FREEDOM AND CONFIDENCE
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Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:12-13
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Ephesians 3:12
In a society that prizes self-confidence and a positive self-image, we might be tempted to think that our relationship with God should make a priority of focusing on ourselves, our own needs, and our sense of self-worth.
But consider what happens when self-assured people pray to God. People who believe their relationship with God is based in their own merit and interests will find prayer an empty ritual. They tend to see little need for prayer, and they don’t see the results they expect. Prayers offered in our own strength rise no higher than the roof over our heads.
But as believers in Christ, we must always remember what God has accomplished for us through Jesus. The key to effective prayer is to turn away from a trust in our own selves to a total reliance on our Savior.
“In [Jesus Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Jesus is the mediator of our salvation and of all other dimensions of our relationship to God. Our confidence is based on what Christ has accomplished! Even when we struggle with doubt and sin, through Christ we have access to God the Father. Paul eloquently describes that assurance in Romans 8:37-39: we, through Christ, are “more than conquerors,” and nothing can “separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for giving us hope and confidence that you hear us and care for us. Help us to trust not in ourselves but in Jesus, who made our salvation possible. Amen.
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GET TODAY
I trust in the Lord to meet all my needs. I believe there is nothing that I do on my own.
As a child I would observe my father praying at night before going to bed. Sometimes he would be so weary and tired, that he would fall asleep. When he would comeback to his self, he would ask forgiveness and continue to pray for his faith, his church, his family, his community and all those that he would see. This he demonstrated always, for he trusted in his God.
Proverbs 3: 5-7 is a source we should take to heart. We should TRUST, ACKNOWLEDGE, AND FEAR THE LORD. AMEN!