This is the Promises of God Podcast, and I’m your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on PromisesOfGodPodcast.com. Now, let’s get started.
Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number 25 my name is Tracie Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in our lives. This month series is about confidence, and we’re working at of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries titled Unshakable Confidence. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day Bible journaling course at BibleJournalingMinistries.Com today we’re talking about the confidence that’s mediated by the Holy Spirit. And our verse is Ephesians Chapter 1:13-14 in it reads in him, you also have heard the word of the truth, the good news of your salvation in whom having also believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a pledge of our inheritance to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.
I love that verse. It is so normal to have doubts. And um, if you have doubts as to like what God has for you in your life if you’re struggling with maybe a calling that you have or even just doubting that even God exists, you’re not alone. Like having doubts is normal. In fact, during Jesus’s ministry, his disciples had, and we could read of one occurrence of Peter’s doubt in Matthew 14, and I will read that with you. To summarize it for you. I’m reading a little bit out of the NIV version, and this is the section where Jesus is walking on water. And um, I’ll start with chapter 14, verse 22 and it says immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd, after he dismissed them, he went up on the mountainside by himself to pray.
Later that night he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from the land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. And shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake, and when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It’s a ghost. They said, and they cried out fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage. It is. I won’t be afraid, Lord, if it’s you. Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Come. He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and he began to sink. Crying out, Lord, save me. Immediately. Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, you of little faith. He said, why did you doubt So you can see that those so close to Jesus Christ who was able to see the things that he had done, all the wonders, all the miracles still had doubts.
However, Peter redeems himself. I think if you read acts, acts chapter two after the Holy Spirit comes, Peter, I think does a great job here in actions chapter 2:14-18 when he received the Holy Spirit. Peter has confidence in the truth of God’s word. And he immediately spike speaks of Joel’s prophecy to the Jews and the residents of Jerusalem. He has this confidence in him. He is able to go out and talk and tell them, look, these people aren’t drunk. This is what is happening. This is the prophecy fulfilled. And he has so much confidence, and I believe that confidence is mediated by the Holy Spirit that, um, you can read about in an again, acts chapter two, all the leaders are sealed by the Holy Spirit who is a pledge of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit plays a pivotal role in our walk with God.
And according to Romans eight 27, the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the willow God. So as with Peter in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit gives us the confidence to trust in God’s word. But here’s the thing, to trust in God’s word means you have to know God’s word means you have to be in God’s word, lack of confidence or doubts regarding God’s promises. Yeah, they are a result of our sinful nature, the Holy Spirit. Absolutely can overcome our sinful nature, but it’s really not going to happen if we resist his work and we resist his work when we’re indulging in our sin and ignoring God’s word and being in the world, right So when we covet, you know, the latest and greatest car, when we work 80 hours for an amazing new purse, when we focus on our beauty and judge ourselves, and you know, compare ourselves to what other people have in terms of their worldly things or their worldly possessions or their beauty are things that we not have.
We are resisting God’s plan for us. God made us exactly who we are. You are exactly who you are. You have the talents, the skills, the ability. You have the beauty; you have the fit, you have the health, you have the finances, you have the location, you have the people, you have everything that God has put in your life right now for a reason. And if you look at it with lack, can you say, he hasn’t given me precisely what I need. I would encourage you to open up your eyes. And you know, I asked the Holy Spirit to guide you. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern, asked the Holy Spirit to point you in the right direction so that you can see the things that you can’t see because God has made you uniquely, you have confidence in him to do the things that he has for you because he has put you correctly in the position that you are in today for a reason.
Again, the Holy Spirit can only overcome our sinful nature. If we stop indulging in arson and ignoring God’s word, we must be in his word. We must be learning it. We must be hearing him speak to us through the Holy Spirit, and it’s only with the Holy Spirit that we can truly have the unshakable confidence that truly moves mountains. This week, take some time to write or journal about a time when the holy spirit filled you with confidence. How did you feel How did it feel to be able to press on Would that confidence? Were you like Peter, are you able to speak of things that you maybe had not so much faith before Feeling the Holy Spirit before hearing the Holy Spirit and for, for responding to him? If you’re here today and you feel like the Holy Spirit is not present in your life, that’s okay. You’re not alone. I encourage you to stop what you’re doing and ask Jesus to come into your life.
If you know the Holy Spirit, but you’ve been relying on yourself, and maybe if you strayed from the path and I invite you to come back. We all have strayed from the path, but our God is here. He loves us. He’s welcoming us, always back with open arms. You’re not promised tomorrow. Don’t put this off. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will and your life and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. I certainly hope this episode encouraged you. I hope that you spend some time with the Holy Spirit this week and thank you so much for tuning in today. I will see you in the next episode of the promises of God. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the Promises of God Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
