When Confidence Matters

Don’t believe one of Satan’s biggest lies.

It’s able to paralyze by disqualification—convincing me that I’m not capable of understanding what the written word of God actually says before I even begin to try.

And it works.

Traditional theology has become an exclusive territory having a protected landscape. A fence has been built around every square foot of intellectual acreage it occupies, and anyone who hasn’t worked on that farm lacks the necessary credibility to teach from the Bible.

Ask any seasoned pastor. There’s simply no substitute for enduring formal seminary training.

Yet we still take our vehicles to the mechanic or hire the carpenter or tradesman who attended the University of Hard Knocks upon the recommendation of a trusted friend saying, “He’s the best. He’s ‘Old School.'”

But Satan won’t let that dog hunt anymore.

He’s crafty enough to capitalize on the vulnerable believer’s lack of Biblical literacy rather than attempt to destroy his redemptive status. He knows that can never happen. He’s only concerned about that man’s ability to spread that good news or encourage another man to walk with Jesus Christ—or, most of all, to endure to the end of the age.

Because that’s the only dog he’s got a fight in.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminded the reader that faith was the assurance of things hoped for, demanding confidence for things not seen. [Heb.11:1] Bֻut neither the translated versions of The Greek New Testament nor the Old Testament are “unseeable” to anyone who can read text.

So, it seems that, just as faith without works is dead [Ja.2:26], faith without confidence could never really exist either.

I’ll never forget the words of my mentor years ago: “You’ve been saved from the slave market of sin. Satan can never change that. [see: Eph. 1:7-14] The only thing he can prevent you from now is inheriting what the Lord God wants you to have—glorification along with your co-heir Jesus in the kingdom of the coming age! [see: Rom. 8:16-17; Phil. 3:10-11; 2Tim. 2:12-14; 1Pet. 4″13]

I was astounded. All I’d ever heard was I’d better be a good boy so I could go to heaven instead of hell.

I said, “Where did you go to learn that stuff, a seminary?”

“No,” he said. “I just read it in the Bible for myself.”