Insecurity Confidence

 

Insecurity

Confidence

Many of us miss out by 18 inches

That is the distance between the head and the heart

If your security is in knowledge that has not made it to the heart, you missed it

You can tell your kind and others all day long

But until the knowledge of a loving God beats in the heart, you missed it

The only way knowledge can get to the heart is through love

The only way knowledge can truly give life

Is when it is communicated through love

Maybe that is why Proverbs is so powerful

Because it is the voice of a loving father to a son

You will always be insecure if your confidence is only in your head

Be sure your confidence comes from the heart

In order for that to happen, knowledge must become an experience

Spend time with God in prayer and meditation

And your experiences will increase

And your insecurity will decrease   

 

Confidence

 

Where do you find your confidence?

 

Finding confidence comes with knowledge.

 

Knowledge gives us power.

 

The unknown leaves us with insecurity.

 

Pursuing Knowledge is a great thing.

 

The Book of Proverbs is great

instruction from a father to a son.

 

The words of the father are…

 

Get wisdom, get understanding;

do not forget my words or swerve from them.

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;

love her, and she will watch over you.

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost all you have, get understanding.   

Proverbs 4:5-7

 

Teaching, Instruction, Knowledge, Understanding

are so valuable to living a confident life.

 

Proverbs also tells us…

 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 1:7

 

2 Corinthians 3, reveals a confidence

that gives life and one that brings death.

 

In verse 7 we are told of…

 

 A ministry that brought death

which was engraved on stone.

 

Knowledge is power…

 

 It can condemn or it can give life.

 

Jesus spent much of His ministry dealing

with those religious leaders who had

knowledge, but used it to condemn.

 

There is a lot wrong in the world

and in the people around us.

 

There is also a lot wrong in you and I.

 

When we take the knowledge we have

and condemn or criticize others…

 

 We can feel a confidence because

we elevate ourselves over others.

 

Paul says there is a better security

and confidence we can have…

  

Not that we are competent in ourselves

 to claim anything for ourselves,

but our competence comes from God.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant

 — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills,

but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:5,6

 

God gave the tablets of stone to Moses,

the commandments on those stones gave us

 knowledge of how to please God and others.

 

Laws were written, institutions

for knowledge were built.

 

People gained degrees and

the power of knowledge grew.

 

Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 3 is true…

 

Confidence is not what you know in

your head, but what gets in your heart.

 

Insecurity is a lack of power.

 

But that power can be destructive or it can give life.

 

You can use your knowledge to point

out wrong by condemning and belittling.

 

Or, you can use your knowledge to

strengthen the heart to help people

become all they were meant to be.

 

Paul measured his confidence by the results

he had with others, not his educational

degrees or his plaque outside his door.

  

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?

Or do we need, like some people,

letters of recommendation to you or from you?

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts,

 known and read by everybody.

You show that you are a letter from Christ,

 the result of our ministry,

written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,

 not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:1-3

 

When Moses brought the tablets of stone

down from the mountain…

 

God’s glory was beaming all over his face.

 

But that glory faded over time.

 

There is a glory that surpasses the glory of having

and bringing the knowledge of God to others.

 

It is not a knowledge to condemn, but to give life.

 

It is not that you or others can quote

the knowledge or Word of God.

 

The surpassing glory is when the

Spirit of God gets into the heart.

 

When action is not just based on knowledge,

 but on a love and appreciation for God.

 

This is why the fear of the Lord

is the beginning of knowledge.

 

Many of us miss out by 18 inches.

 

That is the distance between the head and the heart.

 

If your security is in knowledge that has

not made it to the heart - you missed it.

 

You can tell your kind and others all day long,

 but until the knowledge of a loving

God beats in the heart - you missed it.

 

The only way knowledge can

get to the heart is through love.

 

The only way knowledge can truly give life is

when it is communicated through love.

 

Maybe that is why Proverbs is so powerful…

 

 Because it is the voice of a loving father to a son.

 

You will always be insecure if your

confidence is only in your head.

 

Be sure your confidence comes from the heart.

 

In order for that to happen…

 

 Knowledge must become an experience.

 

Spend time with God in prayer and meditation

and your experiences will increase.

 

And your insecurity will decrease.   

   

 

Scripture Reading

 

2 Corinthians 3:1-11

 

3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

 

4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant- — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!