Increasing Your Confidence In Christ

God seems to be sleeping and we are going through some of the worst storms of our lives.

How can we increase our confidence in Christ in these situations?

By refusing to believe the weather forecast of the flesh.

Storms will come to all of our lives. In our relationships, in our finances, in our jobs, in living for Christ...

Anxiety, nervousness, fear, and panic come from wrong thinking patterns. As humans, we mainly feel the way we think. We actually upset ourselves more than the storms of life upset us.

We must say to ourselves, "If Christ is asleep while there’s a storm, then everything must be going to turn out in a way pleasing to Him".

It is said that D. L. Moody once faced a storm on Lake Michigan while on his way to Chicago. While the crew members of the ship were scurrying about trying to keep the ship from capsizing, Moody was on the deck singing hymns.

A crewmember asked Moody why he was not more upset.

"I have a sister in Chicago and one in heaven, and I’m not concerned about which one I get to see next."

Even if the storms of life overwhelm us as children of God - we have an even better resurrection. (See Hebrews 11:35)

It was then on another ocassion on the sea that Jesus made another "O YOU OF LITTLE FAITH" statement. (Matthew 14:31)

Apparently one storm is not enough for faith construction.

The disciples saw Jesus walking on the water and impetuous Simon wanted to give it a try. Things were going fine until he began to pay more attention to the wind and waves than he did to Jesus.

There is a lot to learn from this classic event.

But for the sake of building our confidence in Christ let’s just consider this: SUCCESS CAN BE JUST AS RUINOUS AS FAILURE.

What do we do when we are "walking on water"?

All too often take our eyes off of the Lord.

Success can do that to people.

"O you of little faith, why did you doubt" is actually the entire rebuke of Jesus to Simon Peter.

We doubt when we begin to see ourselves as the total source of our success.

Some would argue, "it was the wind and waves that began to make Simon doubt". That’s true to a point. But the wind and waves were surely there when he first stepped out on to the water. When Jesus was his confidence he stayed on top. He began to sink when self-confidence replaced Christ-confidence.

There are a lot of people still enjoying success who have taken their eyes off Christ - but it is only a matter of time before they sink.

Then consider Matthew 16:8 - "O YOU OF LITTLE FAITH, why do you reason among yourselves because you have bought no bread?"

Jesus had just warned His disciples to "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Saducees."

Since leaven was used to make bread the disciples got confused. They thought Jesus was actually talking about literal bread.

As usual, they were thinking on a material plane while Jesus was trying to teach them on a spiritual plane.

Matthew 16 is a turning point in our Lord’s ministry. It includes His first mention of the church (v. 18) and of His death on the cross and resurrection (v. 21).