Standing Confident In Christ

In a recent article in, Market Watch by Ruth Mantell, the headline read, “U.S. consumer confidence plummets on job worries.” The article states that “U.S. consumers are increasingly worried about jobs and the economy.” 

As we ponder the world situation with Iran on its way to becoming a nuclear threat, the U.S. national debt that is unsustainable, unemployment near double digits, a cultural trend toward moral relativism that is leading to the undermining of our religious underpinnings, things look bleak and may even shake our confidence that our present situation can be turned around.

The Apostle Paul found himself in a Roman prison where his situation was bleak and perhaps seemed to be irreversible. Paul writes these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

When Paul says, “being confident”, Paul knew where the source of his confidence rested. It was totally in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knew what Christ had begun in his life Christ would finish. The work that Paul speaks of began with regeneration (salvation), continues with sanctification (separated unto God), and will one day be consummated and completed through glorification when we receive our glorified, sinless body. Paul wrote of this in Romans 8:18, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in us.”

Paul was confident irrespective of his circumstances. Paul is instructing us to be confident even though there are trials, difficulties and tragedies. Jesus Christ will complete what He has begun. Anchor your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says, “that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” (Phil. 1:12) Paul wants every believer in Christ to understand that a commitment to Christ dos not mean that it will be easy sailing. When we approach a crisis in our life 90 percent of the battle is our attitude toward the crisis. If we will look at it as an opportunity to grow in grace and as an opportunity to give God honor and understand that Romans 8:28 is still true, “and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”, then we can have every confidence that God will work through the challenging times and turn it for our good and His glory. Paul had turned his prison cell into a chapel because his confidence was in Jesus Christ, not in his own ability to solve his own problems. The Apostle Paul had been mobbed, bound, beaten, shipwrecked, snake bitten and brought to Rome and imprisoned, yet Paul sees his problems as opportunities for God to reveal his glory and grace through him, “The things that have happened to me are for the furtherance of the gospel.” Paul’s confidence was in His Savior,  “Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Despite the fact that the world is moving toward the brink of chaos and calamity, despite the fact that drug abuse, immorality and promiscuity is rampant, God’s power has no boundaries and no encumbrance can stop the work of God. Paul was not hindered from prayer, the most powerful tool you and I have in our arsenal of spiritual weaponry. The bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” (I Thes. 5:17) It is through prayer that Paul was able to pull down the strong holds of spiritual bondage and reach the known world of his day with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God can still bring a spiritual awakening to our community and our nation if we will “pray without ceasing.”  

Yes, these are difficult days, but there have always been difficult days throughout human history because we are profoundly fallen humans living in a profoundly fallen society, but God is able to tear down the strong holds through prayer and bring the victory.

Just as Paul remained faithful and confident during the challenging times we too must remain confident in God’s ability to turn back the tide of spiritual apathy and moral decay and bring our community and nation back to a place where Christ is at the pinnacle of our lives. We must remain confident that what Christ has begun in our lives at salvation He will see to fruition when our faith becomes sight.