There are many ways to consider God. One way is to know he is there and hedge your bet by giving him credit. That way of thinking creates poverty of the mind and spirit. This concept used by many today leaves people with a great burden of desperation and frankly deep insecurity. Another way is with a divided mind, which the Bible calls lukewarm. This is the mindset that creates liars and hypocritical lifestyles. The spiritual mind trusts that God is the Author and Creator of our lives and we exist for His mission, which is where true transformation occurs. This mind is connected to eternity and all of its richness. It transforms daily by wisdom which creates peace, joy, kindness, love, forgiveness, and so much more. This mindset knows God as the Author and accepts the reality of the flesh. This journey requires the confidence of the Holy Spirit, who takes our stories to places we ourselves could never dream up.

True Confidence

The Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 3:12, “In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Confidence, humanly speaking, is a word that stirs up many mental pictures. It is a quality deeply valued and aggressively pursued. It is a trait focused on by parents and rewarded by strangers. Confidence has been deeply researched by psychologists, investigated by authors, and manufactured by industries, and yet, remains a mystery to most of the world. The concept of confidence in a fallen and ever-changing world is one of the great faith contradictions. Enduring confidence can never be a product of any thing, person, or circumstance other than Holy God.

True Confidence is not something that you can manufacture or cultivate. It is essence drawn directly from the Holy Spirit. It is rooted in the unshakable faith that you are chosen, that you are loved, that you are appointed, created perfect, and most of all, that you are a gift to the world hand selected by our Creator. When these things take up residency in your heart, confidence becomes your greatest weapon. Proverbs 14:26 says “In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence.” While most of us would associate courage with a lack of fear, courage has much more to do with what we fear. Courage is rooted in purpose, and purpose is derived in faith and delivered in Godly wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 explains that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” When we finally develop a holy fear, a fear of not being at the feet of our Savior we will then have an experience with true confidence.

Faith and Confidence

We are people of faith. We have access to a Creator who gave us His Word full of His promises that we might be ushered through this fallen world. Through our faith, His word, and our brothers and sisters, we can cultivate an enduring confidence that allows our faith to burn so bright inside of us that self-doubt has no place to reside.

Our Savior gave us the greatest story of unlikely confidence in Luke Chapter 7 with the “sinful woman.” With everything working against her she walked into a room, unwelcome, unworthy, unequipped, and yet unmoved. She pushed past rules, culture, and even fear of death to sit at the feet of Jesus. Her desire for a perfect love pushed past her own inadequate position. Our confidence is an outcome of faith lived well!

Godly confidence does not always face the facts, and doesn’t know how to give up. The body of Christ has every reason to be walking in this unshakable, undeniable, unlikely, unapologetic confidence.

To get more information and join the South Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce (SC-C3) movement, go to www.sc-c3.org and become a member today!

Kathy Lewis is the Founder and Executive Director of Why Not Charleston, which is a non-profit organization located in Charleston, SC focused creating opportunities and experiences that connect believers on mission to reach and serve their communities. Kathy can be reached at kathy@whynothisway.com.

One of the things that astounded the disciples of Jesus was his prayer life. They saw first-hand the miracles and the power that he walked in, and rightly attributed it to his ongoing life of prayer. They had watched him withdraw from them, from the crowds, to seek out silence and solitude. They knew that he was giving to those around him out of the abundance gathered during his times of intimacy with the Father.

“After this miracle the news about Jesus spread even farther. Massive crowds continually gathered to hear him speak and to be healed from their illnesses. But Jesus often slipped away from them and went into the wilderness to pray.” Luke 5:15-16 TPT

Teach Me to Pray

25 years ago after fully deciding to follow Jesus I became consumed with a desire to know how to pray. I remember asking the more mature believers around me about prayer, and would often tune in to our local Christian radio station and pray during their daily prayer time, even getting down on my knees and folding my hands together. I assumed this was the best posture for prayer. I was hungry for God, and wanted to speak to him. I wanted to touch the heart of heaven. I felt this urgency in my spirit that I had to know my Father, understand his voice, and tune into his wisdom. I had two toddlers at the time, a husband that had walked away from God, and I needed direction. But more than anything, I simply wanted to know God.

“One day, as Jesus was in prayer, one of his disciples came over to him as he finished and said, “Would you teach us a model prayer that we can pray, just like John did for his disciples?” Luke 11:1 TPT

Jesus’ followers were also hungry to know God so they asked him to teach them how to pray. Just like a mother with a baby sounds out the words to “mama” or “dada,” Jesus lovingly gave them the first words that would begin a lifetime of prayer for each of them.

“Pray like this:

“Our Father, dwelling in the heavenly realms, may the glory of your name be the center on which our lives turn. Manifest your kingdom realm, and cause your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is fulfilled in heaven. We acknowledge you as our Provider of all we need each day. Forgive us the wrongs we have done as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. Rescue us every time we face tribulation and set us free from evil.
For you are the King who rules with power and glory forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13 TPT

Jesus gave them the key to the kingdom that day, and that key has been passed on from generation to generation. It still works today. In fact, it sustained each one of his original disciples throughout their ministries until they were martyred in his name. They experienced unimaginable hardship and persecution, but because they had instant access to the Father through the gift of prayer they had access to wisdom, understanding and the comfort of Holy Spirit.

“I Don’t Feel Like Praying…”

When the circumstances of life bring feelings of confusion, fear, frustration, and sorrow, it’s often hard to tune in to God’s voice. It can be hard to pray. It’s a curious thing, but the times we desperately need to pray are often the times we least feel like doing it.

When you come to a place in your life where there are no words of your own or you’re spinning your wheels, it’s time to turn to the written word of God. God promised that his word would not return void, but would accomplish precisely what he released it to do.

“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”
Isaiah 55:10-11 NLT

Practically speaking, what does this look like?

Praying the Word

I have a dear friend whose only daughter joined the Peace Corps and was immediately sent overseas to minister to people in the Philippines. Her mother was understandably nervous, and as a woman who is familiar with standing on the word and promises of God she turned to Psalm 91. She wrote it out, meditated on it, and prayed it back to God. It sounded a little something like this:

“Anna sits enthroned under the shadow of her heavenly Father and is hidden in the strength of God Most High. Father, you are the hope that holds her and the Stronghold to shelter her, the only God for Anna, and her great confidence. You will rescue Anna from every hidden trap of the enemy and protect her from false accusation and any deadly curse. Your massive arms are wrapped around Anna, protecting her. She can run under your covering of majesty and hide. Your arms of faithfulness are a shield keeping Anna from harm. She will never worry about an attack of demonic forces at night, nor have to fear a spirit of darkness coming against her. She won’t fear a thing! Whether by night or by day, demonic danger will not trouble Anna, nor will the powers of evil launched against her…” Psalm 91:1-6 TPT

There have been many times I’ve turned to the Psalms in distress or in need of wisdom and read until the word seemed to jump off the page at me. Then I set up camp there and pray the word back to God. Our Father is looking for someone to agree with what he has already said to create a connection that spans from heaven to earth. The flip side is also true. Our enemy is also looking for agreement, because our agreement gives him the power to wreak havoc in our lives. Complaining, bitterness, offense and unforgiveness are demonic seeds that bear the fruit of evil in our lives and in turn defile many. But when we turn to the word of God, and align ourselves with his heart, all the resources of heaven are at our disposal.

Check Your Prayer Posture

It’s important to note that the Psalm 91 prayer above is prayed from a position of victory, not defeat. There was no begging involved. We pray from the position of being God’s children, wholly and dearly loved. We are even now kings and priests unto our God (Revelation 1:6). Stand up, stand tall and let him fill your mouth with his powerful, life-changing word. Your future, your family, your ministry, career and community depend upon it!

To get more information and join the South Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce (SC-C3) movement, go to www.sc-c3.org and become a member today!

Lori Anderson-Bowen is the co-director for the Christian Chamber of Commerce in Charleston and a publisher with Best Version Media. Her passion is to see the Church of Christ grow and connect with the heart of God through prayer. She can be reached at lbowen@bestversionmedia.com or by phone at 843-513-5392.

When we are born, we come complete bearing the image of our Creator. We come with the essence of God’s full of love, full of hope, and full of possibility. But as we grow older, there are unenviable hardships and challenges that lead us to lose sight of the essence He gave of Himself when He thought of us. With every heartache, with every disappointment, that manifestation fades away. With every wall we hit, with every fall we take, we stop seeing ourselves in God’s image and we lose that innate faith we were born with and thus we also lose the practice and the faith to pray when we are not in hardship. We rationalize this by asking: why would God allow these things to happen? If He is the God that knows the number of the stars in the sky and the sum of the sand on the shore, He should be able to control what happens in our lives, right? And in this moment of doubt is when we forget that the power of prayer is not solely to be used when in hardship, it is also to be used when we are receiving favor and blessings and thus, we cannot let circumstance dictate our relationship with God. This unfortunately, is a lesson I began learning in a moment of family tragedy.

My Journey of Preparation

In 1987 my oldest sister died from a very rare infectious disease; she was 25 years old. She was a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend to many. She was fully alive in the prime of her story and with no notice the world forever changed. I watched her come in and out of consciousnesses and fight for every breath for 20 days. What I remember most about those 20 days was the deafening silence. My faith had met its match and it was death taking me sister from my arms. I was only 23 years old and had no idea what to do.

During this experience, all I could fall back on was what I heard about God since I was seven years old: God was a comforter, a promise keeper, a strength giver, a heart maker, and a peace provider. And yet I knew no peace, I felt no comfort, had no strength and most of all had no words to pray. All the things I thought I knew up to that point about God and prayer would prove to be useless because I had no words, no former experience, no faith nor traditions of faith that would provide guidance for how to experience that traumatic loss through the eyes of a loving God. I tried desperately to conjure up feelings that would translate into what I had been told about God. The faith that I had practiced up until that point was a weak, undisciplined, and self-absorbed. I was not prepared to face this situation through the lens of a loving and merciful God. I did not have the belief or the skills to know that prayer at this point, although important, cannot be limited to moments of darkness in our lives.

A Lifestyle of Prayer

What I learned in the years to come was that Bible has an unapologetic position that nothing is wasted. Those 20 days gave me a behind the curtain look at what life would feel like outside of the spirit of love. I might have lived my entire life in a story limited instead of a life He had imagined for me. But instead, I leaned through this tragic loss. I saw the language of love through His WORD, His WAY and His WONDERMENT. I learned that every experience is a form of preparation and thus cannot be underestimated. I learned that prayer is a discipline. It is a spiritual rhythm. It takes time attentiveness to the Presence of Love. It is the richest gift this side of heaven. I accepted words which at the time felt like an assault to my grieving spirit.

This experience, among many others, paved the way on how I would spend the next 30 years. I have challenged myself to experience the gospel language and translate it into a strategy. I absorbed messages from Saints like Paul who throws down the spiritual gauntlet and instructs us to pray without ceasing, always rejoicing, and in all circumstances giving thanks no matter how little I had. I aligned with the idea that that my daily prayer life would develop through fearless and ongoing conversations with God. Through prayer I could seek His face, listen for His answers, and know Him more intimately and thus know myself. This involved a Herculaneum movement from self-sufficiency, self-gratifications and preoccupations. This kind of belief led to a radical communion through the Holy Spirit that now abides in me as it was meant to always be. This lifestyle is moving away from the flaws of our human nature towards the peace and path He has prepared for me. I became dependent on the one who calls me His.

When you receive prayer as your power source and allow it to guide you in good times and in bad times equally, you will find peace that passes all understanding. Just as the word promises!

To get more information and join the South Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce (SC-C3) movement, go to www.sc-c3.org and become a member today!

Kathy Lewis is the Founder and Executive Director of Why Not Charleston, which is a non-profit organization located in Charleston, SC focused creating opportunities and experiences that connect believers on mission to reach and serve their communities. Kathy can be reached at kathy@whynothisway.co