faith: our confidence in the Lord

con·fi·dence

   [kon-fi-duhns] 

–noun

1.

full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliabilityof a person or thing.

Faith provides confidence.  Actually the word "confidence" contains the latin root for faith: fidere (like the Marine motto: Semper Fidelis or "always faithful").  The "Con" prefix means "with, or together with".  So to be confident is to "have faith in something or someone".  We need to be confident in God because our confidence in everything else has a short life or a tendency to disappoint.   The confidence we have in God is absolute, once we have met Him on life's path and our eyes have been opened and the gate of our heart swung free to receive His forgiveness and His residence within.  Once we have come to meet Him personally, and we realize He loves us unconditionally, we are confident in Him and willing to trust Him wholeheartedly.  I really like the online definition (above) because we do have full trust in the "powers, trustworthiness, and reliability" of God.  Faith has been established in our hearts very much like the marines established a beachhead in the Pacific island campaigns of World War II.  Their presence on that foreign sand was achieved at great cost, but...once gained...was held and the position advanced until the entire island was won.  We were confident that the marines would secure the position that would lead to victory.  Faith is that beachhead in our lives and, because the Lord has landed, we are confident that He will win the entire island.

Ephesians 3: ¹¹ according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

blessings,

Rob Smith