How do we have confidence before God?

[Guest mejbaker]

-- New Revised Standard with Apocrypha

Hebrews 10:35 Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward.

The writer of Hebrews is telling us to hold on to our confidence because it brings a great reward. One translation says, Do not lose your fearlessness. Another translation says,

Ye may not cast away, then, your boldness. These are some different ways of saying

the same thing.

We should be able to go before our Father with great confidence and boldness.

My question is how can we get that kind of boldness or confidence before God, and is it something every believer automatically has? I believe we can find the answer to these questions, as always, in God's Word.

The apostle John said --

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1 John 3:18-24)

John said, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. John did not say if God does not condemn us we would have confidence before Him. We might say it like this, -- if our spirit or inner most being does not condemn us, we would have a clear conscious. Confidence comes from a clear conscious. Our spirit being is our conscious.

God's Word tells us in -- Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.

John also says if we love in deed and truth, we will know we are of the truth and shall

assure our hearts before Him. He is telling us to 1st we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and 2nd We should love one another, He commanded us to do this for as very good reason. We will put ourselves into a place where we can receive from Him when we are obedient to His commandments, as The Apostle John said -- And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments. We have to put ourselves into a place where we can receive.

We do this when we believe on Him, and walk in love toward one another. Not just in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. In other words we are not just giving lip service, but we are truly walking in love toward one another. Preferring one another over ourselves, and acknowledging one another. Not just with our words, but with our actions as well.

You might wonder what this has to do with being bold or confident. That is a very good question. Let's read on.

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

The Apostle John had great spiritual insight in this area. I encourage you to get into His epistles and spend some time studying and meditating in them on your own.

We are to firstly, believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and secondly, walk in love toward one another -- then we know we are abiding in Him, and He is abiding in us.

We know this by the Spirit whom He has sent. So we have an inner witness in our spirit by the Holy Spirit that lets us know that we are in Him and He is in us. Knowing that God Himself is in you, and you are in Him creates this confidence in us before Him.

When your fellowship with God the Father is right, and your fellowship with other believers is right, then your conscious is clear before God, and your heart will not condemn you. This does not mean the devil will not try and accuse you. You have got to know and understand the difference. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Rv:12:10.

However, we know of his devices, and won't be drawn in with his trickery, will we?

Many Christians have been brought down by the wiles of the enemy -- thinking it was God, not knowing all along, it was Satan.

Paul said in the book of Romans -- Romans 8:33-34. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

God isn't the one who is condemning us. Jesus is at the right hand of God making intercession for us. God is on our side, He wants us to succeed. After all He went to great lengths to bring redemption to us, didn't He? He's not up there with a spiritual baseball bat trying to knock us down all the time, don't misunderstand me, I'm not condoning sin. I'm saying if we sin, God is showing us what we can do to make it right, we have an advocate with the Father.

1 John 2:1-5 My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him,'' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

When we keep His commandments we are walking in His Word, and the Love of God becomes perfected in us. Being perfected is an ongoing process. It doesn't happen all at once or overnight. It takes time, so don't get discouraged if you mess up. Make it right, get up and dust yourself off, and keep going. There is a spiritual precept here we must come to understand and begin to walk in if we are going to have confidence and boldness before God. It starts by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and walking in love toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I have seen too many Christians who are so very critical of others who don't believe like they do, or don't go to the same kind of church, the list goes on and on, I'm sure you could name many of these things on your own. Yet, we must come to understand we are not helping anybody when we criticize them, I'm not talking about a constructive, encouraging type of criticism, I'm talking about a negative criticism that is not intended to help, but tears down and helps NO ONE. We back bite and gossip and talk about others behind their backs, and we wonder why there is no power in our lives. You can not have confidence before God when you are in strife with your brothers and sisters in Christ, it will never happen. NEVER!

You might say how does walking in love with my brothers and sisters in Christ effect my confidence before God? We will never have all the answers in this life, but we have to follow God's commandments, getting out of love with a fellow Christian is breaking God