Paul prayed that they might be comforted (encouraged). He knew that a discouraged down cast Christian was easy prey for the world, was easy prey for the flesh and was easy prey for the devil.

Colossians 2:1-2  For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;  2That  their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto  all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the  acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ

Confidence involves attitude, beliefs and behaviors that need to be nurtured, practiced or acquired. I believe the development of confidence or self esteem not only affects how we think about ourselves but how we treat others.  Researchers have established a link between confidence and love. Self esteem not only affects how you think about yourself but the way you think about the person beside you.

Until we learn to love ourselves we cannot learn to love another.

Love is the first Fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians. If you don’t develop love you can forget about the rest of them.

John 13:12

So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

Matthew 5:46-48

46For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect

1John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

God’s very essence is Love and if we could somehow grab hold of that and desire that that very essence of God becomes a part of us. That we might love others even as God has loved us.

Paul wrote a lot about Love. One of his biggest things was ensuring that the body of Christ was knit together in Love.

We need to love one another. We need to develop a relationship with one another that is bound together with Love.

Colossians 1:28, Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

That word perfect means having reached its end, complete, without blemish, whole or mature.

Colossians 2:1-2  For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;  2That  their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto  all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the  acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ

When God gets ready to do a powerful work in our lives the first thing He will do is He will get our attention and He will send some shaking into our life to wake us up. When we shake these things, these hindrances off of us our life will come into an ultimate reality that His Kingdom through us cannot and will not be shaken. If we will allow these things to be removed from us, God in His Holy power and the Holy Ghost anointing will come behind us and consume those things in the fire.

Hebrews 12: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.  27And this word,  Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken,  as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken  may remain.  28Wherefore  we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,  whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:  29For our God is a consuming fire.

The enemy tries to get you distracted from the goal. He want to distract us to get us off track. Don't let anything in this world hinder you from being who you are supposed to be in God.

If we do what the flesh wants to do we get further away from God and we find ourselves even sometimes out of the will of God. We need to think about what God would want us to do not what we want to do. When we shake off everything in our life that hinders our pursuit of Gods kingdom then we will begin to walk in an unrestrained pursuit of God.

We are talking about being part of the unshakable Kingdom of God. 

Hebrews 12: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.  27And this word,  Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken,  as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken  may remain.  28Wherefore  we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,  whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:  29For our God is a consuming fire.

Haggai 2:6-7

For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;  7And  I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and  I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

I want to be filled with His glory. I want His glory to shine through my life. I want His glory to shine through my actions. I want His glory to shine through my words. I want His glory to shine through the person I am. I want Him to shake me, because when He shakes me the flesh falls off and the Glory of God can shine through me.

You want to be beautiful? You want more Grace?

Before I realize my potential and become beautiful, there’s something I have to do.

1. Submit yourself to God. A lot of people want Jesus the Savior but they don’t want Jesus the Lord.  We have to be ready to listen to Him.

2. Resist the devil. Close your ears and close your heart to what he is saying. The devil can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. You must use the sword of the spirit

3. Draw nigh to God. We must come before Him with prayer and supplication.

4. Cleanse your hands. Hands speak of your actions.

5. Purify your heart. Let God cleanse your inner life and thoughts. When you start getting ugly, let the Holy Ghost cleanse you on the inside.

6. Repent. We should manifest the fruit of godly repentance. Are you really sorry for what you’ve done wrong?

7. Humble yourself.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

James 4: 6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.  10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Your old man can rise up out of the ashes and take root in your life. We do not have to deal with the lust of the flesh with our own strength. He gives us more Grace. He gives us more strength when needed. Grace, beauty, favor: it's not given to the proud. It's only given to the humble.

James 4: 6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.  10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

James 1: 22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Do you want more Grace? Do you want to be more beautiful?

Defining beauty can be tough. I believe God sees the beauty of this world in you and I. God does not see beauty in the way that man sees beauty. 

James 4:6-10  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

1Samuel 16:7But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

God was telling Samuel, I didn't pick him because he was fair. I didn't pick him because he was beautiful. I didn't pick him because he was more intelligent or more educated.

2Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Although our bodies will age and decay, we experience ongoing renewal through the constant impartation of Christ's life and power.

Are you a shining beacon of light in a ugly dark world?

Isaiah 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for  ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit  of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the  planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

God wants to make you more beautiful.

Grace is linked with Beauty.

James 4:6-10  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.  10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

We should be beautiful on the inside. If you're beautiful on the inside that's gonna make you beautiful outwardly as well.

Grace is linked with Beauty:  To find the first mention of Grace in the bible we have to go all the way back to the days of Noah. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Grace is unmerited favor. Noah found Grace or Favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 6: 5-6  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Matthew 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

We get stuck sometimes and we fail and the enemy comes up and says, God ain't gonna forgive you.  I'm talking about Christians. Have you sinned since you became saved? I can raise both my hands. His mercy endureth forever and He will forgive me as many times as I need Him to forgive me. He has reconciled me to Himself. He knows my heart and He knows you don't have the intention to go out there and commit sin. That's the key, the intention of the heart. There is always space for a new beginning. 

It's not in the physical place that you can start over it's in the spiritual where you start over.

God will give you a u-turn if you will take it. Take the u-turn and go back to the cross. When you get up from the cross don't let the devil put condemnation on you. That feeling that you're not worthy, that God didn't forgive you. God does forgive and He forgets and all He wants you to do is to u-turn and come back to Him. Allow God to restart you that day. Don't keep going the way you're going.

2Corinthians5: 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

20Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Isaiah 43:18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

You’ve got to start somewhere. My life started at the cross.

I became a new creation in Christ.  I’m not just forgiven but I’m changed.

My desires have changed. When the heart changes, the flesh will follow the heart.

When we follow after Him, we are in His righteousness.

2Corinthians5: 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Haggai 2:9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.