“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
In Chapter 10 we’re learning a lot about grace. What has it meant to you to find out that following with God consistently isn’t about perfection? But it’s more about trusting Him and following Him fully in our thoughts and actions.
This is probably my favorite chapter in the book because I remember how I felt writing it and how God showed me big things I’d never seen before – about my heart and about His. I was overwhelmed for the first time when I read Gideon’s story, for the 100th time in Judges 6, but was struck that time with just how patient God was with Gideon’s lack of faith – again and again and again.
And I cried when I saw how tender and sweet God was with this man who truly acting a bit wimpy – yet God called him a warrior and helped Him become one!
“Although Gideon’s faith was inconsistent, God’s patience and love was absolutely constant. He knew Gideon needed to KNOW Him and experience God personally before He could trust God completely.”
I needed to see that. As I shared in Chapter 10, for years when I would go through periods of inconsistency in my time with Him, seasons of unbelief or self-sufficiency, or other sins, I I would feel so far from God, and like I had to work my way back to Him . And I was convinced God had lost His patience with me. So I’d try harder and eventually fail or fall short again.
“But now I know that it’s not about trying harder. It’s about turning sooner. It’s about turning back to God’s gift of grace and remembering He is there.” He is the God who sees us, our Provider, our Sufficiency and Peace. And so much more!
My hope and prayer is that we will remember – again and again – GRACE is God’s “undeserved favor” which means we don’t have to earn it, and we cannot lose it even when we act undeserving. “For it is by grace [we] have been saved, through faith—and this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8
Lord, thank you that we can approach Your throne of grace with confidence and receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Because of Your mercy and forgiveness, our guilt-induced doubt is replaced by grace-induced confidence. Help us trust You with all of our heart and not lean on our own understanding, acknowledging You in all our ways so You can make our paths straights. Those who know Your name trust You, Lord, because You have never deserted those who seek Your help. In Jesus’ name. Amen. (Hebrews 4:16; 1 John 1:9; Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 9:10) – From Chapter 10 of A Confident Heart
Let’s Connect:
I would love to hear your heart and maybe have us share some of our answers to the questions or what else we’re getting from this week’s reading or how we’re being challenged to apply it. Just click on “share your thoughts’ below this post and do just that. {If you are reading this via email, click here to go to my website to connect with us in our online community.
Be Sure Not to Miss It:
Be sure you don’t miss our final teaching video segment that goes with Chapter 10 and a great big giveaway on my Weds blog post!
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Thanks Renee! I have learned so much from your book and reading that we are all ‘not alone.’ I am truly applying God’s promises to my everyday thought life. After years, years of self doubt, hopelessness, negative thinking, I am putting God Confidence thoughts there. I am turning back sooner…before I allow a certain thought turn into disaster and wreck havoc on my whole day or week. It is NOT easy by no means, however, I know I have a Father who will Never Turn His Back on Me and that gives me Hope for the future.
I have no control over others or the future and have always had a fear of the unknown. I do enjoy life more now in knowing that no matter what life tosses my way, God can and will help me through it.
I too have so enjoyed this study. I now see myself as the daughter of the King and I am just fine just as I am. God is working in my life and I am growing! I have gone from asking God to fix it and then trying to fix it myself while I wait to completely trusting in Him. He is in control and knows all about it and I need to keep my focus on Him and He will direct my path. I too am so thankful for His patience. I have no doubt that I will still fall and falter along the path but He is right there with me holding my hand.
Wow, I can’t believe this study is almost done. It seems I just started with my counselor suggesting A Confident Heart in January, and me thinking, “another book?”, after reading several books when my husband and I separated in October. This book was a true gift from God, He knowing exactly what I needed to help me on my path to healing. It has tied in perfectly with God’s gently speaking to me He wanted me to be healed and whole from all my past. I still have a way to go, and I plan to go through the book again, work through the questions more and finish them. There are still things I have to face in upcoming months that I dread/fear, but I know God will give me that confidence to do what needs to be done.
From chapter 10 I related to “blowing it” and the guilt I would feel. I love how you say Renee, “It’s not about trying harder but about turning to God sooner.” It’s amazing how God used your need for the message to qualify you to teach it. I have experienced God’s grace and it is so awesome. It is especially touching for me these days after coming out of my difficult marriage where I was made to feel God didn’t have grace for me.
I also like hearing about Gideon and God’s love being patient.
I have wondered why life is so hard because mine certainly has been, but it is true that it makes me depend on Him. Thank you Renee and to all the ladies who have been a part. I have enjoyed feeling a part of this, even if it was just connecting through the web. It has blessed me.
This has been such good information….to have more confidence in how my failing to focus on God and not on how “I” am going to fix whatever I think needs fixing. Self-sufficiency is really tough for me to let go of, yet I feel like Gideon so much of the time….really You think I can do that? Such a contradiction so no wonder I have internal conflict frequently. @Kathy above, what I am practicing is to try to stay focused on God and Christ above which then really FREES me from the helplessness that I feel. At least for the few moments I can remember to do that. 🙂
It has been a pleasure to read others’ thoughts and connect through the comments during this online Bible study.
Thanks for a great study. This study has opened my eyes and my heart to how God can take all my fears, worries away. Prior to this study I was depressed, anxious about life in general. I trusted the Lord, but now I trust him completely. This study has showed me how the Lord will take control, if I let him. I now lay my worrys at this feet.
Thank You so much.
God Bess.
Debbie
Authorine says
Thanks to a awesome God for His grace and mercy,glory and honor to Him for all He has done and all that He is doing in my life.Chapter 10 touched my heart, I am struggling with weight and I need help bad, I have tried everything and now I am turning to my heavenly Father to help me, make me a warrior over this problem.I know that God is in control and work all things for good. I am precious in his eyes
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Blessing
Just saw this and am wondering how this fits in with all the helplessness I am feeling:
“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.” ~Corrie Ten Boom~
I have read this quote form Corrien Ten Boom recently and thought about our bible study here too. I remember trying to struggle through the passing of our oldest son And God in His infinite wisdom brought this realization to me about 2 years into my battle with overwhelming grief. Through this experience I have grown closer to God than I could ever imagine. I know He will never leave me nor forsake me…….the only way I have been able to come to grips with the loss was relying fully on Him. I learned to put Him first and remember to always go to Him when I feel like I am sinking into the pit of despair. With this study to God has shown me what He can and will do for me if I put Him first in my life. Blessing to all you sisters in Christ!!!
I have been doing well until we got here. I don’t know if it is just learning to fight or if I am discouraged by other women who are fighting the same battle and are thinking of giving up hope. Or if I am not hearing what God is telling me. I feel guilty for all the wrong things I have said in my marriage although I know God has forgiven me. I see lots changing in me but nothing changing as a couple and do not know how to live with the ache of wanting restoration and the thought that I am supposed to live in the pain and exist in the consequences. I don’t know what relieve I should even be asking for so I am hoping that the Holy Spirit is making a lot of the groans quite clear to God the Father. Praying for Grace but have no idea what it should look like in this situation.
Praying for you. God’s thoughts of us are as much as the grains of sand….not just what sand you can bring up in your two hands but all the sand all over the entire world. That’s a lot of sand! (Someone shared that with me last week and I think about it all the time now that God thinks about me that many times!)
Kathy, My heart is hurting along with yours for you. I understand just where you are at and so does God. He is with you and He will not leave you. He is holding your hand. He does not take you into a situation without taking you through the situation. Trust Him with all your heart and in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.
Thank you all for your prayers this week, as I ask for prayers for my tooth. So far the root canal seems to be working all the bad stuff taken out now just need to be filled with the Spirit, and God of healing that Renee described and in Exodus. Found myself in Psalm 51 when I was struggling with the pain and could not sleep. Which is asking God for mercy through his steadfast love and my favorite part of asking to create a new spirit within me now that I have been cleansed.
I ‘m pretty stuborn like Gideon, intellectual type as in :where’s the beef”, part of my hands on needs. But I have seen the works of our Lord through prayer and still get pulled in thinking well that was coincidence. “We think NOT!” needs to be my response more often. Grace and mercy are why I’m here now and acceptance of that it’s extended from God.(that’s not me!thank goodness!)
Reading this chapter, this whole book, has been such a good experience for me. I have been struggling with the guilt-induced doubt, the idea of trying harder,I need to do more. I found it very refreshing to be reminded of who I am in Christ, to develop the grace-induced confidence, turn to God sooner and to let God do what HE needs to do in my life. Also accepting that life is a process, God will bring it to completion, in HIS time.
I am so grateful God does not give up on me like even Christians give up on me. Even when I’m disobedient to Him, don’t understand that He is even trying to teach me something or whatever, He does not give up and He still loves me and He still wants me back. I am learning to feel so safe and so loved in Him like I never have before. (I just hope it sticks!) Other Christians turn their back on me even when I’ve done nothing wrong sometimes. They say they love me but they don’t..not like God does…or maybe not at all. They say I can trust them but I can’t trust them at all most of the time. Not like I can trust God anyway. Even ministers and Christian counselors, even those people you think would have it all together and be so obedient to God and all-following Him, they can’t be trusted or depended upon like God, sometimes not at all. (Guess it’s obvious what I’ve been going through the past month). I love that God always takes me back, always wants to teach me, always loves me, never misunderstands me or gets frustrated with me and never gives up on me, and never has one cruel thing to say to me. He is all I can depend on in this life.
I hope it’s okay to go through this study again. I just want to be able to get more out of it a 2nd time. I want to be able to keep up with it better a 2nd time, post more and share more what it’s teaching me. Hard for me to do several things at once..like reading the book, posting, sharing, meditating on the handouts, prayers and verses all week. Guess I have always had ADD or something.
Not far behind you Sherree! I managed the reading and highlighting, and put the word and verse on the inside covers of my notebook. Did some writing of the promises at the end of the chapters in the notebook, and left plenty of blank pages for when I go through this again. I also waas fairly successful in posting every week. So I may attempt the study again with more writing/filling in the blanks, but feel a need to have the human touch of my sisters yet too. Best to you and thank you all!
Thank you so much, both of you, Sherree and Lou O for sharing. I am in a similar place. This study has helped me so much but I did not get to fully do it the way I know I need to. Looking forward to doing it a 2nd time also and wanting to be more brave and share more with people. I too have been going through similar situations with trusting people.
Renee if you read this I hope you are abundantly blessed of the Lord for giving of yourself to all of us. I really appreciate you and thank you very much.
Sherree, I hear you about the trust issues. Back in Aug. my closest Christian friend terminated our friendship. Refused to talk to me about the situation or even redefine our friendship so that we could at least keep it. I ended up learning things about myself, life changing things, through this terribly hurtful time. God showed me another path, one of true growth and revelation. I learned that when betrayals and other sad, hurtful things happen in my life, that if I am open to it, there is a lesson from God to me. And when I ask Him, He clearly shows me what is the lesson. When I act on it (what He wants to show or teach me), I GROW. I realize I do not have to understand the WHYS of everything, that I can trust that He is leading me on a path of righteousness, and I need not lean on my own understanding, that in all my ways acknowledge Him and He will make my path straight. I still do not understand what happened with the close friend who completely dropped me. I learned to trust God that He knows what’s best for me. I am also trusting Him to help me to trust others again. That is not easy after betrayals from ex and now my friend–other kinds of betrayals, yet so very hurtful. I love that I am learning how to look at things differently, like what the enemy had in mind was to bring me down in so many ways, now I can praise God for causing me to GROW through a painful experience and to learn so much spiritually. GOD WINS! And I am blessed! I love Him with every single cell in my body, and my spirit is always united to His. He will never drop me, abandon me, betray me. He will teach me to trust and be open again, because He is all about relationship. I just have to be open to Him and His leading. How I love this study!! I have gotten something special from each chapter. And I LOVE the prayers at the end of each!
I have been so blessed through this online Bible study. A new perspective to see myself…how God sees me!! The peace and joy to meditate on those precious promises God gave us long before we were born. It is so encouraging to pray these promises not only for myself but for others also. I have lived for so long placing too much expectations on myself (and others..it is much harder to admit this one) so I have seen myself as one who will never match up, God gave me less. No He did not! He created me just the way He wants me and is using me in all my weaknesses and ongoing short comings. I know this is a life time journey and a day by day, minute by minute process but I am not who I was when I began this study!
It is so encouraging to read the ladies posts. Thank you, Renee for allowing God to use you. What an inspiration you are!
I am just now getting caught up on this weeks reading as I have had just the most wonderful week. As a Florida snowbird, I have a lot of company but the company I cherish the most is the 3 friends of 40 years who were just here. They first began coming to visit after my husband died 4 years ago. We laugh and cry a lot and every morning we have devotions together. I told them about A Confident Heart and what a difference it has made in my life. When I return up North this summer we talked about having a bible study using this book. This book has hit home so much and shown me that faith and trust is really all the God requires of me. Thank you Renee.
I cried when I started to read the first couple of pages of this chapter. It was so personal to my life. I have struggled with weight issues and self image and fear and want desperately to find the right balance of grace and of self control. And when I feel so unlovely physically as I do right now to walk in the truth of God, not to bury my feelings but to let God in and heal them and for me to pursue a healthy eating plan and not be afraid!
I am sorry, Christina, that it is so hard! I am praying right now for God’s grace and your self control as you experience God healing your pain. May He help you replace your fear with His peace. May you know Him by those names of peace, banner, provider, and healer!
Christina your story is so familiar. I too struggle with weight issues and have spent money and done things that I though would help. I know that only God can give me the willpower I need to start making little steps in the right direction. I have had cravings and been told its because of my medication. I believe God is in control and that He will help if I just let go and let Him show me. There have been nice people encourage and suggest things but in the end it’s ” How much do you trust God and His ways?” One day you will just start to make the changes. Hang on. We can’t change our circumstance but we can change how we feel about them and our attitude. Even though I don’t know you sister we are together in this. Luv ya!!
I love the thought that God called Gideon a warrior and then he became one. Makes me think of what God will help me become and how I should speak into the lives of my loved ones what God has spoken about them and thank God for the transformation before it is evident.
I thank you Renee for putting this study on the internet. It was more convenient and I have been blessed and encouraged by submitting my thoughts as well as reading other women’s journeys into becoming confident women. Thank you for sharing videos and Christian Music to enchance your studiies each week. It help me to bring into the presence of God after a hectic week
God bless,
Renee Brinkmeyer
I have asked God whywhy certain events have to happen in my life but as I look back on those times, i realize that God was right there with me. He was teaching, and moding me into the person He has always meant for me to be. Life Gideon, learning to trust God a little more each time thru each circumstance in my life, until I caome to the place where I didn’t question Him anymore……Not my will, but your will Lord.
Sherri B I can relate to what your saying . I asked the same question and got the same answer not to question but to belive in HIM .
I finished some reading last night. Yeah!!! I have a question though – how do you turn your brain off? I sit and begin to pray and tell God that I want to listen for Him and just be still…..be still….. no really stop thinking…concentrate on God…..God…… Jesus….stop thinking….stop stop stop. Literally I do not know how to stop my brain. What do you do?
Dawn, I have found that when my brain keeps going, God says to Be Still! Find a way to get out of the situation and get your thoughts out of your head. Write them down and file them away. Walk around the block until you have put all that is in your head into God’s hands. It is not easy, but necessary sometimes. Pray you can work it out!!
I agree with Heather, just a simple act of service, even for yourself like a walk, a bath a cup of tea/coffee and writing which is probably the most helpful but the one I am most resistant to. That what this on line study has help me do is to start writing /typing again It feels a little safer I guess being sumwhat anonamous.
Dawn, it might help to let the word of truth come out of your mouth. Start reading His Word out loud (Psalms) , or put on a worship cd & sing. We enter His presence through worship & praise, and when His presence comes, there is a still & calm that comes upon our soul (mind, will & emotions). I’m sure that’s why the Psalms are included in the Bible, to help us “focus”…and enter into worship. The same goes for praying out loud. Press thru. The Bible says the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Cannot believe we are almost finished with the book. I have learned so much and have so much more confidence. Thanks, Renee. I want to thank God for his grace and mercy. I want to praise him for always being there for me. Help me Lord to always lean on you and trust you with everything in my life. Thank you for showing me that I am a woman of confidence and I am cherished and precious in your eyes. Help me to give you all of my worries and fears and know that you are in control with every aspect of my life. I praise your name. You are my Abba, Father, that is always there for me. I know that I am loved and I do not deserve this, Thank you, Father.
Renee – I will be at the conference tomorrow- hopefully we can connect. Blessings, Elaine
I cannot believe we are almost done with this book either. It has made such a difference in my life. I tend more to see myself as God sees me, and that gives me confidence to be more of the person He has always desired me to be. I am beautiful in His eyes, and that is really is the one who matters. I was bullied as a child and always felt so insecure around other women, but now…..it finally has stuck with me, He will always love me thru the good, the bad, and everything else…..Thank you Renee for your book and your ministry for women. You are a blessing and an inspiration.
Ephesians 2:8 speaks deeply to my heart…realizing how amazing Gods gift of grace truly is.. and then the story of Gideon.. I love the fact that God didn’t get “fed up” with Gideon. He was so patient, GOD understood what Gideon needed and He didn’t turn away when Gideon asked for “proof”. How awesome is our God… The God that called Gideon a mighty warrior is the same God that walks with me…and with you.. So through heart aches, sickness the many trials of life… One thing remains ever constant..and that would be God, my savior, my friend. I too am a mighty warrior..I too can fall or fail towards Gods grace, turning toward Him.. Thanks Renee for pressing on..your book is truly amazing..it has been life changing! God Bless you, your family & your ministry! Hugs and Prayers!