CONFIDENCE IN GOD

             By A. W. Tozer

            If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence in God
             1 John 3:21

                This is surely one of the great realizations that can come to us
             in the Christian life­we can put our complete confidence in the
             God who has revealed Himself to us!

                It was a gracious day in my early Christian experience when I
             realized that it was not in God's character to pounce upon me in
             judgment. He knows that we are dust and as our God He is loving
             and patient towards us.

                If it were true that the Lord would put the Christian on the shelf
             every time he failed or blundered or did something wrong, I would
             have been a piece of statuary by this time!

                It is surely true that God will bring judgment when judgment is
             necessary, but the Scriptures say that judgment is God's strange work.
             Where there is a lifetime of rebellion, hardened unbelief and love of sin,
             judgment will come.

                But God watches over us for spiritual growth and maturity, trying to
             teach us the necessity for fully trusting Him and coming to the place of
             complete distrust of ourselves. We have met God, and can now say with
             Paul, 'That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.'
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             Yours in Christ,
             Paul N. F.