One morning about a year ago, I awoke hearing a Scripture verse in my spirit: “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” (Heb 10:35)
Then, I was reading in George W. Bush’s autobiography, the chapter on Afghanistan, less than a month after the conflagrations the President ordered began there, the media and some pacifist politicians were unjustly and unwisely already beginning to cast doubt and aspersions regarding the mission, evoking the “Q-word” — likening the scenario to a Vietnam-like “quagmire.” The President went around the room at the next NSC meeting and asked every member, who were a mix of advisers, cabinet officials, and top military commanders:
‘I just want to make sure that all of us DID agree on this plan, right?’ They all agreed.
I assured the team that we had the right strategy. Our plan was well conceived. Our military was capable. Our cause was just. We shouldn’t give in to second-guessing or let the press panic us. ‘We’re going to stay confident and patient, cool and steady,’ I said.
I could sense the relief in the room. The experience reminded me that even the most accomplished and powerful people sometimes need to be reassured.
The truth of that last sentence seized my attention, and made me think of the application of that statement to commanders in God’s Army—ministers commissioned as field commanders in the war of the ages against “the prince of the power of the air.” Even the most accomplished and powerful people sometimes need to be reassured. In the “City of the living God,” “The Heavenly Jerusalem,” i.e., the Church, Mount Zion from above (cf., Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:21), God speaks to His people not through presidents, but prophets, and above all else, including when on first hearing or on the surface it does not sound or seem to be so, the message of the prophet is one of edification, exhortation, and encouragement “to men,” in particular (1 Cor. 14:3).
Today, I hear the Lord saying, a, or maybe multiple, commander(s) in God’s Army (and many soldiers, as well) needs to hear the edification, exhortation, and encouragement of God’s Word: “Therefore, do not throw away your CONFIDENCE, which has a GREAT REWARD.” Don’t allow doubt, fear, worry, and unbelief trap or incarcerate you in the valley of indecision. All of that will totally dissipate once you MAKE A DECISION! And, once you’ve made the decision, don’t rethink it, revisit it, or retreat upon it. GO FORTH AND FORWARD! SET YOUR COURSE AND EMBARK! PUSH OFF! God is well-able to direct your paths, guide you in making course adjustments along the way on your voyage, for the Lord orders, ordains, directs, numbers, stabilizes, and even enlarges the STEPS of the righteous (2 Sam. 22:37; Job 14:16; 31:4; Psa. 18:36; 37:31; 85:13; 119:133; Pro. 4:12; 16:9), but you must be walking and taking steps, or moving forward for Him to direct, order, ordain, number, stabilize, and enlarge them.
As someone has so aptly said, “The proof of genuine desire is pursuit!” The best built ship on the planet is thoroughly incapable of reaching its destination while sitting in port. You cannot accomplish your dreams and destiny until you are moving in the direction of them. So, you must PUSH OFF—PUSH AWAY from all the enemies of destiny that come to keep you tied up in port!
Sometimes, during the most intense times of ferociousness in the midst of the battle, even the strongest, most confident, and usually boldest leaders experience fleeting moments of fierce assault on their resolve and confidence in the rightness of and reasoning behind the decisions they have made—usually almost immediately after they’ve made them (cf., Mark 4:15). But, when those moments of severe testing come, the best of the best of leaders, vehemently resist the temptation to become the victim of the “paralysis of analysis” by inwardly doubling down on their resolve and exterminating the “little foxes” of fear, worry, doubt, and unbelief by trusting their gut-instincts and the knowledge, understanding, convictions that are all part of the rue that has made them a leader or leader of leaders.
As the above-cited scripture indicates, every believer must stand his ground and refuse to retreat when the enemy comes to test our resolve and assail our CONFIDENCE. The word literally means, “WITH FAITH,” or “CHARGED WITH FAITH,” and speaks to our inner faith, trust, and reliance, which, for the believer, is never in OURSELVES, per se, as all the modern motivation mantras claim, but rather, that inner faith is predicated on the ROCK OF REVELATION (Mat. 16:13-19) that God—Father, exalted Son, and indwelling Holy Spirit—is the ROCK (“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God!) upon which we make our resolute and unshakable stand! It is “not by (human) might, not by (psychologically-based and emotionally whipped up) power, but by MY (indwelling) SPIRIT, sayeth the Lord!” Flesh and blood cannot reveal this to any believer, but only the Father who is in heaven (v. 17).
The enemy has no new tricks; rather they’re just same old ones, such as the one he used on Eve in the Garden: “Hath God said?” This is the one he still comes with to assail our confidence in God and His Word. But, of course, our greatest weapon in the day of battle is a resounding, confident, and BOLD, “YES, GOD HATH SAID!”
In Scripture, confidence is almost always associated with BOLDNESS! Remember the refrain of the popular praise chorus we Charismatics/Pentecostals sang some years ago now—”Be BOLD, be STRONG, for the Lord thy God is with thee!” In my own life, whenever ferocious satanic attacks on my confidence have come, the Spirit of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah arises within my human spirit with an even more ferocious “BOLDNESS of a Lion,” accompanied by a ROAR of the Spirit, that I know without a doubt is not ME! Rather, it’s the LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH within rising up with a ROAR that immediately SHUTS THE MOUTHS of the devil’s impostor lions: “who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, SHUT THE MOUTHS OF LIONS” (Heb. 11:33)! It may not be pretty; it may not be socially acceptable and politically correct; it may be shocking and offensive to the humanistic and pacifistic peace-and-quiet status quo and never-show-anger mantra today, but IT WORKS!
Don’t allow the double-mindedness, indecision, and the pitiful meows of the paper lions of doubt, unbelief, fear of man, double-mindedness, and indecision that inevitably come to attack your confidence in Christ in you win in your life! LET OUT THE ROAR of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah from within your spirit! HIS ROAR will SHUT THE MOUTHS of all the lying pretenders, for HE IS THE KING of the jungle of the Spirit Realm!
REMIND the devil of who Christ is, who Christ is IN YOU, and who YOU ARE in Christ!
“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will REIGN IN LIFE through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:17)
I close this exhortation with the question “W” posed to his team of NSC leaders, which I feel the Lord is asking God’s leaders, especially, in this hour of great and perilous conflagration:
“I just want to make sure that all of us DID agree on this plan, right?”
The plan essentially is JESUS IS LORD, has conquered all, been given a name which is above every other name, and has been exalted to the right hand of God, and you have accepted a commission as a field commander in God’s Army, and the motto of this victorious army is: “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR!”
Our confidence and adequacy (2 Cor. 3:4) is in and of Christ, our Commander-In-Chief, so DO NOT THROW IT AWAY!
The following are the New Testament verses I found on the critical issue of our CONFIDENCE. I urge you to read and meditate upon them, assimilate them in your heart (spirit), confess them out loud over your life, and resolve to apply and walk them out in every aspect of your own life, “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation (Rom 10:10).
(Acts 4:13,14) Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.
(Acts 4:29) “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence,
(Acts 26:26) “For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner.
(2 Corinthians 1:12) For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.
(2 Corinthians 1:15) In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing;
(2 Corinthians 2:3) This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all.
(2 Corinthians 3:4) Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
(2 Corinthians 7:4) Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.
(2 Corinthians 7:16) I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.
(2 Corinthians 8:22) We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.
(2 Corinthians 9:4) otherwise if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we–not to speak of you–will be put to shame by this confidence.
(2 Corinthians 10:2) I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.
(2 Corinthians 11:17) What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.
(Galatians 5:10) I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.
(Philippians 1:26) so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.
(Philippians 3:3) for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,
(Philippians 3:4) although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:
(2 Thessalonians 3:4) We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command.
(1 Timothy 3:13) For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
(Philemon 1:8) Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper,
(Philemon 1:21) Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say.
(Hebrews 3:6) but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house–whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
(Hebrews 4:16) Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Hebrews 10:19) Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
(Hebrews 10:35) Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
(1 John 2:28) Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
(1 John 3:21) Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
(1 John 4:17) By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
(1 John 5:14) This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
