Podcast Notes: The Beginning of Your Confidence – Part 2

Teachable Woman Podcast with Rev. Michele Owes & Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Introduction

In this episode, Rev. Michele Owes and Rev. Diana P. Cherry continue their discussion on “The Beginning of Your Confidence”, focusing on Hebrews 3:14 and the importance of maintaining the same confidence in Christ that we had when we first believed. They challenge listeners to examine their spiritual walk, identify areas where confidence may have shifted from God to self, and return to the wholehearted trust and dependence that marked the beginning of their faith journey.

1. Examine the Beginning of Your Confidence

Key Scripture: Hebrews 3:14 – “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.”

• Take time to remember how your relationship with Christ began.
• Reflect on God's faithfulness during the early days of your salvation.
• Consider how easily you trusted God before life's responsibilities and achievements accumulated.
• Compare your confidence in God then to your confidence in Him now.
• Ask yourself: Have I maintained that same trust and dependence on God?

Takeaway: Spiritual growth begins with honest self-examination.

2. Are You Still Teachable?

Rev. Cherry opens with an important challenge:

• Are you receiving and applying what God is teaching you?
• Hearing truth is not enough; transformation comes through obedience.
• It is easy to become distracted by daily life and lose sight of the centrality of Jesus.
• Apart from Christ, we can do nothing and are nothing.

Takeaway: A teachable spirit remains open to correction, growth, and God's direction.

3. Confidence Must Remain in God, Not in Ourselves

The hosts discuss how confidence can subtly shift:

• Successes, accomplishments, certifications, and recognition can create self-reliance.
• Small victories may tempt us to believe we can manage life without seeking God's direction.
• What begins as natural decision-making can become operating from personal confidence rather than dependence on God.
• Even good intentions can lead us into situations God never intended us to carry alone.

Takeaway: The danger is not always rebellion; sometimes it is slowly replacing confidence in God with confidence in ourselves.

4. The Enemy Works Through Subtle Shifts

Rev. Cherry emphasizes that Satan's strategy is often gradual.

• Spiritual decline rarely happens all at once.
• Small compromises and "slippages" weaken steadfastness.
• The enemy understands how to pull believers off course through subtle distractions.
• Believers must know their strengths and weaknesses and remain vigilant.

The hosts note that weakness is not always obvious sin—it can be overestimating our own strength and abilities.

Takeaway: Remaining steadfast requires spiritual awareness and humility.

5. Confidence Produces Hope and Expectation

The discussion moves to biblical hope.

Three definitions of hope highlighted in the episode:

1. A happy anticipation of good.
2. What we fully expect to receive.
3. Confidence in the outcome.

Important truths:

• Hope is not wishful thinking.
• Hope and confidence are connected.
• Believers can trust God's outcome even when circumstances seem uncertain.
• God is always working on behalf of His people.

Takeaway: Biblical hope rests on confidence in God's character and promises.

6. Don't Cast Away Your Confidence

Key Scripture: Hebrews 10:35–36

"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward."

The hosts explain:

• Confidence carries rewards.
• Losing confidence can affect our participation in God's purposes.
• Patience is necessary after doing God's will.
• God's timing is often different from our expectations.
• Trusting God means waiting for His promises without abandoning faith.

To return to the beginning of our confidence:

• Remember where you started.
• Repent for areas where trust has shifted.
• Return to spiritual disciplines that once strengthened your faith:
• Prayer
• Quiet time with God
• Church attendance
• Bible study
• Giving
• Witnessing

Takeaway: Confidence grows when we intentionally return to the practices that nurtured our relationship with God.

7. Return to Your First Love and Dependence on God

The hosts stress that all accomplishments ultimately come from God.

• Degrees, awards, promotions, and achievements are gifts God enables.
• Human accomplishments should never replace dependence on God.
• God often equips believers to serve others, not simply to profit personally.
• Every gift and ability should be submitted to God's purpose.

Rev. Cherry shares how aging has increased her awareness of her need for God:

• Thanking Him for daily abilities.
• Living in continual prayer.
• Depending on Him for guidance, protection, and provision.

Rev. Owes reflects that she actually liked herself better at the beginning of her confidence because she worried less and trusted God more completely.

Takeaway: The goal is not perfection but returning to childlike trust and dependence on God.

Summary

This episode challenges believers to revisit the confidence they had when they first came to Christ. Rev. Owes and Rev. Cherry teach that spiritual confidence is not confidence in our abilities, accomplishments, or circumstances, but confidence in God alone. Through subtle shifts, believers can become self-reliant and drift from their original dependence on Him. By remembering God's faithfulness, repenting of misplaced trust, renewing spiritual disciplines, and maintaining steadfast confidence until the end, believers can experience the rewards and peace that come from walking closely with God.

Final Encouragement:

"Take me back, dear Lord, to where I first believed." Return to the beginning of your confidence, trust God completely, and hold that confidence steadfast to the end.