The Storm Of Self Confidence Series

"Confidence" are two words, "Con" meaning "With" and "Faido," which means "Faith," which is living by faith. That's what confidence is. The Bible says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God". Say that with me. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God". "Faith is the victory," the Bible says, "That overcomes the world". Put those two verses together and you are guaranteed to be victorious in every battle you find yourself in life. Faith starts out before you know how it's going to turn out. If you know the end from the beginning, that's not faith: that's just doing something. Faith does not demand miracles. Faith produces miracles. Great faith is the product of great fights that are won in the arena of life.

The Bible talks about little faith, and it talks about great faith. How do you get from little faith to great faith? You get from little faith to great faith by fighting this fight, and then another one that's greater, and then another one that's greater, and another one that's greater. And they continuously increase in size until you are fighting the giants. That's what it is. Great faith is born on the battlefield of life. Sometimes when you're very existence is being threatened, great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come from great trials. Every stumbling block can become a steppingstone. Every opposition can become an opportunity. Faith is not believing that God can do it. Faith is believing that God will do it, and He will do it for you, and will do it right. That's what faith is.

There are 1,000 ways to please the Lord, but none of them will work without faith. Faith helps you walk fearlessly, run confidently, and live victoriously. All of that is recorded in the Bible. God is not moved by your emotions. God is only moved by your faith. I have seen people pray emotionally, "Oh God, please, please". God has said here He will do it. All you have to do is get out of the emotional state and get in the faith dimension, and say, "God, I thank You, You are doing it. I may not see it with my natural eye, but I know it's going to happen. And I'm standing on the faith of the Word of God, it will happen"! Make that happen! Give the Lord praise for that today!

Confidence. Faith is not inherited, it's developed. The Bible says, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God". The word "Cometh" is a Greek continuance verb, meaning faith is continuing to grow in you, predicated on your obedience to the Word of God. When you hear the Word of God and you obey it, you go from glory to glory. You grow from first grade to second grade, to third grade faith, to middle school, to high school, to graduate school. And now you are really fighting big battles. And you're not concerned because you and God have a working relationship. You are bound by your own self-imposed limitations.

I read the story of a Georgia sharecropper, who presented himself to his denominational leaders to be ordained as a pastor. And the ordination committee asked him: said, "Do you know the Bible well enough to preach it"? He said, "Well, yes, sir". He said, "But well you're a sharecropper farmer. You have no training". He said, "Well I've read the Bible". So, the denominational leader said, "Well tell us what part of the Bible you know best". He said, "Well I know the book of the parables the best". "What"? "The book of the parables"? There's no such thing, of course, for those of you who are fanning your Bible right now.

So, he said, "Yes, the book of the parables". He said, "Yes, let's hear it". He said, "Well there was a good Samaritan going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And he fell among thorns. And the thorns sprang up and choked him almost half to death". And he said, "I will arise". And he arose and he came to a tree. He hung in the limbs of that tree for 40 days and 40 nights. And the ravens came and fed him. Delilah saw him and she came along with a pair of scissors and cut off his hair, and he fell on the ground. It was stony ground. And he said, "I will arise". And he arose and he came to a wall. And Jezebel was sitting on that wall, and she mocked him. And he said, "Throw her down". And they threw her down. He said, "Throw Jezebel down a second time". And they threw her down a second time. "Throw her down seventy times seven". "And great was the fall thereof". "And of the fragments that remained, they picked up 12 baskets full. And verily I say unto you, whose wife is she going to be in the Day of Judgment"?