Sharon Sharing God: "FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY

Friday, March 2, 2012

"FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY - Confident

Welcome to "Fan the Flame" Friday.

This is a weekly post that will be "short and sweet" (kinda like me...)

Just a word and a phrase, a sentence or a question...just a little something to "fan the flame" of your creativity!

Today's word: confident

What does it mean to be confident?

What is the difference between being confident and being haughty (prideful)?

What is one thing about God that Christians can be confident about?

Let me know what you think!!

"This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you…For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"

7 comments:

DebbieMarch 2, 2012 at 4:23 AM
OK, I love this one because of a word study that I did a year or so ago. I'll skip all the the gobbledy gook in the middle and cut to the chase.

I discovered that I had missed the whole point of confidence by neglecting the heart of the word: confide. We have confidence in God because we confide in him. It's really impossible to have "haughty confidence" in the truest form of the word(s) because the words are scriptural opposites. Both Hebrew and Greek words for confide are all wrapped up in trust. We would never confide in One we didn't trust completely. We tell God the deepest secret places of the heart, because He knows it anyway, and we know that not only will he cover them in silence, but that he is capable to more than we can even think or imagine with our confidence.

When I say that I have confidence in God, THAT's what I'm really saying.
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DeniseMarch 2, 2012 at 7:28 AM
I totally agree with Debbie, well said.
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WandaMarch 2, 2012 at 10:23 AM
My answer would be the confident means being sure of something but I love what Debbie has said. Trust comes as a part of relationship. We don't confide in any who we do not deem to be trustworthy.
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Chatty CroneMarch 2, 2012 at 5:52 PM
Confident - secure? It's like knowing He is there even when you can't see or feel Him. sandie
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Nikki (Sarah)March 3, 2012 at 2:57 PM
I love what Debbie said. it sounds right.
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CharlotteMarch 4, 2012 at 4:37 PM
Confidence is something we should definitely have. Not so much confidence in ourselves, but confidence in God. When we have confidence in God, I think it helps us have more self confidence as well. We know without Him we are nothing, and with Him all things are possible.
Blessings,
Charlotte
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Janis Van KeurenMarch 4, 2012 at 10:11 PM
Confident means to be absolutely sure of something. But I love Debbie's answer! I could meditate on that all day.
As for the other two questions you posed~pride carries an arrogance that is based on a false assumption that a person thinks he/she is better than someone else. Whereas, confident would mean that you know something is true and factual--you can count on it. Notice the difference between false and true. Hmmmm. My brain is working.
I can be confident that God loves me, that He is compassionate--has a conscious awareness of my distress with a desire to alleviate it. Praise Him.
Love you,
Janis
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"So [I] have been greatly encouraged in the midst of [my] troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives [me] new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. How [I] thank God for you!" (1 Thessalonians 3:7-9)

Thanks for your comments - it is such a joy to be sharing my journey with friends like YOU!

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MY WORD FOR 2016

GRATEFUL

Grateful: feeling or showing thanks to someone for some helpful act; appreciative of benefits received; warmly or deeply thankful; indebted; beholden.

Word origin: 1550's, "pleasing to the mind," also "full of gratitude," from obsolete adj. grate "agreeable, thankful," from Latin gratus "pleasing" – derived from the same word origin as the word "grace."

The trick to changing your behavior is to become more thankful.

The practice of gratitude involves a focus on the present moment, on appreciating your life as it is today and what has made it so.

Let us begin an eternal quest to express in new and creative ways our thanks to God.

So I'm breathing in Your grace,

And I'm breathing out Your praise.

Let our prayers be the overflow of a grateful heart to God.

Three steps in prayer:

PRAISE – praise, reverence, worship, adoration, and awe for who God is and what He does

ASK – honest, earnest, and intense requests

THANK YOU – always end with thanksgiving for everything

Pulpit commentary:

In everything give thanks.

In every circumstance – in joy and in sorrow; for everything – for prosperity and for adversity; in every place – in the house of God and on the bed of sickness.

Christians should not only be engaged in constant prayer, but in constant thanksgiving.

For this – this thankful spirit – is the will of God, His desire.

God by the gift of his Son has laid us under the obligation of perpetual thanksgiving. Our whole lives ought to be one continued thank-offering for all the blessings of redemption.

Gill's Exposition:

Thanks are to be given to him for all things…

For all temporal good things;

for our beings, the preservation of them;

for food and raiment, and all the mercies of life;

for the means of grace, the word and ordinances, and the ministers of the Gospel;

for spiritual blessings, for electing, redeeming, regenerating, adopting, pardoning, justifying, and persevering grace:

for a meetness for heaven, a right unto it, and a good hope of it;

and especially for Jesus Christ, for such a…Saviour, and advocate with the Father, as he is; and for life, peace, joy, comfort, righteousness, and salvation in him.

Thanks should be given to God in every circumstance of life; in adversity, as Job did; when not in so comfortable and agreeable a frame of soul as to be wished for…even under the temptations of Satan…since the grace of God is sufficient to bear up under them, and deliver out of them.

[Give thanks] in afflictions of every kind, since they are all for good – temporal, or spiritual, or eternal.

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is when you are missing some of your teeth but you're not afraid to smile because you know your friends will still love you even though some of you is missing.

By Emma K. - Age 6

"Out of the mouth of babes..."

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Anonymous

When you are uncertain, it helps to have someone remind you what is true – someone who knows you well, who sees you, and keeps track of you – not just your body but your soul.

Emily Freeman

Sharon Sharing God

Friday, March 2, 2012

"FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY - Confident

7 comments:

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HOW GREAT THOU ART

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

I'D RATHER HAVE JESUS

THE GLORIFIED ONE

SERVING THE MOST HIGH

HE IS ALWAYS THERE, AND EVER NEAR