God's Children Have Confidence In Christ

Our feelings will try to trick us.

1 John 3:19-24  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.  20  Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows everything.

21  Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.  22  And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.

1 John 2:28  And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from Him in shame.

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Our actions should prove who we belong to, if we are all talk and no action then we should analyze our relationship with God, a lifestyle of obedience to his commands will prove that we have a reason to have confidence before God. We will know without a doubt that God's promises to his children are true and we will be confident when we stand before him.

A sinful lifestyle is a reliable indicator that a person is not the child of God that they claim to be. It is clear in scripture that the only way to receive the free gift of salvation is to receive it without any good works attached but it is also clear that a child of God will behave differently from the rest of the world. - See more: God's Children Behave Differently

Despite our best efforts to please God and live according to his instructions there will be times when our confidence in his promises will be shaken by the realization of how bad we are. Our brain will begin to recall all of the bad things that we have done and we will think that God couldn't have been thinking of me or maybe he didn't realize everything I have done. The devil will get us to doubt God's word just like he did in the Garden of Eden.

2 Corinthians 3:4  We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.

Our feelings and our conscience are not perfect at judging and they can lead us astray. Sometimes we  justify what we are doing even though God's word is clear that it is wrong. We like to say that something feels right or this is just a part of who I am, all because we are comfortable doing something doesn't mean that it is okay, the Bible has a lot to say about living out our desires that are contrary to God's desires.

Confidence Despite Our Feelings
Hebrews 10:22-23  Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  23  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.

No matter how hard we try, some days sheer willpower isn’t enough to move us closer to where God wants us to be. There is plenty that we can feel guilty about, those are the things that the devil likes to bring up and throw in our face so that we won't live with joy, we know that our standing as a child of God doesn't depend on ourselves but on what Jesus did for us.

2 Timothy 1:12  I know the One in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return.

The book of First John tells us that we should be confident when we come to God, whether it is for confession or when we come before him at the coming of Christ or when we pray, we are to approach God with respect but without fear. We do not come to God as strangers pleading for special favors, but as those whom God has adopted into his family and calls them his friend and his children. (1 John 2:1, 2:28, 4:17, 5:14-15)

Thank you Lord for taking care of me and giving me the ability to come directly to you without fear.

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