I really loved Joyce Meyer’s TV broadcast message this morning, because she really put into easy to understand words, something that is SO important to all of us as we stand for the restoration of our marriages. How many times have we all heard (or even said ourselves) “I know I believe, but…?” Of course, the minute we say “but”, we’re in trouble, because we’ve just cancelled out what we said!

We talk so much about the importance of faith and believing in the Word of God and that He WILL do what He says He will do, but there’s no denying that we see a difference in the level of faith from one person to another. And I think Joyce’s message today explains the difference, and why we’ve seen so many awesome things happening in our midst in the past few weeks, and why I have no doubt that will continue. When we see faith in others that exudes confidence, that’s the kind of faith we want and wish we had. And there’s NO denying that the faith Jesus always sought in those around Him went beyond simply believing He was who He was and that He could and would do what He said, because the faith He wanted to see and rewarded was always faith based in confidence. And that confidence was always exhibited by some kind of action. So just believing isn’t enough; faith without confidence isn’t enough. And the following verses are just a few to give us an idea how important it is to have confidence in the things we profess to believe and have faith in is as we stand for the restoration of our marriages:

Proverbs 3:25-26
Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.

Jeremiah 17:7
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

2 Corinthians 3:3-5
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

Ephesians 3:12
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Hebrews 3:14
We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 10:35
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

Hebrews 13:6
So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

1 John 5:14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

1 John 3:21-22
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

We all need to take those last verses VERY seriously, because they say “IF our hearts do not condemn us…” Obviously, God knows and judges us by what’s in our hearts, and we can’t fool Him, especially since Matthew 12:34 warns You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Sadly, way too many of the words spoken by standers provide more than ample evidence of condemning hearts and a lack of confidence in the Word of God, which may well explain so many unfortunate and even unnecessary delays to answered prayers. But when we demonstrate our faith and confidence in the Word of God by sharing our praise reports and testimonies about all He is doing as we expectantly await the restoration of our marriages, we are proving the power of Revelation 12:10-11, which says Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. One of the most important ways that works in our lives and the lives of those who hear the words of our testimonies, is that it increases and builds up the faith and confidence we have in the power and faithfulness of God to DO exactly what His Word says He will do!

So study and meditate on the above Bible verses and listen to the following message from Joyce Meyer, because the more confidence we have in God’s Word and His power and faithfulness to carry it out, the more blessed and encouraged we will be!

Seven Secrets Of A Confident Woman – Part I

Guys, even though this says it’s for women, it isn’t gender specific, so make sure you listen to it too!

Posted Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 8:20 pm in Seeds Of Faith.