7 – Finding Overflowing Joy Part 1

“Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.”  - 2 Corinthians 7:4 (NASB)

We will find our promises not so much in our selected verse but in those which answer our questions today. What is extraordinary about the example the Apostle Paul left us is his durable joy? Even when things were very difficult to live with Paul proclaimed his joy.  Where do we learn this and where did it come from for Paul?  First, directly from Jesus Christ. Jesus said: “Blessed are you when people hate you. . .Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.”Luke 6:22-23 (ESV) Experiencing troubles for Jesus compound our interest in heaven — which lasts a lot longer than earth.  Second, we also learn this from the Holy Spirit, “The fruit of the Spirit is. . .joy” Galatians 5:22 (ESV). “You received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit” 1 Thessalonians 1:6 (ESV). A third source is our  belonging to the kingdom of God. “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” Romans 14:17 (ESV).  There four are more to look at and rejoice over…Tomorrow.

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Material for this blog was gleaned from Dr John Piper’s Desiring God   

August 24 – Keeping A Grip

“Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”  Hebrews 10:35-36 -   (NASB)

We believe that you who read this blog are living by faith and have great confidence in the promises of God.  Yet we are encouraged by today's verse to maintain our confidence in our heavenly Father and in His promises.  Often under attack by the enemy of our souls, we at risk of wondering off the path God has set before us.  Even these days, we hear of those in leadership who are turning from the faith they have been teaching and looking for a fulfillment in things not honorable to God. This is why the encouragement is given to reinforce our to maintain our endurance when it is challenging to do so.  We are told that we need to keep our grip on our confession. The promises of God come with some very clear teaching about what God expects His followers to do and how he expects His followers to live.  This is how and why we do the will of God. The reward is great and we will receive what is promised if we endure in the faith.  In that, we can hang on with faith to our confidence even when others are forsaking theirs.  

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August 11 – Confidence in Confidence

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God  and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”  James 1:6 (NIV)   

We do have a wonderful God and we can depend on Him to respond when we pray to Him.  Our verse today reminds us that we need to always live before God with the confidence that He has forgiven us when we have asked for His forgiveness. And we need to live with the confidence that He will provide the wisdom when we ask for it in faith believing. These are His promises to us an we need to trust Him to do that each time that we ask Him.  So if we have that confidence that whenever we have ask God for forgiveness He has forgiven us then we can approach Him and trust Him to respond to our requests for help in our lives whenever we ask.  This is a wonderful confidence with which to approach our great God with thanksgiving in our heart.  This is what pleases God. 

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May 17 – Our Source of Sufficiency

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,”   2 Corinthians 3:4-5 (ESV)

These words, written by the Apostle Paul, express his confidence in the Lord as the one who was enabling him to serve as an apostle.  In the same way, we can take encouragement being reminded by this promise how God also helps us to serve Him and to live for Him.  Whatever kind of activity we are involved in we need to recognize that we are serving the Lord and living for Him.  We base our ability to be of service not on anything we have in ourselves, that is not on our own ability but on the help which we have from God.  It is God who makes us sufficient to be of service to Him and to respond to His call to believe in Him and to serve him.  God is involved in our lives every day.  He is the one who is at work in and through us.  Let's be sure we acknowledge where our sufficiency comes from – it is not from ourselves – it is from God who supplies our every need in Christ Jesus. 

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April 27 – Enduring Confidence

“ Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”  Hebrews 10: 35-36 (ESV)

Sometimes our confidence in what we are doing or planning to do is challenged by our doubt in ourselves being able to do so.  But we learn today that the promises we have been given sometimes come as a result of our endurance.  We endure in our faith even when we find it difficult.  These verses remind us what it means to be living by faith.  We become children of God by trusting what Jesus did for us when he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross and die there in our place.  But there are many other aspects of  our  lives when we must keep trusting daily in God's love and care for us.  God has His way of showing us what He wants to do for us and it takes our participation in the many situations we face in life.  He also makes it clear to us that He expects us to act in a way that will bring glory and honor to Him, our Lord.  When we do that, we can be sure that He will fill our hearts with His joy.  So let us remain confident in our endurance and trusting God's help so that we can be steadfast in our faith.  

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March 17 – Enduring In Our Confidence

“Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”   Hebrews 10:35-36 (NASB)

Yesterday we considered the confidence we have in the goodness of God.  Today we look at the importance of that confidence and how we need to nurture it and not discard it.  Confidence is something we can lose if we do not sustain our faith in what we believe.  We have been told that we live by faith.  We become children of God by trusting in what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross.  We keep on living by faith by trusting that God will take care of all our needs from day to day.  The confidence spoken about in this verse is the same as our faith. Our faith builds our confidence and encourages us to keep trusting in God.  God has promised a great reward for those who keep trusting in Him.  Jesus wants us to do just that and He knows when we maintain our confidence in Him and in what He has promised. That is the way that we receive what God has promised.  Let's keep trusting Him today and every day, don't let anything cause you to throw your confidence away or discard it for any reason.  Endure in confidence always. 

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February 20 – Ask Accordingly and Receive

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”   1 John 5:14-15 (ESV)

These verses give us real encouragement about presenting our needs and requests in prayers to God.  We read here the promise that God hears us when we pray to him asking for anything according to his will.  When we pray, we request the things we know He wants to give us.  This verse does not promise that we get anything we want when we ask because if we ask for something that God does not want us to have we are not asking according to his will.  How can we experience this promise?  If we keep in mind what God has promised to do for us – the promises we find in the Bible – and base our prayer requests on what God has revealed in these promises, we will have the requests we have asked of Him.  This is how we will see and receive what is promised in this verse.  Let's put our faith in the things we know God wants us to have and the rest comes as a blessing when we receive what we ask from Him.

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January 20 – We As God's Dwelling Place

“...but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”  Hebrews 3:6  (ESV)

Our selected verse today draws a picture of us who believe in Jesus as being the house of God here in this world.  When we believe in Him we become children of God and we open ourselves for God to live in us.  Our verse today reminds us that Jesus the Son of God also lives in us and is a very important aspect of our life.  A few days ago we learned of the perfect peace that God gives to us if we remain steadfast in Christ in the presence of our minds.  A promise given that we enjoy when we follow the conditions necessary to enjoy the promise.  Today our promise is realized as we hold tightly on to our confidence and claim our hope that we are a house where Jesus dwells.  Yes, Jesus is a part of our Christian lives.  We should recognize that He is not just up there  in heaven.  He is with us in our lives.  Let's open our hearts every day to experience His presence as our Lord.  If we do, we'll  experience that He is faithful as our verse says.  

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August 12 – Staking No Claim

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,”  2 Corinthians 3:4-5 (ESV)

Today's verse selection is a testimony by the Apostle Paul.  He wrote about the source of his ability to carry on the work God had given to him.  The apostle was a very intelligent man and a very capable person.  He had an impressive resume.  But he knew that his personal abilities were not sufficient to do anything of eternal value.  He recognized that it was God who had been accomplishing His works through him.  The wonderful truth in all this is that God does work through human personalities, He is working in your life my friend, to perform His purpose.  And what is our responsibility?  It is to admit our inabilities and to allow God to work through us.  We give God the credit through praise and worship for what He is doing.  We don't take credit for the work that God does with us, it is all for His glory.  The rest, as Paul told the Philippians is worthless, rubbish.  But what God does with us is sufficient to accomplish what He intends to do.  

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February 11 – Strong Roots

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.” Jeremiah 17:7-8a (NIV)

Our verse and promise today is given to us in a word picture - a common way the Bible teaches us truth. We all know what the roots of a tree do to keep the tree alive, to keep it growing and to help it produce fruit and stand firm in the face of adverse winds.  A tree planted close  to a stream will certainly take advantage of the location. The roots will be there drawing in the moisture provided by the stream which is a sure source of needed water.  Our Lord is a sure source of what we need to live the Christian life. So how do we take advantage of what our Lord supplies? By trusting in Him and directing our faith and confidence in Him. The promise is that our faith will serve as our roots to draw strength from our Lord. Let's keep trusting in this promise today and always. 

February 1 – Learn and Share

“O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” Psalm 71:17 (ESV)

In this psalm, the psalmist is looking backwards – he is likely in his elder years.  These words are an expression of confidence in God as he looks over past experience. He first praises God for teaching him truths that he needed to learn. This teaching began for him in his younger days. That may be your experience too. No matter how young or how old you are today, you can look back on the lessons God has taught you and you can thank Him. The psalmist could also testify that he had told others about the marvelous ways God had helped him. I trust that we all can give that same testimony. This is a wonderful privilege we have – the promise that God has taught us and we can tell others what God has done for us. Today, let us all thank God for what He has taught us and is teaching us and be faithful to share that with others.

January 4 – A Promise of Promises

“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Hebrews 10:35-36 (ESV)

God's promises never fail and we are reminded in today's verse that we need to continue to believe and have faith in what God has promised. Hold on to our confidence in the face of whatever God allows to be put in our path and our lives. His promise in the Bible is that He gives us the confidence and the endurance we need. It is His will for us to not lose the reward He has promised. We do not receive the great reward through our own effort of being good enough but by trusting each day in what God has promised. Our promise today is that we will receive what is promised by doing the will of God — which is to trust Him and rely on Him.

December 18 – Confidence in Promises

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

You who follow this daily blog may have heard this verse before but it may also be a new truth from the Bible for some.  It teaches and reminds us to turn to God in prayer when we need His help. We are using this verse today to help us remember how great our God is. Our verse speaks of the Throne of Grace. The one who sits on a throne is a king. A throne speaks of power and of authority. Yes, friends, our God has great power and authority and demands justice. But, He is also very gracious and loving and merciful. The throne our God sits on is a Throne of Grace. So when we do approach Him for help, He is not only able to help, He longs to help us. Because of His mercy and grace, He has promised to help us when we come to him.  If you need help from God, He promises to give it to you – you can have confidence in that promise. 

November 5 – He is Good. He Truly Knows.

“The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him.” Nahum 1:7 (NASB)

Isn't it good to know that we have a God who responds when we put our trust in Him? This, of course, makes it clear that God knows when we trust Him. We may express our confidence in God by putting our feelings into words. We may tell Him that we're trusting Him but God knows it even when we do not tell Him that we are trusting Him. When we trust in Him, He becomes a refuge from the troubles of the world. And what does our verse today say? It says that our Lord cares for those who trust in Him. Yes, He responds by providing the help when we seek His help. He is our refuge, our safe place when the world is bearing down and we are having trouble. He knows, He truly knows.

October 16 – Freedom and Confidence

“ In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Ephesians 3:12 (NIV)

Our God is a great and mighty God. He is all-powerful and his name is Lord God Almighty. He would have to be great to create this earth, the sun, the moon and the stars and the vast immeasurable universe that contains them. And, yet when He made us human beings He wanted us to be close to Him. And this is still God's desire even after sin entered to separate God's creatures from Him.  That is why God provided a way and sent His Son Jesus the Christ to this world to live for us and to die for us. By faith in Jesus we can still come close to God. We must never forget that our God in heaven has made this way for us to come close to Him.