Boldness and Confidence in Christ

I heard a man say not long ago that he felt there had always been a gaping hole in his heart because he never knew his real parents. To look at this man, you would never know that he felt anything but confident and reassured, but its true what they say, looks can be very deceiving. He had loving adoptive parents, a good childhood, and grew up to be a very stable and productive person. Even though he’s accomplished in life, he feels that he doesn’t know who he is or what he’s made of. Most of us can empathize with him. Our biology is important, but it isn’t the most important aspect to our lives. Not knowing any biological information about oneself can feel for some people like painting a portrait without paint. It can feel like a void in a person’s life. But this is on a purely physical level, and the physical is only temporary; only the spiritual is eternal. So, imagine what it would feel like to not know your spiritual identity. The Word of God tells us that ignorance about our spiritual parent is the most devastating ignorance of all.

Colossians 2:10(NLT) tells us, “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” This word “complete” that is used in this verse is the Greek word “plēroō”. It is a verb, and it means to make full, to fill up, and fill up to the fullest capacity. It also means to cause to abound or to be liberally supplied. It is literally defined as a state of being completely, completely complete. This describes the utterly inexhaustible wholeness and supply of goodness that comes with our union with Christ.

You and I have a race to run. It is a race that God, Himself, has set before us. Hebrews 12:2(NLT) says that we run this race by “keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” Jesus Christ is head and has power over everything. We’re not to keep our eyes on our culture, biological parents, or any other person. We’re to keep our eyes locked on Jesus. This is where the action is in life! Our Master Jesus is seated in the place of highest honor, right beside our Abba Father. And because he has all authority and power in his hands, we can come boldly to our Father’s throne of grace and walk with the same authority and power as Christ.

Ephesians 1:3-5 tells us that our Blessed Father God, the Father of our Master Jesus, has blessed you and I with all spiritual blessing through His Son, Jesus Christ. It tells us that long before God laid down the foundations of the earth, we were on His mind. Imagine that! He had a plan for us way before we were placed in our mother’s womb. At a time well in advance of any period that you and I could know, we were the focus of God’s love; and this was before our physical bodies were even formed. Way back then, a time that no human can pinpoint, God decided to adopt us and make us sisters and brothers of His first begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Our Redeemer is our Big Brother, and we’re His siblings. The hard part is getting us to act like it.

Because of Christ, we have access to God. And not just this, but God wants us to come to Him with boldness and confidence in Christ. We’re not to behave like servants; we’re to behave like sons and daughters. We have God’s DNA through His Holy Spirit, and this means we are to walk in love the same way that Christ did. It is so important to know that standing boldly and confidently in Christ is the attitude, mindset, and heart-set that God wants us to have as we approach His throne. He wants us to have this boldness and confidence in our hearts because we trust in Him wholeheartedly and we’re completely sold-out to His goodness.

When our hearts are fully sold out to the love of God, fear cannot occupy any space in our existence. Fear and love cannot abide in the same place, therefore, to stand boldly in Christ is to be fully engulfed by the love of God, leaving no room for fear and anxiety to abide. When we don’t understand who God has made us through His Son, and we refuse to honor God in our lives, we will have a huge space in our hearts. We might think there is another reason for this hole, but the real reason behind it is because we don’t know our spiritual Father. Fear has many cousins, like jealousy, rage, insecurity, doubt, phobias, addiction, stubbornness, and stinginess just to name a few. Not only will these cousins take up space in our hearts that should be occupied by the love of God, these remnants of fear are extremely heavy. They will weigh us down and keep us from running the race God has set before us. This is why He tells us to strip these heavies off.

We know that the Children of Israel were God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. Through them, we have a front row seat of God’s overwhelming mercy and grace. Like us, they were disobedient repeatedly, but He forgave them and continued to pursue them. God’s heart was to have a family, and to continue expanding it. This was His plan, and He kept the details of it a mystery for a very long time. In Ephesians 3:1-6, the Apostle Paul tells us that he was given a part to play in God’s plan. This plan includes not just God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, but any person that accepts the Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts. When we repent and make Jesus Christ the head of our lives, God accepts us into His family.

Through Paul, God goes on to tell us that none of the prophets and ancestors understood His plan. They didn’t know the mystery of Christ, and what his life, ministry, sacrifice and resurrection would accomplish. God also tells us that if the devil had known His all-inclusive plan through our Savior, he, satan, would never have crucified Christ. The great mystery is that because of the finished work of Christ, there are millions upon millions of Christ replicas, all of us standing on the same ground before God. All of us are partakers of the same inheritance as Christ. Romans 8:17(NIV) puts it like this, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

God’s plan is to use the church as a portrait of His rich Glory. Through us, God shows everyone who He is. People that don’t yet know Him can get to know Him through us, because we are His children; we are ambassadors of Christ. Through our blessed Savior, we have a living example of what it means to come boldly to God’s throne of grace and confidently ask for whatever we need. Ephesians 3:12(NLT) affirms, “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” We are made bold by our faith in the Word of God, and not only must we walk in this faith every day of our lives, but it is our great privilege and honor to boldly and confidently share it with those who desperately need to hear it. Knowing the reality of who God has made us in Christ will fill the empty places in our souls and sharing God’s Word will continually energize our hearts with His amazing love.■ Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Boldness and Confidence in Christ

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