Confident Compassion

I woke up early this morning with the title of this blog ringing through my spirit. Think about it...confident compassion. What does that mean to you? If we have confident compassion, we will stand firm in the faith, yet not be judgmental toward others.

Some of us need more of the confidence. Others need more compassion. All of us need both the way God views each one, not the way man does.

CONFIDENCE
If we have confidence in our faith, we will not waiver. We will not question our salvation after we already have accepted Christ's sacrifice that He made 2000+ years ago so that we could have LIFE in Heaven for eternity and not an eternity in hell! (Yes, there is a hell, or there would not be a need for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.) We will not stray from the truths of the Word of God. God warned us that more and more false teachings would arise. Confidence in His Truth will keep us from falling prey to those "itching ears" teachings.

Jesus also told us that as long as we are on this earth, we WILL have trials and suffering...especially as we see the Day of His return approaching. I don't know about you, but I sense trials increasing. We have to have God's confidence to stand firm through them all. I, myself, have been experiencing an intense trial in the last few days and now weeks. I can't explain it, but it has been through this trial that I have had a renewed confidence in God carrying me through. I have been emptied of any confidence in my self and filled with confidence that He is my strength. Praise God for the deeper level of intimacy with God that I have experienced while I lay prostrate, humbly at His feet. It was then that all anxiety melted into assurance that HE KNOWS what I am facing and HE WILL CARRY ME THROUGH! I'm CONFIDENT that His character will be built in me to a new level.

COMPASSION
Lest we forget what we are celebrating on this Good Friday, may I remind you that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is the ULTIMATE act of COMPASSION! Most people know, and can even quote, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life." But, do you know the next verse? "For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." We need to remember that. All of us have sinned, yet God's grace reached down and rescued us--that is, if we let Him.

The more people come to me for Inner Healing Prayer, the more compassion God grows on the inside of me. He shows the root problem of why they sin. He then shows them truths that totally transform them and allow the to be free from the chains that held them captive. Before you start judging someone sitting in the pew next to you at church, know that you have NO IDEA where they came from or the situation they currently face.

Compassion does not mean we do not call sin sin. It does not mean we excuse sin and dismiss the need for confession and repentance. If it did, we wouldn't truly be compassionate, because we would be allowing the people around us to just keep going to the consequence of sin, DEATH. No! The Grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to say no to ungodliness! (See Titus 2:11-12.) Compassion causes us to pray and ask God how we can help others who are trapped. We cannot just haphazardly start going and preaching to everyone. With some, God just wants us to pray. With others, God wants us to act. He will let us know if we seek Him. Compassion causes us to be in a position of readiness to whatever the Holy Spirit nudges us to do.

Confident compassion. To me that is a tender heart that is protected by a wall of God's protection. When I think about this weekend's commemoration of Christ's death on the cross, where He bore all our sin (Wow!), and then knowing that He rose from the dead on the 3rd day bringing triumph over death (Wow again!), I start having confident compassion!