Building Confidence in Everyday Life
I’ve been talking about the habits that will help us make this year a year of unlimited possibilities. I’ve written about the habit of putting God first and the habit of speaking right words by changing our thoughts. My purpose in these messages is to highlight habits we need to make and habits we need to break. We will find as we make better habits, like the habit of faith, that we overcome the bad habits like worry and fear.
So, in that vein, let’s focus on confidence. I believe that we can become habitually confident. Confidence is the belief that you are capable and able to do whatever it is that needs to be done. While the world calls this “self-confidence”, we want to take it to the next level and call it confidence in Christ. I like the term “Godfidence”. If I only place confidence in myself then I’m likely to be disappointed in my ability to perform or to remain stable. But if my confidence is in Christ, I can be assured because He will always remain steady. Philippians 4:13 AMP declares, “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me. [Ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me.]” You can do whatever you need to do through Christ and not be afraid of failing because of who He is and what He can do.
We need to be reminded of this truth because there are a lot of people who are ready to tell us what we can’t do and what we don’t have ability or gifts for. I learned a long time ago that what other people think about me is none of my business. Eleanor Roosevelt said no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Let’s believe what God says about us in His Word.
In regard to promises and declarations we find in the Word of God, I have to tell you that just hearing the Scriptures did not initially change me. I had to learn them and I had to speak them over and over to get them in my heart knowing that out of the heart, the mouth speaks. I wrote them out and spoke them outloud, over and over, until these scriptures became a part of me. As a result of this, confidence became a habit for me. We can believe what God says OR we can believe what we think and what others say. I think what God has to say is the best and most reliable choice. When I know whose I am, I will come to know who I am.
Being confident will ultimately enable us to live a bolder life and to do things that we would not do without that confidence, but the most important thing that it does for us happens on the inside. True life happens on the inside. A confident person is at rest. Jesus promised us that if we would come to Him, He would give us rest, refreshment, recreation, ease (Matthew 11:28-29 AMP).
Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Rest for our souls is vital. We can lay our body down and get physical rest but not be truly resting because our soul, our mind, will, and emotions, are working all the time. The habit of confidence will give your soul a vacation. Today is a good day to make a change. Rely on what God has done for you rather than on your own human effort. God is with us all the time and He is for us, enabling and strengthening us as we depend on Him. The confidence of knowing that God loves you and accepts you and approves of you, is the best thing that you could ever have.
We can be afraid we’re going to fail OR we can expect to succeed. It is a choice. I have a chapter in my book, Another Shot, about aggression. I believe there is a true godly aggression and it begins in the inner man. Be bold and aggressive in your approach to each day with confidence, expecting to be successful in whatever you do. If we have a quiet, confident, inner attitude, we will never have any problem doing what we need to do.
Confidence is not a feeling that we must work up and then go out into the world and talk loud, move fast or be obnoxious. Confidence is a quiet and beautiful thing that begins in the heart and stands firm in the conviction that we are not alone and that we are able. The attitude of a confident person is filled with “I can” instead of “I can’t”. It’s having a firm, steadfast, in-the-Lord approach to every area of life…Godfidence.
Maybe you’re facing a major change right now in your life. Don’t be afraid of it. You can be confident that it will be a new season of blessing. Maybe you’ve lost a job. Have confidence that God has something better in store. Maybe you’ve lost a client. Be confident. God has something greater ahead. God has a plan and He will never allow you to take on more than you’re able to bear. He will make a way where there seems to be no way.
Part of our confidence habit is birthed from a habit of prayer. We need to learn to pray with confidence that God hears us and He wants to meet our needs. Because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we can approach God with confidence. He instructs us to come boldly to His throne to ask for what we need and want. “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”
(John 14:13-14 NLT). Not only is what Jesus says here amazing, but He says it twice, in verse 13 and verse 14. That means He really wants us to get it. Invite God into every aspect of your life.
It requires confidence to remind God of what He promised you. He commands, “Put Me in remembrance [remind Me of your merits]; let us plead and argue together. Set forth your case, that you may be justified (proved right).” (Isaiah 43:26 AMPC). True confidence presses in and doesn’t let go of God.
Remember, our confidence isn’t in ourselves. It is in Christ. We should always keep in mind that without Him we are nothing and can do nothing that has merit, but through Him we have a right to go to God boldly in Jesus’ name.
Without confidence we are like a jet airplane with no fuel. We just sit on the runway and do nothing. But with confidence, we can go places and take people with us. We can enjoy our journey in life because at all times, we have blessed rest and quiet for our souls knowing God will do all He has promised and knowing we can approach Him in faith.
Refuse to do without it. Make confidence a habit. Let’s live our life with Godfidence.