How Can We Gain Spiritual Confidence?

Three Things You Can Trust In -- They Will Never Fail

Apr 19, 2024

Trust the Word

Trusting the Word of God is the foundation for building strong faith and conviction, which builds courage and confidence. More study and deeper understanding lead to greater conviction, propelling us to act because we know what is right. Often, people question how one can preach with such confidence and live with certainty about their salvation, wondering if it borders on arrogance. Yet, studying God’s Word solidifies our confidence, as it continually presents promises of assurance.

In the Word are Continual Promises of Assurance

The assurances found in Scripture affirm that what God promises is indeed true. He has established a covenant with us, urging us to trust in His saving grace, love, and mercy, even though we are often weak and sinful. For example, the Apostle Paul openly discusses his struggles in Romans 7, acknowledging human nature and the internal conflict it creates. Despite his best intentions, he often found himself doing the things he hated, a struggle many of us can relate to. Yet, Paul never grew comfortable with sin; instead, he despised it and strove to overcome it.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do (Romans 7:14-19).

This ongoing battle with sin highlights the importance of not becoming content with our sinful tendencies. We have made a covenant with God to resist the flesh and persevere in our faith. While perfection is unattainable as long as we are in the flesh, it is not our perfection but our heart's posture toward God that matters most. Living under constant guilt about our performance can erode our confidence and lead to discouragement and defeat. It's crucial to recognize that while we strive to avoid sin, as Paul did, we are covered by grace when we fail.

You Have Been Set Free

Thankfully, we have been set free from the law of sin and death through Christ Jesus.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death (Romans 7:25-8:2).

Your freedom allows you to approach God's throne boldly, knowing that you have an advocate in Jesus Christ who intercedes for you when you sin (1 John 2:1-3). This is a fantastic source of comfort and confidence, as emphasized in Hebrews 4, where we are encouraged to come boldly before the throne of grace to receive mercy and find help in our time of need.

Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Trust the Father

In Romans 8, Paul poses several rhetorical questions that underscore our security in Christ's love, which nothing can sever. He asks:

If God is for us, who is against us? (v. 31)
How will he not also with him grant us everything? (v. 32)
Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? (v. 33)
Who is the one who condemns? (v. 34)
Who can separate us from the love of Christ? (v. 35)

What God has promised is true:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

Nothing in all creation can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord. This promise assures us of God's unfailing love and the surety of our salvation.

Trust the Spirit

By trusting in the Spirit, as outlined in Romans 8:14, 16, we are reminded that we are God's children and that the Spirit Himself affirms this truth.

For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.
The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children,
The Spirit also aids us in our weaknesses and intercedes when we are unsure what to pray for.

In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings (Romans 8:26).

This continual divine support strengthens and comforts us, ensuring that our confidence does not rest on our imperfect selves but is rooted in Christ and God's assurance through His Spirit.

Confidence Helps You Through Life

It helps you:

As you walk

If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

In What You Say

but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15).

In Your Prayers

This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us (1 John 5:14).

In the Future

because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death (Philippians 1:19-20).

We live in an uncertain world. As we face the prospect of living in a nation in decline, extreme moral decay, world war, and economic destruction, we will have help from the spirit of Jesus Christ.

No matter what happens, we know God will be with us.