Heart Tracks - Three Confessions

"That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." 2 Timothy 1:12

This morning I gathered with some other brothers in our fellowship for what would be our last prayer gathering of this year. As we prayed, I was impressed that we need to live upon the truth of three confessions as we enter into the unknown of this coming year. These confessions would be first, the powerful truth that in all things, our God reigns! Second, that we would live in the reality and assurance of 2 Timothy 1:12, that we know beyond doubt the One in Whom we believe....and that we trust Him. Last, that we would confess that our God is good, even when life is not. I believe that against such confessions of faith, all the power of hell and darkness cannot and will not prevail.

Our God reigns! We must know this in our hearts as well as our minds. Against all that might, could, and will come against us, He reigns over it. All things are under His Lordship. Though we may let circumstances, emotions, unbelief, and a myriad of other things have reign over us, none of them reign over Him. If we can trust that no matter what lies ahead, He has already made provision for it, a way through it, and that He reigns over all of it, then in the face of anything, we can say, with confidence, "Our God reigns."

We must know who it is that we believe in. Not know about Him, but know Him. Intimately, deeply, fully. In the unknown and there will be so much of that, we must know Him. We must know that He is faithful, trustworthy, almighty, true. We must know that we can place anything and all things into His hands and care, and they will be kept by Him. We must know that because we have been persuaded, fully, that He is who He says He is, and does all that He says He will do. That must be our confession.

We must know that He is good even when our lives are not. We must know that He is good when everything in our lives screams that He is not good at all. We must confess that, believe it, live it, and know that what we see, what we feel, even what we think is not our reality. His goodness is our reality. In the midst of the deepest darkness, the most searing pain, He is good. Against all the devil's lies that He is not good, we know and believe that He is. And in that confession, He will reveal Himself to be so....every time.

We must believe, when in the middle of our journey, with waves threatening to drown us, that He will indeed get us to shore...no matter how far off that shore may seem to be. When we live "in the hallway," waiting for a door to open, and someone said that it can be "hell in the hallway," we must believe that He will open the right and best door for us. We can, if we will proclaim, confess, and believe these three truths. We will each be "confessing" something this coming year, either in belief or unbelief. Will these three have any part in ours?

Blessings,
Pastor O