Beware Of Over Self-Confidence

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hldude33

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Apr 28, 2010
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“Beware Of Over Self-Confidence”
By Zach Wood
1 Corinthians 10:12 NLT
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.


We have all had moments in our lives where things are going just fine and we think there is nothing that can ruin the moment. We might sail on for days, weeks or even months without anything pulling us down. Then, all of a sudden, “wham!” We’re not too sure what happened or what exactly hit us, but all we know is that life came crashing down, so to speak.

There is not one of us that has not experienced this in life. Life seems to be plugging away and then some tragedy or temptation takes us down and we feel like we’re down for the count. We ask ourselves, “what just happened???” We often times cannot figure out what went wrong or why all of a sudden things just spiraled south. And, most of us don’t usually react the best way to these sudden changes. We feel a wide-range of emotions. We wonder what we did wrong and how this all happened. Sometimes life simply takes us by surprise.

It’s in these times that we do some deep thinking and examine our life choices. Many people in these situations question God and His goodness. I know in all my years of vocational ministry and volunteer ministry, this is one of the toughest situations to deal with. This goes both for seeing people experience this and myself having dealt with it. We get very frustrated and wonder why God allowed bad things to happen to us.

There are many times we need to realize in life that we do make bad choices. We make decisions to follow temptations and we fall hard. We don’t mean to, but we do and then life comes crashing down. We must remember that we cannot do life on our own, period. We need God 24/7/365. Not a moment goes by each day that we don’t need Him. We tend to get a little cocky in life, if you will, and we think we are doing pretty good. We feel pretty good and can’t imagine anything spoiling our mood. Before we know it, but something goes wrong and things seem to spiral out of control in one way or another.

As I study this verse, I think of all the times when I get to feeling pretty good in my life and how I wish things could just stay good and not go sour at any time. As much as any one of us would like that, life just doesn’t work that way. This is not to say we should live life expecting bad things to happen, but that we just need to be prepared at all times. We need to strong in the Lord and be prepared, so when things do start spiraling down, we can remain confident, not in ourselves, but in the Lord. God definitely wants us to have self-confidence in our lives, but not so much that we forget that He is in control and depend on our own strength. Beware of over self-confidence because we always need Him!
 

Tzephanyahu

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Shalom,

There is not one of us that has not experienced this in life.

How very true! This has certainly happened to me.

I guess it's important to listen to that "still, small voice" within before further wake up calls are put in place!

We all understand that the Father chastises those He loves, but we never really talk about when He does it.

As for me, when a big incident happens to me, I put myself under the microscope. Like:
  • How does this make me feel?
  • Why am I reacting that way?
  • What don't I like about it in particular?
  • What fear or doubt is this exploiting?
Rather than try to change the circumstances or the negative stimulus, I look to adapt and refine myself. I truly believe that when we do this, the problem will flee soon after.

Our Father speaks to us in imagery and in examples in nature - each creation has a lesson or story to tell. Therefore, when our lives develop problems, rather than complain, we need to re-read the situation "poetically", as it were.

"In all your ways acknowledge Yahweh, and He will make your paths straight" ~ Proverbs 3:6

Love & Shalom
 
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Episkopos

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We aren't to have any confidence in ourselves (the flesh). Too much self-confidence just looks bad. But all self-confidence makes for a carnal power in our lives.

We are to have confidence ONLY in the Lord.

So then as usual a popular teacher is just speaking of shallow things...what things look like...as opposed to the power of walking in Christ. That level of walk IS NOT testified to in any popular teacher. Otherwise they would not be popular.
 
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Berserk

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My current weekly prayer group of 5 regulars grew from the ashes of a Free Methodist spiritual warfare group of 12+ who spent hours in intercessory prayer and deliverance ministries. The result? Many were blessed and delivered, but, except for the couple who have joined my prayer group, none of the others still even attend church! Even their pastor was driven out by conflicts arising from this spiritual warfare group. Demonic forces took control of one of these confident spiritual warriors as he was getting into his car after one meeting. He foamed at the mouth and thrashed around uncontrollably, helpless in his car! The surviving couple, 2 of the finest Christians I've ever met, recognize that part of the problem was a growing unhealthy self-confidence in one's status as a channel of blessing to others. These were all solid Bible-believing Christians who were well-grounded in the Word. I'm sobered by this Satanic victory over Christians and a pastor who were truly spiritual and sought to do things the biblical way. None of them were Charismatic and I wonder if that fact made some difference, but I don't know. All I know is that the failure of this enthusiastic, well-meaning group, who only wanted to help people in spiritual trouble, has had a sobering effect on my role in my current prayer group, which has witnessed some astonishing answers to prayer. I need to recognize that my experience as a pastor and my advanced theological education in no way exempts me from the vulnerabilities that drove many devout evangelicals from that church.
 

farouk

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Jan 21, 2009
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My current weekly prayer group of 5 regulars grew from the ashes of a Free Methodist spiritual warfare group of 12+ who spent hours in intercessory prayer and deliverance ministries. The result? Many were blessed and delivered, but, except for the couple who have joined my prayer group, none of the others still even attend church! Even their pastor was driven out by conflicts arising from this spiritual warfare group. Demonic forces took control of one of these confident spiritual warriors as he was getting into his car after one meeting. He foamed at the mouth and thrashed around uncontrollably, helpless in his car! The surviving couple, 2 of the finest Christians I've ever met, recognize that part of the problem was a growing unhealthy self-confidence in one's status as a channel of blessing to others. These were all solid Bible-believing Christians who were well-grounded in the Word. I'm sobered by this Satanic victory over Christians and a pastor who were truly spiritual and sought to do things the biblical way. None of them were Charismatic and I wonder if that fact made some difference, but I don't know. All I know is that the failure of this enthusiastic, well-meaning group, who only wanted to help people in spiritual trouble, has had a sobering effect on my role in my current prayer group, which has witnessed some astonishing answers to prayer. I need to recognize that my experience as a pastor and my advanced theological education in no way exempts me from the vulnerabilities that drove many devout evangelicals from that church.
Acts 2.42 - a great guide to local church activities - certainly includes prayer as pivotal!