Day 8 - Confidence in Christ

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

I am seeing a theme develop today for these forty days.  As I’ve mentioned before,  I have been  a prisoner to what others think of me.  This prisoner-ship impedes my relationship with the Lord, and I want to stand against that.  This is a weakness in my spiritual armor, and Satan repeatedly exploits this. My husband is a wonderful example to me in this regard.  He really seeks to honor and pursue God first and has been given the gift and developed the discipline of not really caring about what other people think about him.  It’s beautiful to see him not give a second thought to things people say that would take me days to get over.  I’m really thankful for his presence in my life and all that he teaches me about Christ. 

So today,  I’m taking God at his word, and I’m asking for his peace and freedom in this area of struggle in my life.  I really believe in God’s promises, and I know that the “according to his will” part of prayer is really important in seeing the manifestation of God’s answers to prayer in our lives.  I have been checking my prayers alot lately with the question, “Is this prayer according to God’s will?”  Sometimes that question is difficult to answer, but this time it isn’t.  Several times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that we should not be people who do “acts of righteousness” or even just prayer in order to be “honored by men” or to “be seen by men”.  That priority is the same sin that causes us to be afraid of what people thinks of us.  Both of these heart-attitudes mean that we honor what others think above what God thinks.  Jesus also talks about loving our enemies and turning the other cheek.  I think the kingdom of heaven is one in which because we are so in love with our God and full of humility because of his overwhelming, universe-spanning love for us, we are unable to be put down by others or ashamed of anything, even our own nakedness, which was the case, I think, for Adam and Eve.  In the kingdom of heaven, I know I’m a worm (and I can shrug my shoulders and smilingly agree when others point that out), and I know that God has redeemed me anyway.  That fills me up to the point that I can’t even see anything else, really.   In that I take my joy.   No need to explain or defend myself in this life.  No need to have a knee-jerk reaction when someone throws me an emotional punch in the gut.  Kingdom living says, “Give me your best shot.  Humiliate me, embarrass me, throw my efforts back in my face, deride my intelligence, mock my beliefs, reject my love, and I will love you still.  I have an armor of steel that is supernaturally reinforced by the Grace of God whose opinion of me (a redeemed, madly loved child) is more important to me than anything.  And instead of reacting to your emotional or physical bludgeoning, I will turn the other cheek, rest in Christ’s love, and pray that you will be released from your angry prison and come to know the freedom and perfect peace of Christ that I have found.”  Isn’t this what Christ did as He ushered in his heavenly kingdom to an un-heavenly world?  

From kingdom living, I can have compassion on someone who is kicking me while I’m down.  I can feel genuine pity for them because they are stuck, as I have also been, in anger and other sin.  I can pray for my enemy because I desire his freedom and reconciliation to God who loves him so much.  I think that many of us, as believers, hold this up as an ideal, but don’t feel like we can truly achieve it.  Why, as followers of Christ, do many of us view this practice as unattainable?  For me, I think that has been because I have not truly sought that peace of Christ;  I have not truly believed that God’s peace could set me free and make me unafraid of what others think about me.  I do now, though, and I am willing to do battle for that peace in my thoughts and in my actions.  A sweet friend of mine was asked by a few teenage girls what the hardest part of staying a virgin until marriage was.  Her response was that there was no part that was easy.  All of it, every day, every hour, was hard.   She told them, you have to fight for your purity.  I think the same is true for peace.  The peace of Christ that makes us unafraid of anything (like what others think of us) does not come easily, but that does not mean it does not come.  We just have to fight for it.   So, my prayer for God to lead me into a greater confidence in Him, to a soul-level dependency not on what others think, but of what He thinks of me, is one I can confidently pray because I know this is my Father’s will for me.  “¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” I John 5:14 - 15

 Day 8 is going to be a good day.  : )