How confident are you? My guess is your answer would be, “It depends.”
A person’s level of confidence depends on what they are being asked to do. If it is something they are familiar with, chances are that they will be pretty confident. However, take a task that they have never done before, and the person’s confidence will likely go down.
Ask me to hop on a Harley Davidson motorcycle and cruise the Texas hill country, and I’ll be confident of a good time! Ask me to replace the brakes on my car, and I’m not confident at all.
Additionally, sometimes we may start out a new task, confident that it will be easy, only to quit in frustration. Ugh! How fickle our confidence is!
How confident are you in your prayers? Before you answer, “I’m pretty confident,” think about what confidence looks like.
A person who is confident in what they are doing often wants to do it more. An athlete who is supremely confident in their ability wants to play their sport as much as possible. Or if a person is confident that asking the right person a particular question will result in what they want, they are bold and confident in their asking. For example, a 13-year-old has learned that if they ask dad instead of mom for money, they’ll get it. So they ask dad confidently.
How confident are you in your prayers? There’s probably inconsistency in your prayer life, prayers that arise only when troubles do, and an occasional arrogance that foolishly thinks you can handle most things without going to God in prayer. Prayer becomes a last resort, something to do when all else fails.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Our confidence in approaching our God comes not from inside of us. Rather, it comes solely from the one who was tempted in every way, but was without sin. It comes from the one who secured an Easter victory for us as our substitute.
Because of our Savior, we approach the almighty God confidently, knowing what we will receive from him—mercy and grace. We know that in our time of need, God in his mercy will help. Sometimes it may be the strength to endure, or a way out of temptation. Other times it may be increased patience in hardship or a renewed trust in our Savior and his plan/work in our life. It may just be a simple reminder of his grace and forgiveness when we stumble.
When you pray, you are praying to a benevolent King. He loves you as his own child and rules the universe in ways that only help you and never hurt you. Pray more. Pray more confidently!
PRAYER: God, your mercy and grace are so true, so faithful that I can be more confident when I pray. Confident in you, in your answers and in your promises to help me and never hurt me. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Slow down, take 5 minutes, and work through the PRAY acronym.
- Praise (tell God what you appreciate about him)
- Repent (tell God about your sins, trust in his promises of forgiveness)
- Ask (go ahead, think big, or focus on a small detail, God wants to hear it all)
- Yield (talk to God about the next step after you say “Amen,” how you want faith to lead the way, how you are willing to be part of his answer and see it develop for your good)