Scripture and Revelation are two key confidence builders in the spiritual warrior’s life. God carefully puts his words into our lives to provoke us to look at him. All too often, we get distracted by his hand, wondering what he is doing. But he wants us to look him in the eye – to talk with him, to be with him. I want you to see who I am, he says. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:12, we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.
Spiritual warriors know how to walk humbly with God, because they understand that they are nothing without his greatness. Humility, however, is not the same as timidity. We do not have to be nervous when we approach God; the sacrifice of Jesus must instead result in a boldness of approach. This confidence in our standing with God should be an unshakable conviction in our hearts. How can we stand outside the throne room when he has swung the door wide open to us? Instead, we must march into his presence. After all, we belong there – because he is there. Jesus has merit, and he has given us his name. We are heirs of God, as explained Romans 8:12 – 17:
Therefore, brother we are debtors – not the flesh, to live according to the flesh. If you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the spirit he put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, however, father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then hairs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.
Paul continues is thought later in the same chapter verses 31 – 39;
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? You did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: for your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things where more than cock reverse through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing in heaven or earth can separate us from the love of God. Walking humbly in this knowledge means we can come boldly before God. A spiritual warrior doesn’t stalk in petulantly or crawl in miserably; he comes with a paradoxical mix of humility in who he is and confidence in who God is.
It is so important to be confident in God – to be unashamed and un-condemned. Grace makes us vulnerable to the Majesty of God’s loving-kindness towards us. We are a work in progress.
We are learning how to be changed from glory into glory in the likeness of God – 2nd Corinthians 3:18. We are moving from that first prime glorious state of salvation to our destiny as manifested sons of the most high. Each stage we pass through; each season we successfully navigate in the Holy Spirit – more glory is revealed of God’s nature that we get to exhibit in Christ. Walking in the spirit and becoming Christ like are glorious experiences and also experiences of glory.
Confidence is part of the glory of God revealed to us in Christ. As he is, so are we in this world. Boldness and humility form a beautiful paradox that encapsulates glory. A paradox is two apparently conflicting ideas contained in the same truth. In the matter of our ongoing transformation into becoming Christ like, there are two extremes at work. Firstly, there is how the father sees us in Christ, as a finished work. Secondly, there is how we see ourselves as we go through the process of change.
God is future/ present with us. That is, he deals with us in terms of who we are already in Christ. This is an eternal work and is already completed in Jesus. The father deals with us through the context of eternity. The Holy Spirit works with us in the context of the here and now. We are present/ future with God – in Christ, learning to be Christ like. Jesus stands in the gap between our present and future, and are seeing for us – Hebrews 7:25.
The Holy Spirit promotes Christ to us and Christ in us as the hope (confident expectation) of glory. In the father’s eyes (seen through the lens of Jesus), we are complete in Christ and welcome in the throne room of his presence.
Through Jesus, we have both access in one Spirit to the father – Ephesians 2:18. The word both means us and Jesus combined, as one! We can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need – Hebrews 4:16.
We can be bold in our quest for mercy and grace. We can be bold about being in Jesus, and humble about our current place of growth in becoming Christ like. It is a wonderful and unique place of favor in which the father has placed us before him.
He treats us as complete while we are still a work in progress. This means a grace, favor, and inheritance can come to us because of his acceptance of us in the beloved – Ephesians 1:6, not because of her performance. This alone gives us huge boldness to come before the father, knowing that he has gifts and favor to bestow upon us as he would bestow them on Jesus.
I’m on earth, confident in heaven. Humble for the present, bold about the future. Bold in the here and now, humbled and awed about who we get to become. We are confident to enter the holy place in Christ, and we can do so in full assurance of faith. We are so welcome, accepted, and beloved – Hebrews 10:19 – 23.
We are learning how to abide in him so that our confidence is always high, and there is never even a possibility of our being ashamed in his presence. Our hearts can never condemn us because our confidence in the nature of God makes that impossible – 1st John 2:28 and 3:21.
Confidence is concerned with certainty! It is about something definite – a firm assurance, a total reliance, and absolute belief, and an unbreakable conviction that provides us with a positive security. There is a yes and amen in God’s heart for us!
Assignment – in Christ is our starting point. Christ in us is our finishing point. We are a work in progress. What is the Holy Spirit showing you about your own confidence levels in Christ? Explain the difference in your own words between humility and boldness.
Commission – explain what it means to be accepted in the beloved and complete in Christ; and how the father loves and provides for you as you become Christ like. Write a short message to a friend about your joy in the father’s love and why you can never be ashamed in his presence.