Micah 5.4-5a 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And
they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be
their peace.
You cannot do what
you do unless you know who you are; and you cannot know who you are unless you
know who He is. It’s called invincible
confidence. It’s based in faith and it relies solely on the Name of the Lord
our God. We have no strength, skill, ability, cleverness, or wisdom apart from
His Great Name. And nothing can stand against it. Ever.
I have a friend who’s written a book called Beautiful Battlefields. Her book
describes the invincible confidence
needed in life when we face the difficulties we face; and face them we will…and
face them we must. Her husband has been diagnosed with ALS and I don’t know
about you, but I think that’s a fearful thing, and I can’t imagine what a
spouse goes through when the other spouse is afflicted like that. Haven’t ever
experienced anything quite like that…
However, my wife and I raised a boy who was severely
retarded from birth (to use a term to help you understand) and it changed our
lives. Forever. Unfortunately, we didn’t at the time completely understand invincible confidence as well as we
should’ve. We’ve three other children since then and none of them (as yet) have
caused us to have to care for them on the level of our disabled son, but we now
have a grand-child and our life has taken on a whole new vista. And, this world
is an increasingly evil and foolish place – we need invincible confidence to
stand in it in the strength of the Name of the Lord our God.
The battles will come. The enemies will threaten. And the
only way to stand against them is in the strength that comes from knowing the
Name of our Great God. I have no strength…but He does. I can’t win the battle –
but He has. It’s my invincible confidence
in Who He is and the majesty of His great Name that makes the difference in what
I do from this day forth. (It’s good to carefully read the Minor Prophets
because they explain Major Things.)
So, invincible
confidence – what is it? It’s knowing
God is God, and nothing or no one can stand against Him. It’s operating in this
life in the steadfast assurance that He is completely in control of every
battle, and is with us every step of the way as we confidently trust in Him. No weapon formed against us will prosper
because no weapon (of whatever we could imagine) can stand against Him.
“What then shall we
say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not
spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who
died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,
or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we
are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered.”
No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans
8.31-39 ESV)
Invincible confidence - thank You Lord! Amen.
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