2 Corinthians 7:4
Great is my confidence in you, great is my pride in you: I am filled with encouragement; in all our troubles my joy overflows.
*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 3954
Confidence: freedom of speech, openness, boldness
From the Greek word 'parrésia' (pronounced par-rhay-see'-ah).
The KJV reads like this:
Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
It is speaking plainly and honestly and factually all at the same time. To make known publicly, as the disciples began to do in Acts 2 after the Holy Spirit came upon them and endued them with power to speak in other tongues, languages, that they might make known the mystery of the gospel of salvation to all nations.
There are currently 7,168 known spoken languages in the world today ( ethnologue). That does not include the languages no longer in existence. But when the Spirit fell on the waiting disciples, each one received a language that made it possible for them to witness Jesus to everyone to whom they were sent.
In that Spirit of speaking plainly, let me now say:
God is Love and He speaks the language of Love. In His Love created He the whole world, including men and women. Time and again we have let Him down but those who love Him in return get picked back up by Him in His Love.
In His Love He sent us a Savior to atone for all of our sins, Someone Who could pay the price for sin once and for all. Someone Who could conquer death, hell and the grave. Someone Who could represent God's Infinite Love to the people He loves. Someone Who could save God's people from death, hell and the grave. Someone God called His Beloved Son.
Know this: it is not the denomination which saves. It is not the good works, good deeds, acts of kindness which saves. Nor does growing up in a Christian family save us. Only the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. Only believing on His Name for our salvation saves us.
Only the blood which Christ shed on the cross washes away our sins. Only the stripes He received on His back heal us in every way; not just physically, but spiritually as well.
No one is good enough to go to heaven. No one is good enough to enter Christ's kingdom and live under His kingship (Romans 3:23). We must all go through Him to enter the kingly city in which He will reign. He is, after all, the Door and the Gate.
But it's a narrow Door and a narrow Gate which require a small key. That key is faith. Jesus tells us if our faith were the size of a mustard seed, which is 1-2 millimetres in diameter, we could move mountains. Our faith starts out smaller than that when we first begin to believe in Him.
Putting that into perspective: mustard seed size faith is smaller than a postage stamp, tinier than the widow's mite. But that's all it takes to enter the Door and the Gate.
If you have the key, you can enter the Door and the Gate. The key:
Romans 10:9, 10
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
SOAKING WORSHIP (listened to this while I studied)
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