A Confident Heart
The God of all hope is Calling you out of the shadows of your doubts so you can live with a confident heart ! Are you ready to let his Word change the way you think, which will determine the way you feel and eventually transform the way you live ( Rom. 12-2 )? This will be a process that happens if you are willing to have honest, soul searching conversations with God, yourself and a few people you trust- Conversations about where you are, how you got here and where you really belong. (Page 24 )
Romans 10:17 tells us that "faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
Chapter 1
Discovering the shadow of My Doubts
Oh yes this is a place I have visited many times, still do, the overcast of my soul, when I am not walking in His will and His ways. Having personal experience in shadows, shadows of Death that have names, Addictions, human reliance , selfishness, control, fear , anxiety, worry, anger, frustration. Later the Author Renee Swope, goes on to say in her beautifully written and profound journey- That all those words equal ( one ) Doubt.
Let's break it down with Webster real quick ---
1doubt
verb \ˈdau̇t\
: to be uncertain about (something) : to believe that (something) may not be true or is unlikely
: to have no confidence in (someone or something) ....Well, there you have it, the definition of doubt a belief that something may not be true or is unlikely. If we can not believe that every word written is true, then of course our confidence is shaken and wavering, However when we hold our shadows of Doubt up to the light of God's Word, the doubts shrink in size and we start to become different.
Maybe your like the author was, or like I am, depending on the day, I have days that I am so Confident and grounded and then days that I am just dragging through the mud with self-doubt, negative thoughts, depleted strength and low- self esteem. Those are the days that I am not trusting that Father knows best and is in control of my life, those are the days that I seek Pam's will and not God's When I pray the promises of the Lord, and I still my mind, I am transformed from the inside out.
God wants up close and personal attention, he wants me ( us to draw near to Him ) When we are weak is when he is strong.
Turning it Over
Turning it over and going through the past in order to gain victory into the future, the plans that He has for our life is a hard thing. I agree that we must go back to our childhood and find the labels of self doubt that others, role models, teachers, the law, parents, siblings, and everyone who has ever been apart of our life has instilled in us, emptying ourselves of the negative statements heard over and over again, " You're Garbage, You can't do that, You will not amount to anything ! You're not like them, they are better then you, your fat, your ugly, your uneducated, Look they did it why can't you.
Over and over again, as we grow up we play the old tapes of defeat given to us when we did not even have a choice.
Today we have a choice, we have a choice to choose those old tapes or toss them into the depths of the sea of untruth and ungodly talk and never look back, yet first we Must face or Giants and our walls, We are promised to climb over them and have new life in Him, when we trust and stop doubting.
The emptiness that consumes the soul can only be filled with the love and truth of God. He takes the broken and binds up there wounds. He covers them in blood and through his stripes we are Healed. Mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
Daily I must pray , and pray out loud, sing and dance, talk to others about his Grace and Mercy, carry the message to the lost, to the hurting, to the sick and the lame.
God has restored my mind, my soul, my heart, I am still human, It is a battle every single day, but when I wake up and trust in him First and offer the first part of my day to him who made it, I walk confidently and I have his strength to rely on, strength that comes from none other but a Loving , and powerful Lord.
Then other days, I stay in my thoughts, and my will and I create a wasteland of doubts, realizing I have not given him My Heart, my thoughts, and I have become unwilling to let go, Letting Go of what was, living in the gift of today and knowing where my Identity resides gives me confidence that God who was, who is and who always will be, is My ROCK, and in Him I will not be forsaken.
Honesty is the antidote to my negative thinking, and what dies in the light, brings life to the living.
A Confident Heart Chapter 1
Renee Swope
Written by Pamela Joy Benigno
10/14/2013
Your sister in Christ !
