Be Confident (After Be Courageous)

BE CONFIDENT: Nobody can keep you away from the presence and provisions of the Lord.
Matt 8:1-4. And when He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came to Him, and bowed down to Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and present the offering that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them." NASB
Both by the prevailing law and culture of those days, a leper cannot just approach any other person. Jesus was already regarded as a Rabbi or a teacher at that time. A leper approaching a Rabbi risks being stoned away. The leper knows his condition; it’s quite serious. The leper knows what the people can do to him; they might stone him away. But there was one thing more the leper knew and was certainly confident about: he was certain the Lord would not turn him down so he took the risk, approached the Lord and got healed. He never doubted that if Jesus willed, the Lord could make him clean.
Sometimes there is something in us that prevents us from approaching the Lord with confidence. Is it sin? Is it discouragement? Is it frustration? Whatever that is, just take the attitude of the leper. He knew the seriousness of his condition and the risks he was taking but he also, without a shadow of a doubt, had pure confidence in the Lord and so he approached him. He understood that the basis of approaching the Lord was not his (the leper’s) lack of qualifications but the love and kindness of the Lord. Try this principle of APPROACHING THE LORD WITH CONFIDENCE and ask Him for a favor today. SUGGESTED PRAYER: Right now, pause and talk to the Lord. Be confident. You may actually be disqualified (just like most of us) as a sinner but that is not the issue. The Lord loves the unlovable and accepts the outcast.