New Year's Resolution - Confidence!

It has been several years since I made a New Year’s Resolution. These always sounded good, but I usually ended up breaking my resolve and being disappointed in myself. Thus, if I did not make any resolutions there would be none to break. When reflecting over 2010 and all the negative, hurtful and unpleasant things that cropped up in my life, I made a decision that at the very least I was going to view 2011 differently. Of course, I experienced many good things in 2010, including the birth of 2 grandsons. But, so many serious trials occurred in 2010 that I was viewing the year as one of the worst I have lived through.

At church services on Sunday, January 2, Charles Redmond, pastor, brought a great sermon on being spiritually fit in 2011. That evening, Jon Redmond, associate pastor, brought a wonderful message based on the prayer of Jabez,which can be found in 1Chronicles 4:9-10. It was through listening to these sermons that I came to the realization that I needed to make some changes in my attitude toward strife and troubles. It was time for a change in my prayer life and Bible Study habits. I do a good job petitioning God for the needs of others, but I do not ask God to bless me, to increase my sphere of influence, to place His hand on me, and to keep me from temptation so I don’t hurt myself or others nearly often enough. It is not a selfish thing to pray for yourself, not at all. If your motives are pure and you truly desire God to be actively involved in your life, He will do as he did with Jabez - He will grant your requests.

The Christian faith involves trust. I have taught about trust in God for years. I know all the Scriptural applications. It is easy to teach from past experiences and tell others how God came through for me. The hard part is when I find myself smack dab in the middle of a crisis and I begin to feel abandoned, not only by people, but by God. You know what? All Christians need to be reminded what trust in God is and how it affects our lives. We have to stay in the Word daily and memorize Scripture in order to keep our faith, trust and confidence in God strong. Satan would have me believe that I am a failure in God’s eyes and nothing could be further from the truth. I am a work in progress. To exercise my trust in God, I have found that I must have confidence in who He is and what He has promised to do.

I John 5:14, 15 says “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us: And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” I am memorizing this Scripture and will repeat it daily this year. I don't know about you, but I need this reminder of God hearing and answering our prayers as an encouragement to keep on keeping on.

God cares for us and wants us to have great confidence in Him. He gives power to those that wait upon Him. When we wait upon Him with confidence we will have great joy and happiness rather than the alternative of wringing our hands with worry. We need to keep a watch on our heart and soul so as to not allow unbelief, selfish pride, and foolishness to overcome us. Another biggie to watch out for is fear. I find that there are times I do not step up and do something because I am fearful. God wants us to know that if we try to do things in our own strength, we will fail. It is only when we have our hearts and desires fully set on God that we can go through the trial knowing God will see us through to victory.

God will walk with us through all difficulties; He will renew our strength. We will run the race and not become weary. We will mount up as eagles and go forth strong and confident in all things. Great is your confidence when it is in Him you trust. When going through a trial, we must remember that it is a test of our faith, trust and confidence in God. Don’t fail the test. Remember that it is in our weakness that He is strong.

Have a great 2011 walking with God every day.

Candy