One year in the middle of winter I was in Fallun, Sweden. It was cold, snow everywhere but really beautiful. One afternoon the pastor said, “Do you want to go to a Ski jump?” I said, “Yes, I would love to.” At the ski jump the skiers came flying down a ramp and took off. Each skier had three runs on the ramp. There was a man from Japan and he came down the ramp but he miss-stepped and crashed. He just tumbled, tumbled all the way down the hill, thank God he was alright. He got back up there the second time, and it looked like he just kind of plopped off the end, and the next time he plopped off again. You know what, the Lord spoke to me and said, “That man has lost his confidence.” That crash caused him to lose his confidence. A lot of times as Christians, if we are not careful, we will go along in life and we will lose our confidence. We’ll lose our confidence in the things of God. We’ll lose our confidence in who we really are and what God wants for our lives but I believe you can regain it.
Hebrews Chapter 10:35 “Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” The word recompense is not really a word we use today but we do use the word “compensation” .You know we want to be compensated for everything. Well, that’s the same word. There is a great compensation of reward to those who don’t cast away their confidence. The word “confidence” means, strongly deposed, disposed to believe in the merit or truth of something, or to accept it as reliable or certain without a doubt or reservation. There are times in life when all is well and we are confident. It’s amazing how far that confidence will carry you. Then all of a sudden, a little doubt will creep in and you start questioning when there is no basis for questioning, then you’ll start losing confidence. The devil wants you to lose your confidence.
I found out there are three critical areas of life that will cause you to lose your confidence. The first critical area: 1st John 3:21. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. ” Did you get that? If your heart does. not condemn you, then you have confidence toward God. Read the next verse and you’ll find out what brings on that lack of confidence or the casting away of your confidence. Vs.22 “And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keen His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Put it this way, if you don’t do right you are going to lose confidence in the things of God, because your heart will condemn you. So the first place to look when you start losing confidence in God is what are you doing? We begin living our own life, living how we want to live, doing what we want to do knowing we are not doing everything we should be doing or ether part of what we are doing for God. It is at this point, we start losing confidence in what we thought we really believed and aware what God can really do.
So ask yourself, “am I doing things that are well pleasing to God and following His plan?” Not man’s plan, not your plan but God’s plan for your life. If you are not careful, you try to cover up your own heart, your own condemnation, because if your heart condemns you, you”re going to lose confidence. So thank God, the Bible says, we can confess our sins and He is just and faithful to forgive us, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who became the propitiation for our sins. I see people draw back and cast away their confidence in certain area, like the area of healing or in the area of finances, and a lot of times it’s just because they know they are not doing right. They find a reason to justify it outside of dealing with their own heart. So you have to decide. The Bible says that your are the only one that can cast away your confidence. You have to throw it away.
The second critical area: I see people lose sight of what they expect God to do for them. Hebrews 10:34, “For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. 35: Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 36: For ye have need of patience that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” The devil knows how you are doing to react when things do not happen just the way you thought it would. That’s why he hinders it. That’s why he tries to stop it from coming to pass. That’s why he tries to do anything he can to muddle what you’re believing.
Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” The Living Bible says it this way, “It’s the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. ” You have to make up your mind that you are going to walk by faith and not by sight. Faith calls those things that be not as though they were. They are not moved by the circumstances. A lot of times it is all rooted in selfishness. You wanted God to do it the way you wanted Him to do it and you wanted Him to do it at the time you wanted Him to do it and it didn’t work out that way. Well, that’s not faith. You can cast away your confidence and miss out on what God has for you if you don’t stay steadfast in the faith.
Third critical area: James 2:26 says, “Faith without works is dead.” So is your confidence. If you are not doing something toward what you believe you will lose your confidence. There always has to be an action if there is going to be confidence.
Whatever action you take that corresponds with what you believe, gives you confidence because you’re moving toward what God is doing. Once your faith becomes active, you will throw your shoulders back a little bit. You’ll walk a little bit taller and you’ll say “Bless God, God’s going to move me. I’m not going to lose my confidence. I’m not going to cast away my confidence. I’m not going to let the devil steal it from me. I’m going to see this thing through. He said after you have done the will of God, you will receive the promise. That word “receive” just exploded. You will receive. Don’t cast away your confidence. You will receive. You will. Don’t give up, don’t quit, don’t give in. You will receive. As a pastor over these years I have seen people not receive because they quit. It is not because of some malfunction or the devil or because God didn’t love them. They don’t receive because they quit! They just give up! You have need of patience. After you have done the will of God, listen to me, you will receive the promise. You will receive the promise. Just ask yourself, Am I doing right? Is my heart condemning me? Do I have problems? Do I need to change some things? Have I been putting my trust in men? Don’t cast away our confidence and you will receive!
For more information about
Pastor Sam Carr, please contact:
Word of Life Center
4425 Meriwether Road
Shreveport, LA 71109
(318)-688-4411
www.WordOfLifeCenter.org
