Confidence is a virtue which is rare to be seen in today’s world, where everything and everyone seems to change from time to time and from place to place. It’s difficult to be confident about anything in this world. Insecure circumstances and times have created fear and doubt in every life on the face of this earth. One feels that the best way to escape this uncertainty about everything happening is to be in a spiritual world. But in the spiritual world these days, we see more of chaos and havoc, more than what we see in the world around…..so much so that we lack confidence even in our own spiritual lives. We are not sure of our prayers nor of our standing before God. We are confused by the changing tones of our spiritual leaders.
It’s easy to have confidence in God, because He is perfect and holy, able and mighty.
We don’t have confidence in ourselves, for we have nothing of our own. Even our health and every breath is God’s gift, given to us for a certain period of time.
But what ultimately matters is the confidence towards God or the confidence to stand before our God. This is the area of our lives which needs to be built up time and then. This is what finally builds up our faith life.
It’s easy to have confidence in God, because He is perfect and holy, able and mighty.
We don’t have confidence in ourselves, for we have nothing of our own. Even our health and every breath is God’s gift, given to us for a certain period of time.
But what ultimately matters is the confidence towards God or the confidence to stand before our God. This is the area of our lives which needs to be built up time and then. This is what finally builds up our faith life.
Apostle John has rightly hit the nail on its head to build up one’s confidence in oneself before God. Note that he is not talking about having self confidence…but about confidence before God. It simply means how confident are we to stand before a holy and perfect God.
When we stand before our God, the following questions determine our confidence towards God :
1. Are our prayers being heard ?
2. Are we praying the right prayers ?
When we stand before our God, the following questions determine our confidence towards God :
1. Are our prayers being heard ?
2. Are we praying the right prayers ?
1. Are our prayers being heard ?
Though we pray as often as possible, the time span to receive the answers to our prayers often test our confidence as to whether our prayers are being heard or not. When we receive immediate answers, our confidence gets boosted. But even after months and years of prayers, when we do not get a response, does our confidence start going down hill ? What assures us of our prayers being heard ?
A. 1 Jn.3: 21-22, ‘Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.’
The three C’s of having a clear heart :
a) Conviction : We have confidence before God, if our heart do not condemn us. Remember friends, not all hearts are court rooms. But the hearts fed with the word of God become court rooms which either condemns us or favors us. Personal prayer time is the time of hearing, when we lay our hearts, open and bare before our Lord. This is where, the Holy Spirit convicts us of the smallest sins of our lives. This is where, when sought, the Holy Spirit reveals the hidden sins of our lives.
Though we pray as often as possible, the time span to receive the answers to our prayers often test our confidence as to whether our prayers are being heard or not. When we receive immediate answers, our confidence gets boosted. But even after months and years of prayers, when we do not get a response, does our confidence start going down hill ? What assures us of our prayers being heard ?
A. 1 Jn.3: 21-22, ‘Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.’
The three C’s of having a clear heart :
a) Conviction : We have confidence before God, if our heart do not condemn us. Remember friends, not all hearts are court rooms. But the hearts fed with the word of God become court rooms which either condemns us or favors us. Personal prayer time is the time of hearing, when we lay our hearts, open and bare before our Lord. This is where, the Holy Spirit convicts us of the smallest sins of our lives. This is where, when sought, the Holy Spirit reveals the hidden sins of our lives.
b) Confession : The ball is then in our courts….whether to ignore or to confess and repent. The latter clears us off our condemnation and builds our confidence to stand before God. But often, we have such accusations against us, to which we stick on to, rather than they sticking on to us. In other words, there are some shortcomings of our lives, which we love to have . We sure are aware of their existence in our lives, but somehow we hesitate to get rid of them. We justify these shortcomings and continue to carry them. These destroy our confidence towards our God. But friends, be reminded that the moment we confess to our Lord about our shortcomings, we expose them. Confessions hands over our weaknesses to the hands of our Lord.
c) Clearance : Confessions followed by repentance clears us off our accusations and condemnations. The more we practice the three C’s, the more we walk in Spirit and the more we abide in Christ. Rom.8:1, ‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death.’
Being cleared of all the convicted accusations gives us assurance about our prayers being heard. In fact, this confidence is the secret of our spiritual strength. Is.30:15, ‘For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
B. Keeping His commandments and what pleases Him :
1 Jn.3: 21-22, ‘Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.’ Obeying His commandments is the only proof of genuine soul saving faith in Christ. It is also the assurance of walking in Him and with Him. 1 John 2: 3-6, ‘We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.’
His commandments are known to us through His word, but to know what pleases Him, we need to have a closer walk with Jesus. A servant knows the commandments of his master, but only a wife who knows her husband intimately, can understand and know as to what exactly pleases her husband, the master. The master reveals His mind and heart’s desires to the ones who love and know Him closely. One can keep His commands and yet fail to do what pleases Him. Luke 15:29, ‘But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ The elder son claimed to have obeyed his father’s commands but yet failed to know and understand his father’s heart’s desire. The father embraced his lost and found son, who did well by repenting and humbling himself . Hence, this younger son got much more than he asked and deserved. Keeping His commands and doing what pleases Him are both equally important to build our confidence towards God and of being assured about our prayers being heard.
2. Are we praying the right prayers ? Prayer is talking to God. The word of God instructs us to pray unceasingly in Spirit. Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to make known all our requests by prayer with thanksgiving. So, no prayer can be strictly marked as right or wrong. But indeed, there are prayers prayed as per His will and prayers prayed as per our will. This makes a major difference in building up the confidence towards God. Prayers of His will are sure to be heard, while the prayers of our own will may or may not be heard.
1 Jn.5:14-15, ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.’ Prayers of His will is always Christ centered, while the prayers of our will is always ‘I’ or ‘we’ centered. To pray as per His will, we need to know Him and keep growing in His knowledge. The answers to prayers prayed as per His glorifies His name and fulfils His purposes for our lives.
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus first prayed as per His own will…..to remove the cup of suffering away from Him. But the very next moment, He prayed for God’s will to happen. God answered His prayers. God’s will happened in the life of Jesus. Because of that prayer, today, you and I have been set free from the clutches of sin. Because of that prayer of Jesus , the devil has been defeated and exposed for ever. Prayers of His will weighs more in terms of confidence towards God.
How often we think that our own will for ourselves is much better than God’s will for us. He has seen us from our future towards our past. But we see only our present and our past. Hence, our vision about our needs is too narrow. But our Lord sees our needs in a far greater perspective . We need to trust completely that His will is far better than our own will. Only then can we sincerely pray for His will to happen in our lives. And only such prayers are fully assured of being answered, thereby building up our confidence towards God.
Dear friends, last, but not the least…..we need confidence towards God not only for getting answers to our prayers, but to stand without shame before Him, when He comes. 1 Jn.2:28, ‘And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.’ We need to be confident about our spiritual lives, for we yearn to hear from our master, “well done, my faithful servant”. This is the ultimate hope, we have, if we continue to abide in Him and thereby, be confident towards God .
1 Jn.3: 21-22, ‘Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.’ Obeying His commandments is the only proof of genuine soul saving faith in Christ. It is also the assurance of walking in Him and with Him. 1 John 2: 3-6, ‘We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.’
His commandments are known to us through His word, but to know what pleases Him, we need to have a closer walk with Jesus. A servant knows the commandments of his master, but only a wife who knows her husband intimately, can understand and know as to what exactly pleases her husband, the master. The master reveals His mind and heart’s desires to the ones who love and know Him closely. One can keep His commands and yet fail to do what pleases Him. Luke 15:29, ‘But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ The elder son claimed to have obeyed his father’s commands but yet failed to know and understand his father’s heart’s desire. The father embraced his lost and found son, who did well by repenting and humbling himself . Hence, this younger son got much more than he asked and deserved. Keeping His commands and doing what pleases Him are both equally important to build our confidence towards God and of being assured about our prayers being heard.
2. Are we praying the right prayers ? Prayer is talking to God. The word of God instructs us to pray unceasingly in Spirit. Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to make known all our requests by prayer with thanksgiving. So, no prayer can be strictly marked as right or wrong. But indeed, there are prayers prayed as per His will and prayers prayed as per our will. This makes a major difference in building up the confidence towards God. Prayers of His will are sure to be heard, while the prayers of our own will may or may not be heard.
1 Jn.5:14-15, ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.’ Prayers of His will is always Christ centered, while the prayers of our will is always ‘I’ or ‘we’ centered. To pray as per His will, we need to know Him and keep growing in His knowledge. The answers to prayers prayed as per His glorifies His name and fulfils His purposes for our lives.
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus first prayed as per His own will…..to remove the cup of suffering away from Him. But the very next moment, He prayed for God’s will to happen. God answered His prayers. God’s will happened in the life of Jesus. Because of that prayer, today, you and I have been set free from the clutches of sin. Because of that prayer of Jesus , the devil has been defeated and exposed for ever. Prayers of His will weighs more in terms of confidence towards God.
How often we think that our own will for ourselves is much better than God’s will for us. He has seen us from our future towards our past. But we see only our present and our past. Hence, our vision about our needs is too narrow. But our Lord sees our needs in a far greater perspective . We need to trust completely that His will is far better than our own will. Only then can we sincerely pray for His will to happen in our lives. And only such prayers are fully assured of being answered, thereby building up our confidence towards God.
Dear friends, last, but not the least…..we need confidence towards God not only for getting answers to our prayers, but to stand without shame before Him, when He comes. 1 Jn.2:28, ‘And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.’ We need to be confident about our spiritual lives, for we yearn to hear from our master, “well done, my faithful servant”. This is the ultimate hope, we have, if we continue to abide in Him and thereby, be confident towards God .
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