by Timothy Howe
But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope
Heb 3:6 NLT
Fear can be debilitating. it thwarts dreams and keeps us from accomplishing all that God has in store for us. This week, we have seen how fear can be overcome. Hebrews 3:6 tells us that we have two weapons in our arsenal against fear. These represent the power that we have over fear - confidence and hope.
Confidence and Hope
On their own merits confidence and hope are powerful things. Confidence instills within us the ability to tackle the challenges that life throws at us. Hope stirs us up to endure. I have seen people in terrible circumstances who exhibit both of these characteristics and I have seen people in much less severe difficulties surrender any ounce of confidence or hope that they would make it. It is at least in part matters of choice and attitude.
Confidence in...
What gives us confidence. Many times we are able to muster self-confidence in order to persevere in the midst of trials. Self-confidence is a powerful character trait. Yet, it is limited by the truth of our limitations. We may possess a strong self-confidence, but there will come a time when we come to the point of our incapability. At that moment what do we do?
Confidence in hope...
The passage above tells us where to place out confidence in order to extend it, to make it go beyond ourselves and our limitations. We are to place our confidence in hope. This is a hope that our limitations are not the limitations of our realities. We have so much more that is available to us that just what our skills afford us. What we desire to achieve that we are not really capable of falls into the realm of hope.
Confidence in our hope of Christ.
Ultimately, our hope is in the One who is most capable. The confidence we have is not just there is something better out there, but that there is a "best" out there that is available for us which empowers us. This "best" is Jesus. Christ offers us an ultimate reality that far exceeds anything we are capable of on our own.
Know that when fear comes, you have something greater. You have confidence and hope available for you and more importantly, you have the Author of each present with you. He is your power over your fears.
May you demonstrate confidence and hope in Christ today.
by Timothy Howe
This week I am focusing on Acts 16 in which Paul and his companions take the gospel to Macedonia, in what is our first record of the gospel reaching Europe. It was a time of an unparalleled advance of the Gospel. It is easy to assume that all went according to plan. But this would be wrong.
Paul was already successful in ministry
You will recall that Paul possessed a very fruitful ministry up to this point and had previously experienced a successful missionary journey. Now he was revisiting some of the places where he had started churches.
Paul had a good strategy
Paul's strategy up to this point was to go first to the synagogue, reason with the members how Christ fulfilled the scriptures, and work with believers in starting a new congregation. This strategy led his team to start numerous churches.
Paul had a good plan
Paul began this second missionary trip for the purpose of strengthening the churches which had been founded on the earlier trip. This was a good idea considering the hostility they were subject to. During this time he determined to set out to a new region to spread the gospel. This made sense based on what he had already accomplished.
God prevented Paul from carrying out his plan
Next something strange happened. The Scriptures tell us that the Spirit of Jesus prevented Paul from going to this new region. This does not make human sense. Paul was already doing a good work. We should presume that he would have been just as successful in this new area. Certainly, it would have been good to carry the gospel to a new place.
God wants what is best
Human sense does not compare to a Divine plan. Yes, it would have been good to start churches in the new region, but God was less interested in what was good. Instead, He pushed Paul towards what was best. God had a plan so much bigger than Paul could have imagined. This week we will see what that plan was. But first, we need to understand that in order to carry out His plan for Paul's life, God had to first prevent Paul from accomplishing Paul's plan for his life.
What is God preventing you from doing right now?
Whenever you get frustrated that things are not going as expected, it might not be that things are just not working out. Ask yourself the question - "What is God preventing me from doing?" This will help you to open your eyes to see what else he might have in store.
