The Bible doesn't tell us to believe in ourselves. It teaches us to believe in God. Why?
Because God is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, and never changes. God is good. God is merciful. God is on your side. Focus on the great things He has already accomplished in your life.
Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in men.
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will
The fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head
William Cowper 1779
Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Do we fully grasp what God has in store for the redeemed? Imagine walking around one moment and being up in the clouds with Jesus the next.
And death doesn't have the final word for saints who left a body at the cemetery. They will experience a wonderful and powerful change called the RESURRECTION.
The body of the believer laid in the grave or cast into the sea will be quickened back to life, rising up at the rapture, a perfect body like Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
OH WOW! .... CAN'T WAIT!
Jesus didn't want us to remember Him as the greatest Teacher, greatest Leader or greatest Healer. He wanted us to remember Him for His cross, His shed blood, His sacrificial death, His broken body. Redemption came through a broken Savior.
1 Corinthians 11:24 And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take eat; this is my body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
The body of Jesus was battered, bruised, bloodied, and broken. Jesus was punched and slapped, and crowned with thorns. His back was plowed with a cat of nine-tails, His beard plucked from His face. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, and every bone of his body torn out of joint.
May we never forget as we take the broken bread at the Lord's Supper.
"Oh, the old rugged cross,so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me."
George Bennard
Don't be afraid. God is in control, and He's coming back for His own.
There are two parts to the coming of Christ. First, Jesus will steal away His saints from the earth and take them to Heaven. The rapture will be so sudden and swift that people won't know what happened.
1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 For The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet The Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with The Lord.
He will return the second time in glory and power with all his saints, and everyone everywhere will know it. He will defeat His enemies and reign upon this earth.
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
