I have a video message today based on Chapter 10 of my book, A Confident Heart. Praying it encourages your heart and leads you closer to HIS today!
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Message Notes
Download video “Message Notes” in a notes in a PDF or in a Word doc here.
Side note: If you noticed something different about me in this video, it’s because I had a migraine the day we filmed it. Or maybe you didn’t even notice and I just to give myself grace, huh? 🙂
Knowing God By Name – Printable DOWNLOAD
Download and print a list of the Names of God I shared in the video and a few more from Chapter 10.
Let’s Connect: What do you want to apply from in today’s video message? And let’s share areone or two answers to our Chapter 10 Chapter questions?
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I have always wanted to know God and to have him in my life. He has become the center of my being and has helped me very much when I am down and troubled. I am not afraid when I fall and I am always able to get up with his help. He has blessed me with the power to heal and help others and he has given me the strength to go forward when I need to rise above. I love the names of God and I have printed them out to have as a list to look at — We are not perfect and we have a tendency to blow things but the Lord forgives us. I have felt closer to the Lord than ever before and have faith that he will continue to guide me and protect me as I go along on my journey. Thanks for the names of God and thanks for a wonderful video.
I am really wanting to KNOW God. Some scripture that I am reading say to fear the Lord. Does anyone have some verses they can share to help me know how to fear the Lord. I am also praying about this, but I want to understand what this means.
Forgot to answer a question from the book:
#7 . There are so many areas of my life where I have either felt like a wimp or a failure that I can’t count them. I still feel that way in some areas. The latest area I’m struggling with is leadership. I have never wanted to be in a leadership role, but people keep putting me there! For example, I agreed to co-lead a Bible study because the leader did everything. She would organize the entire study, write out the questions or discussion topics, etc. It was easy to assist her and she was seldom gone, so basically, all I had to do was make comments here and there, or do some reading. Then SHE MOVED AWAY!!!!! So guess who was left as the leader of the group with no one else to step in? I don’t even have a co-leader to help me–it’s just me! I panicked at first, as I often do. I’m also very emotional so I cried. God has been so faithful to help me! I think I look like a warrior to everyone else, but inside I know I’m a wimp. What would it look like to be the warrior instead of the wimp? I guess I would have a peace about leading, knowing that God is there beside me–Emmanuel, and He is my strength– El Sali. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! So I intend to take one step at a time and trust Him to help me be the leader He wants me to be. Since He put me there, He will see me through!
Gloria,
So proud of you for hanging in there and choosing to continue to lead your Bible study group. If you would like to read and study more about leadership, John C. Maxwell writes fantastic books on the subject. He is a former minister and inspirational speaker.
Blessings In Christ,
Sheila
Gloria, I think it’s awesome that you accepted the role, and challenge of leading your Bible study group. That act alone please God and shows him that you yearn for Him, and excited about teaching His word. My grandmother always told me God gives his greatest task to His greatest warriors. And my OBS sister, this is your task! As you stated, take it day by day. He knows your strengths and limitations. Do the part you can and do it well. I promise you, sweet Gloria, if you do your part, HE WILL do the rest! 🙂
Yes He will, so keep praying, dear sister!
This chapter really spoke to me. I want to be like Gideon and go from” wimp to warrior” as Donna B put it! I want to know God more and learn to be more like Him! I love the names of God and printed out a copy to keep with me and one to keep in my journal. What a great idea! It’s so hard for me to fall and fail. I can really get down on myself when I fall short. Thankfully, God doesn’t see my falls as failures. He sees them as teaching opportunities. May I also learn to look at them that way and view them as learning opportunities instead of failures. Thank you so much for this chapter! I learned a lot!
The video was amazing, no hint of a migraine, done very gracefully… thank you. I’ve printed out all the messages notes from this study, I go over them often, and love the scriptures and know that I can go back over them when ever I want. Thank you for providing those for us. Also thank you for the list of the Names of God. I’m keeping that in my purse. I really love all of them, the one that jumped out at me right away was El Sali: God of My strength.
I love it that I can depend on God and know Him in such a personal way, that He will “hold my hand when I fall” beautiful…I have found myself praying more, talking to Him more….I want to be transformed like Gideon “from wimp to warrior” to have confidence, to lose the doubt, the fear and the worry. Although I know all that will never go away, I want to become a stronger woman and much more dependent on God. I love your prayer on the study notes..”Lord, I want to know You for who You really are so that I learn to trust You and follow You more and more each day!!!!
I want to share my answers to question 4. When I sustained the injury to my back, and I became unable to continue working, I had several surgeries, and my whole life changed. I lost my income and 4 months later, my husband lost his job because the company went under. I totally wanted to know “Why God”, and I prayed for God to change our circumstances. We were lost at first, asking ourselves, why, what are we going to do?. Well, we held on to God’s promise that He would never leave us or forsake us. Although my husband was unemployed for three years, he found work here and there, we had neighbors who helped us, our older children helped us. We had yard sales and sold whatever we didnt need, or use. We came close to losing our home twice..but in all of that we saw God’s hand in so much.. Blessed we never went without food, and we still had our home…. then things started to change.. I was granted disability and slowly we started to recover, after the three years my husband got a full-time job.
This experience helped us grow closer to God, He changed us both, our marriage became stronger and we learned that we had to be frugal, live a more simple life, not take things for granted. God opened doors for us in amazing ways and always provided, and to this day He keeps providing and blessing us.
I want to grow more and more confident and continue to grow more and more dependent on God.
I love what you said Renee: ” Instead of giving up, Jesus empowers us to get up again”…AMEN
Thank You El Sali: God of my Strength
I am being blessed and strengthen by your book and your testimonies-I have had some struggles that was trying to make me lose my confidence. I am trusting God for my strength and to continue on the successful journey he has planned for me. Thank you!!
That was beautiful, and I listened to it while my daughter was getting dressed, so hopefully the word is seed sown in her too. I like the list of God’s names that I also printed out, thank you! Posting it on the wall soon. Can I ask, are there other videos that you made, with notes to fill in? I only caught one for chapter 4 and now this one at chapter 10. I have really been enjoying the pace of reading this together. It is just right for me, and this is just the right time. So I thank you and praise God.
It’s all about depending on God, getting to know his character and trusting in Him. His grace is such a wonderful gift…..
We need to stay close to God and keep asking Him to show us Himself; we can turn away from the shadow of doubt and stand in the light of God’s truth!!!
Renee –
thank you for this post –
so many times, i have a hard time of not knowing how much is my burden of responsibility of doing things, but this gave me perspective in how to leave all of my worries/doubt at the foot of the cross, trust God will give me the strength to carry on, trust God that he will provide the ways, trust God to give me the eyes of discernment, and carry through… Although there are certain burdens I have to bear, I can trust God that he is there with me always.
Greetings! I really appreciate the list of the Names of God. I am familiar with many, but there are few that are new to me: El Channum – the Gracious God; El ha-Gibbor – the Mighty God, God the Hero; El Sali – God of My Strength; Yahweh Tsuri – The Lord My Rock. The scripture that goes with The Lord My rock is Psalm 144:1. I just have to put verse 2 with it: “Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle– 2 My loving-kindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. ” Such affirmation! Praise our Living, Loving God!!
Renee, thank you for a lovely message! I needed that reminder that we can use our failures to draw us closer to God and rely fully on him. I like to say we can use our set backs for our set ups! As you mentioned Proverbs 14:16 states that we will all fall, BUT we will rise!
The two questions I would like to share are 6 and 7.
6. Jehovah Jireh: The Lord Who Will Provide for Me; Jehovah Rapha: The God Who Heals Me; Jehovah Shalom: The Lord My Peace; and Jehovah Rohi: The Lord My Shepard are the names and characteristics of God I need to live “in dependence”. When I start to worry about money, or how the bills will get paid; I must the Lord will provide and he is my Sheppard; I shall not want. I have never been without any necessity and he has always made a way. I may not get everything I want, but He makes sure I have everything I need. I am also experiencing some health issues. Instead of fretting and self diagnosing, I need to remember God will heal me! When my world feels upside down and unrest, I must remember the Lord will provide peace.
7. And I am praying the Lord will make me a fearless warrior! I want to try new things and sometimes I wont because I’m afraid of fear. I am asking the God will take the spirit of fear from me.
Loved your entry, Courtney! May God grant you your requests as you trust in Him!
Thank you, Gloria! I just need to fully trust and don’t question! I also need to remember that delayed does not mean denied! God’s timing almost never matches ours. I need to calm my spoiled 2 year old inner girl with all the whining and pouting when things do not happen when I think it should; and trust whatever I’m asking for will be given to me when He knows the best timing.
Thank you Renee. I love your book and this Bible study. I listen to your videos repeatedly.
I soak in every word and I go back and read what I have noted and highlighted.
This morning, I was reading over underlined portions of this chapter. What spoke to me was on pg 197.
“If we want to be free from fear so that we can walk in faith, we have to hold on to what God is teaching us, replacing our ways with His. We will only overcome our fears by walking through them, holding God’s hand and trusting His heart to lead, protect, and preserve us.” I seem to have many fears and worries. I pray that I will overcome them, by walking through them, holding God’s hand and trusting Him to ear me.
Renee, I laughed out loud, when I read the part that when your husband was on travel, you slept with your phone, address book, etc. I too, sleep with my phone, my flashlight and I lock my door. I also have scripture taped on my lamp although, when I read it, it helps me to lie down and sleep in peace.
I have enjoyed and received so much from this bible study. You have done such a good job of sharing with us it makes you seem as real as we are. I know God led me to this study at this time. Thank you so much for being so open with your life. It always helps to know others share some of the same problems, heartaches and issues in life. I want to use what I have learned from this study to help other women. God Bless You!
The part of the video I’d like to apply to my life is remembering that “it is not about being perfect, it is about accepting my weaknesses and letting them make me more dependent on God’s perfect love and power.” I want to deny my weaknesses, or if I see them pray them away or fix the mistakes I’ve made. I want to do everything right! It is exhausting, and impossible. What makes it harder is when my mother points out all the things that I have done and am doing wrong. She wants to break my confidence so that I will need her to help me, I want God’s help. Her need to feel needed is hurting our relationship. I don’t want to do that to my kids. I see myself doing that sometimes.
A few answers to chapter 10 quesions:
#4
Yes, last summer with my parents. I wanted God to hurry up and make my parents apologize to my husband so we could get back to the way things were. He revealed to me that the way I had tried to make my mom happy was not my duty. I could not do everything, say everything, and feel everything the way she wanted me to. I could not let my emotions and feelings be controlled by the way she felt or behaved. We did not have a healthy reationship. It also taught me how to listen to my husband, to submit to him because he is there for my protection. I was thankful instead of angry and impatient.
#6
Jehovah Nissi- My banner of victory
El-Roi- The God who sees me and loves and accepts me
Abba- My Father
So proud of you Britney! You learned a lot! It sounds like God blessed you with a wise, caring husband. So glad you submitted to him. When we do things God’s way, it always turns out better in the end! Keep up the good work!
You saying you are proud of me brought tears to my eyes! Thank you, I feel like you gave me a message from God that I needed to hear.
Thank you for sharing your answer to #4. What a valuable lesson you learned – in so many ways. God wants your heart to be healthy and protected and sometimes setting boundaries is what He’s calling us to do. You are very blessed to have a husband who sees that too :)!!
It has been hard to keep the boundaries in place when they seem to make my mom so angry. I have learned to stand, and stand still quietly for long periods of time. It is a challange, but I can do all things thought Christ who is my strength. One my own I can do nothing!
Thank you for sharing, Britney. I feel the same way about my parents at times, that their criticisms and judgmental comments are ways to keep me more dependent on them. And I catch myself doing the same thing to others! But this is unhealthy codependent behavior and God wants me to depend on Him. And to respond to my parents with understanding instead of frustration or anger, That they need to be needed because they don’t really know God, and for me to pray that they learn to depend on Him for fulfillment. Thanks for sharing your journey, may God bless your richly today!
Julie,
You are so right! I need to keep praying for them to learn to depend on Him for fullfillment. Sometimes I forget that. Thanks for the reminder.
A number of years ago, I was doing my devotions. It struck me that I knew about God but I had to wonder if I really knew God. I asked Him who He was- did He have a favorite colour?; what did He “look” like?; who was He? I was blown away with how quickly He answered and with what His answer was. I had randomly opened my Bible and the verse that caught my attention said something like “I am the gracious and compassionate God”. I decided to look up the references that came before to see where this originated. What I found astonished me. It lead me back to Exodus 34:5-6 “Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, “. I was so moved because the God who revealed Himself to Moses had revealed Himself to me in the same way. I felt overwhelmed because of how insignificant I felt I was but yet how precious God sees me. He is the gracious and compassionate God who abounds in love so much so that my question was not insignificant to Him. He wants me to KNOW Him – not just to know about Him.
That’s awesome, Edith! God is so faithful! He wants us to know Him and He loves us. 🙂
I loved your story Edith! What a blessing & what a mighty, yet personal, God we serve!
Thank you so much for sharing your story Edith. What a precious personal story God wanted you to have – of the day He answered your question with such tenderness and clarity. I am touched by your love for HIM!!
Renee, I am really enjoying the Confident Heart Bible Study. The Lord has used this Bible Study to speak to my heart and show me that I can be confident in HIM through whatever life throws at me. I am so blessed and I am praising HIM through the storms, as well as the blessings. I am learning to lean totally on HIM. Thank you so much for following your heart and becoming such a blessing to me and many other women as we strive to serve as women of Christ.
I second that. i know my redeemer lives im a witness to who he is an he showed up i mean he showed up. A couple yrs ago i was in a car accident a few studies i question God if he was real for me. with the accident i slammed into a unseen park van on a overhead bridge after hitting the van the car spun out of control. For an impact like that i was suppose to b dead but as the car spun i felt this light grip around me suppressing me from going forward. when all said an done i walked away with a small scratch on my finger thats when he said to me satan wanted u dead but i bought u with a price an none that the Fathet puts in my hand will I lose. the parametics came one asked me did my head struck the windshield i said no he asked the same question two more times then he said mam when we got on the bridge we knew we were coming for a corspe. to God b the glory He’s real believe that. some times just like Gedion we ask for reinsurances because theres alot of voices out there an to thirst an hunger for the real deal is worth it. the car was total but not my life.
Renee, I so needed to hear this this morning! Thank you so much for sharing God’s message! I find it amazing that doing 2 simultaneous bible studies has so many corresponding messages! Yesterday I was reading Tracie Miles’ book “Stressed-Less Living” and she quoted CS Lewis from “Prince Caspian”. She was talking about how God seems bigger to us the more we get to know Him. I love that you spoke on the same thing here. I have been striving for a closer more personal relationship with my Lord and I am so thankful for Him leading me to this and Tracie’s book and the Bible studies groups!! Thank you for sharing with us!
Mindy, I too am doing both studies at the same time!!! There are several parallels in the books . It reinforces what we are learning!
Although I am not doing the Stressed-less study I am doing another one with several members of the church I attend; we are studying a book called Knowing God by J.I. Packer and it is so great how both studies are meshing – you would think they were written to go hand in hand! Isn’t God great? Lol! Keep loving on Him!
I have found recently that in ,y personal choice to find a closer walk with THE LORD that many times different sources are saying the same thing or directing me to the same verses …I truly belief it is THE HOLY SPIRIT…GOD knows what we need… and He knows when it is HIS TIME…
I love Proverbs 31, all of the Ladies are amazing…they were what it took to get me back in church so I hear THE WORD on a regular basis and I am welcomed by people that love and support me… and my family…
Love when God speaks to us, saying the same thing in different ways 🙂 I always feel so pursued when He does that!!
Mindy,
I am too am doing the 2 studies and I feel I must really need what these ladies are teaching for God to put it in both studies.
This message really hit home! Yesterday I had a lot of stress around driving and I came to an area that I felt really anxious and I took a deep breath and thought I can do this! I did it because God was there. I felt His spirit in the car. I remembered, with his grace, that I was not alone and the bridge was not going to cause me harm. I have come a long way with my driving because of my relationship with God. The more I know about Him, the more I want to trust Him. I feel like a scared little girl but the voice that tells me to keep on is that of a woman. I have been referring to Emmanual and Jehovah-Jireh. Sharing Christ with other loved ones who are facing challenges really affirms His love for me and keeps me from thinking of self but of His community of women who together are sharing and trusting His Mighty Power.
Be confident in Him, my sisters!
So proud of you for trusting HIM more and more each day Claret. He is setting you free!!
This week has been very surreal for me. We live in Moore, OK. My family and home made it through the storm safely. I am thankful for God’s protection over us and will forever remember my children huddled in the bathtub singing Jesus loves me, this I know. God is my Protector! Please pray for our community through this devastating time.
Jamie, so extremely thankful that you and your family are safe!!! Amazed at God’s power for destruction as well as protection! I will be praying for your community and you. God bless!
Definitely joining you all in prayer, Jamie!! Whenever good pulls is thru, it’s for a purpose! Live it!
Jamie, thank God for his protection in your time of need. I ask God to comfort you and your family and all families who were affected by the devastation of your community. All Gods blessing and favor to you.
Jamie, I am thankful that you and your family are okay! And, I’m happy God is leading you to gather with your online sister! I pray for peace and protection in your life and in your entire community. Trust God! He has a plan already in place!
Hugs and prayers,
Courtney
Jamie: Thank you so much for sharing this testimony. 🙂 Continuing to pray for you, your family and your community. God bless you richly!
Jamie: Praying for you and your family, and everyone in the community. Thanking God that you are safe. Asking our Lord to give you all strength, and comfort you in this time of need. God is in control, trust in Him and He will show you His plan.
Oh Jamie! What a testimony! So thankful you are safe and greatly blessed and humbled by your children singing “Jesus Loves Me” in the bathtub during the storm. You have trained them well in the ways of the Lord! God bless you all. Praying for you and your community. My son lives in Oklahoma City so it hit pretty close to home for me as well. May God continue to bless you with peace.
Oops! I meant to say, I was greatly blessed and humbled by your children singing.
My thoughts and prayers are with you all. Even though the news has been so horrific, there has been so many stories of God’s grace, his blessings and protection over so many. It’s been beautiful to hear how so many of the ones left with nothing have such faith in the Lord. Wow! May God continue to bless you with His mighty hand and sovereign love.
Praying for your whole community…God was surely with all
Our prayers are with you and your communities.
I am joining you, and your community n prayer Jamie. Stay focused in prayer and don’t be anxious nor weary for the Lord is with you and your loved ones at all times.
Praying for you and your family, and your whole community. Praying for all of the injured and for so many who have been devastated by these tornadoes and storms. ~Renee
Gideon went from wimp to warrior! One of my favorite messages and love the names of God! Thanks much!