Finding Our Confidence

Finding Our Confidence in Trusting God
                                       

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There is great danger in our daily living as too often we live day to day trusting in our ways of existing, depending on the confidence found in our desires, and ignoring the help God Desires to provide in leading us to a greater relationship with Him.  Our greatest failure is ignoring God and His help and in that, we fail to build our Trust in Him.  But, Believing In Jesus we receive God's Gift of Faith and develop Trust that leads us beyond existing to growing in His Grace, learning to Trust, to Praise, and Love Him in our Triumphful living (*7).

Our faith is God's gift to us (Eph 3:8 & Rom 12:3 (*1)), Jesus bears witness to this faith in His example for us, and in our acceptance of Jesus as Savior, we also receive the Holy Spirit that provides and guides us to the Trust that Jesus commands (John 14:1 (*2)).  The Greek word of the New Testament for faith is translated as a noun, a thing, a most special thing but still a thing.  This Thing called Faith is a most personal present from God.  In His unearned Grace of giving us Faith, we can do nothing to earn it, deserve it, or in any way be worthy of it.  And, that is just the way God desires it and in that, we can make no claim on having done anything to receive it.

However, Trust is different.  Trust is an active imperative command of Jesus that we are to do!  In Trust, we come to the point of maintaining belief beyond the evidence (*5).  Saint John, a most close disciple and apostle of Jesus tells us in chapter 14 that Jesus commands us, "Let not your hearts be troubled, Trust God..." (*2).

Just as in our behaviors with friends and in their behaviors toward us, we learn to depend on friends building confidence our friends are dependable.  In our own lives in our behaviors and experiences with God the same activity, confidence and trust occurs as it develops!

Just as we choose friends to trust, in trusting God we learn He is truly trustworthy beyond our expectation, knowledge, and understanding.    But, even as we come to know God IS trustworthy, we must learn to rely on that trust to build our confidence in Him.  Again, Trust is an action verb we must do!  In doing this, we begin with three things to build trust.

First:  Trust in God begins with prayerful communications with Him on a daily basis and Jesus is the example for us in this activity.  He prayed often and alone.  God wants a relationship with us simply because He made us out of love (*6).  With our prayers we thank him for His grace, talk about our needs, and most of all listen and watch for His response.  Listening is most important.  God gave us two ears and one mouth possibly indicating we are to listen in stereo far more than we talk and He gave us two eyes to observe with vision to understand far more than just what we see.  We can pray about our wants but we cannnot hang our trust on God providing all our wants.  Praying for discernment in knowing the difference between needs and wants is important too.

Next:  We need to Read, Reflect, and React to God's Holy Scripture.  The Truth we find in scripture is God's word that people have Trusted for over 3500 years.  It is not situational ethics or something to ponder, but the very essence of how to live life in a loving relationship with Him!

Third and final part of this message:  Prayer and Bible Study should be a daily event both in the privacy of aloneness and in the company of other believers.   Prayer, and especially prayer, should be often in our daily thoughts.  In communications with God we build our trusting confidence in God with our daily experiences in seeing what He does for us in the little things of life (*3).  In that trusting God in the little things in life, we learn and it prepares us to Trust in the more important troublesome events of life that truly tend to test our faith.

With having great confidence in God in the Trust we build, we may not always be happy with our circumstances but with the Trust we have built in our daily living we come to be thankful regardless of our circumstances (1Thes 5:16-18 (*4) see note).  From being thankful regardless of our circumstances we can feel Joy in recognizing God's grace regardless of the surroundings we live in.  When we recognize His grace regardless of circumstances, we are sustained to have a triumphal end to the valleys of life that could easily overwhelm us.

From the movie "The Book of Eli", Denzel Washington's character tells a friend, "There is no Testimony without a Test."  This is great and Godly wisdom in that we are not to live life seeking to avoid all Trials and Testing.  In our Trials of Testing, seeking God's desires for us results in finding Confident Triumphal living in the paths God presents to us to achieve His Will for our lives.

Thanks be to God.

lonnie

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ldcoggins@gmail.

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lonnie 

(*1)

Ephesians 2:

3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.8For it is by grace you have been saved,

     through faith--and 

      this not from yourselves, 

         it is the gift of God--9not by works, so that no one can boast.10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

One in Christ

11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)--12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
Romans 12:3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
(*2)

John 14:

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.4You know the way to the place where I am going."

Jesus the Way to the Father

5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(*3)  This very message came after a morning prayer.  I had been thinking and studying the Greek for the past week on the meaning of Trust in our relationship with God.  I knew I would know when it was time to write about it.  In my prayerlife, I pray for the Spirit to guide the words that I write.  That was in my morning prayer.  As soon as I said 'Amen' the words came.  I did not even go to the compter, I was filled with this message and immediately picked up my pen and paper and started writing.
(*4)1 Thessalonians 5:14And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.16Be joyful always;17pray continually;18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.19Do not put out the Spirit's fire;20do not treat prophecies with contempt.21Test everything. Hold on to the good.22Avoid every kind of evil.23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Please note:  verse 18 does not tell us that we have to be thankful for our circumstance, but to be thanful in our circumstances.  No matter how bad our circumstances, we can find much for which to be thankful.
(*5)Trust overcomes the immediate facts of a situation allowing a person to continue to believe in spite of the facts.  When bad things happens to us and it looks like everything around us is out of control and we continue to to believe in the object of our faith, then we are trusting.  An earthly example:  We have a friend we know and have known for years.  You have never seen or have knowledge of any criminal activity and to the contrary this person you trust has always been someone you could depend on in any situation.  Then, someone breaks into your house while on vacation and only your friend you trust knew you were gone.  On top of that, the police find evidence the friend was in your house while you were gone and in fact you asked him to check on some plants.  But, fingerprints are found where they should not be.  In spite of the evidence, you still believe your friend did not fake the entry and steal valuable possessions.  This is trust inspite of the evidence.-(*6)The Essence of God
(*7)Growing in Grace: Grace at 168 Miles per Hour

The Arrogance of Authority

The Arrogance of Authority
                                       

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In a recent email I received, I was reminded of the arrogance of the Temple leaders in Jesus' time and the reason they wanted Jesus dead.  Those leaders were uncomfortable with His Truth, protective of their power, liked living in their cocoons, and did not want to lose their luxurious position.  In short, they arrogantly used their authority to protect themselves and their position.   But, as in most cases, it did not last.

Just today as I write this new evidence was found of the Roman siege and destruction of the Temple in 66 to 70 AD.  It was a most gruesome time, and the Temple leaders, the Sadducee's were never heard from again.  It is food thought for people of our day in positions of authority.

Here is the great email story that prompted this reflection:

A DEA officer stopped at a ranch in Texas, and talked with an old rancher. He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs."

The rancher said, "Okay, but don't go in that field over there.....," as he pointed out a distant location.

The DEA officer verbally exploded, saying, " Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me!" Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the rancher.

"See this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish....on ANY land! No questions asked or answers given! Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?"

The rancher nodded politely, apologized, and went about his chores. A short time later, the old rancher heard loud screams, looked up and saw the DEA officer running for his life, being chased by the rancher's enormous Santa Gertrudis bull......

With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that the officer would be gruesomely gored before he reached safety. The man was clearly terrified.

The rancher threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs..... 

(I just love this part....)

"Your badge........ show him your BADGE!!"

Good leaders have found that sometimes asking the right questions is better than a display of their authority.  

Maybe I should send this to some people in Washington.  I like to think the voting bulls of America are on the rise.

lonnie

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© Lonnie Coggins
ldcoggins@gmail.

If you desire to use any of these messages in a For-Profit manner you must contact me (email) for permission.  Typically, I will most likely give permission.

lonnie 

Real Live Parable on Bearing Fruit

Real Life Parable on Bearing Fruit

Luke 13: 1-11
(below)
                                       

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In our everyday activities, thinking in terms of the Bible yeilds results, sometime beyond our imaginations often revealing just how little we understand, believe, and trust God's word.  This is a true story and I should not have been surprised.

For many years, because I love figs, I wanted a fig tree in my yard.  About six or seven years ago, more on that in a minute, I bought a small fig plant and put it where it would get plenty of sun, and I ran an irrigation line to make sure it had plenty of water.

After about two years, I had my first fig and was most excited until it dropped off the tree before maturing.  Maybe a year later I finally was able to eat one fig from the tree.  It bore two figs but one did not mature, a bird got it or something happened to it.  For the next several years, no figs appeared.

In talking to a neighbor a couple streets over, he had a fig tree planted about the time of mine and was getting figs galore.  But, I was going to be patient. Several years went by with no figs, but great frustration on my part.

The parable below came to mind on several occasions over the years as I held patience with the little tree about three feet high with two little branches.  In the Spring of this year, it is now at this writing six or seven years this frustrating tree has been in the ground with my tender loving care of water, fertelizer, and mulch.  

In the Spring as I looked at it while cutting the grass, my thought, my most very conscience thought was, I guess you could say it was a prayer.  I looked at that stupid little tree and mentally, but with great promise, my thought ran, "Lord, if you want me to have this fig tree, make it bear this year or I am going to dig it out, pull it up, and throw it in the woods."  I said the words with promise, but to tell the truth, I thought I would surely be digging it up this fall.  I really had no hope for it.  Also, I want to emphasize that I was not in any manner, way, or form testing God with my question.  Later, I considered that I would move it to another location.

With this writing, I went out about an hour ago and I could not believe my eyes and my count.  On that little tree, and I have a chill in my back as I write this, I first counted six figs.  I thought, six, why not seven!  I looked at the six, saw how they were configured on the limb, looked at other limbs and, well, there was a seventh fig!  So very tiny, hardly recognizable  but it certainly has the apparent makings of the seventh fig.  There may be more to come.

Now, I know, some people would read the next words with disdain, but I do not care because, I believe.

One thought that comes to mind about this experience is our lack of Godly expectation in the prayers and conversations we have with God.  He made us, He wants us to talk to Him!  Then, when we do our lack of faith often and glaringly shines through as it did with me when I had that short prayer/conversation with Him about the fig plant.  

Another thought:  This is exactly one of the ways how God builds our faith!  Like the old series on TV, "Candid Camera", God builds out faith when we least expect it.  Let me be clear, we do not build our faith, God does!  FAITH is a gift. Saint Paul makes it clear, "it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast." (*2 below)  

I firmly do not believe that this event is a coincidence! This is most probably the seventh year of this plant in my yard, and even thought there may be more figs to come this year, when I went to see the plant for the first time this year to see figs, I counted seven figs! The important point about seven, is from the Old Testament, the word of God, Seven is considered throughout the OT God's perfect Complete number and used over 500 times (*1)! Just think about it, there are seven days in a week, seven planets we can see with the naked eye, seven continents, seven identified oceans, seven digits in phone numbers are there because seven numbers is easy to remember, and the list goes on (*1). And, then there are seven figs!


Finally, when something like this happens I do not believe we should be surprised! I pray everyday for God to lead me to where He wants me to be. God created this "finely tuned universe", why should we be startled, surprised, or amazed that He does something in our life when we have talked to Him! Talk to Him, Believe Jesus to be our Salvation, Accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Seek Him in all your do, Listen at least twice as much that you talk, and most of all Expect Him to Respond to you. Allow the Faith He builds in you Lead you to See what He Will do for You.

Thanks be to God

(*1) - For more on the Holy Number Seven 

           click here:  "The Amazing First Verse of the Bible"

(*2)

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)   Saing Paul writing:

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and 

       this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--

9  not by works, so that no one can boast.

lonnie

Luke 13: 1-11

Repent or Perish

1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.2Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."6Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.7So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'8" 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it.9If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

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© Lonnie Coggins
ldcoggins@gmail.

If you desire to use any of these messages in a For-Profit manner you must contact me (email) for permission.  Typically, I will most likely give permission.

lonnie 

Do You Really Trust God?

                                                                         

Do You Really Trust God?

                                       

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Jesus Comforts His Disciples
John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. 

      Trust in God; 

        trust also in me."

We feel the Holy Spirit most when we are abundantly willing to accept the Spirit and we are most willing when submitting ourselves in obedience to God's will. There are many different circumstances we may abundantly feel the Holy Spirit in our lives.  This is but one.

Often this willingness to accept the Holy Spirit comes in a time of stress where we feel a failure and most dependent on God and His grace. Submission to God's will in tough and rough times is the greatest demonstration of us Trusting God. How wonderful it is to Trust God and see His glorious work in our lives.  We may even call it a miracle, but for God, it is just His everyday work.

In His love for us, God is most concerned about what is Good for us.  God certainly wants us to love Him, but in His desire for peace in our lives, maybe He desires more that we Trust Him, for in trusting Him we will truly come to love Him.  Trusting God is the great demonstration that we truly believe and the faith He has built in us has fully engulfed our lives.  In our worst times, we must Trust God.  We may hate our circumstances, we may abhor our choices, we may even hate God in a moment of stress.  But, here and now as you read this, regardless of circumstances, commit to and set your mind to Trust God.  I did, my first night in Vietnam, 1972.  I was and still filled in the Glory He showed me in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, the Great Example of living our lives Trusting God, showed this trait of submitting to God's will in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He could have perhaps run out the back gate as nobody wants to die at age 33.  But, in submission to God's will He gave us the framework in His final prayer.  Regardless of what we want in life, but more importantly regardless of our needs, we show submission to God's ways for us by starting our prayers on our knees and finishing our prayers with "... not my will but your will be done."

God Glorified Jesus raising Him from the dead.  Trust God, Trust Jesus and in your Trust you will receive your Salvation.  In your Salvation you come to understand and feel the Glory of Trusting God and the Inner Guidance of the Holy Spirit to build that Trust.

Thanks be to God.

© lonnie coggins

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© Lonnie Coggins        source- Facebook "A Daily Thought Group"

ldcoggins@gmail.com              www.adailythought.NET

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Please email me if you find any broken links in this message.

lonnie

Publication  0144


intro

EXCESSIVE WORRY IS THE QUICKEST PATH TO DEMONSTRATE MIS-TRUSTING GOD. Jesus said in Matthew 6, "Do not worry...".  Yet in our self-centerness we sin in not trusting God.  Click the link on a few thoughts on Trusting God.
Please share the message on your Fb page as you like, and if you like, click the FB 'Follow' button to have notifications of these publications.  For other messages like this, visit my FB page, or on FB visit-"A Daily Thought Group".

Publication 0144