I know I know, it’s day 2 and I am already behind. That’s because I have been wrestling with….you guessed it a lack of confidence. It has been something that I have wrestled with since I was very young. And I must confess right here and right now that some of this has to do with my personality and then some of that REALLY has to do with circumstances that have happened as well.
And that leads me to tonight’s topic, WHY CONFIDENCE?
Well last year at this time I was beginning to really contemplate my word for the following year. But life was about to get CRAZY! We went from a household of 6 to a household of ten. The circumstances of that change is not something to be discussed on the internet, but it was something both hubby and I felt very strongly that hubby and I were called to do. And to this day we will stand by that decision and we are glad we did! But in all of this I came to become glaringly aware that I doubted almost all that I did. But as I prayed about this new found fear that gripped my life I began to pray….HARD! And you know what I realized? It has ALWAYS been there.
Fear of doing the wrong things ruled my life.
Fear of making people angry.
Fear of disappointing people.
Fear of failure.
Fear of Failure to make the wrong choice.
Fear of ruining someone else’s life.
FEAR ran my life.
Fear is the antithesis of confidence. Fear gives control to someone else. HMMMM.
I cannot pin down the moment that confidence became my word in January of this year but I knew it two or three weeks into January when the lightbulb finally went on. Then came the study, searching out the verse that would become my verse for the year and I landed in the book of Jeremiah
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV
7. “But blessed is the one who trusts the Lord,
whose confidence is in Him
8. They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
WOW WOW WOW
Did you catch all that verse said? Well Have no fear, WE ARE GOING TO BREAK IT DOWN!
Because this is so important for ALL of us to understand.
So That is why confidence. I needed confidence . But not just confidence in myself either. I have NOTHING to offer. Despite all my friends thinking I am the strongest person they know, That is a direct quote people . I stand back and I look at myself in the mirror and I see this weak, broken person who doubts every little thing. I needed a bigger answer. I needed God-fidence . It did me absolutely no earthly good to have confidence in me. I had nothing to offer outside of what Christ has done in me. I was fearful.
Now the thing is I am still fearful. I am 9 months into this journey. I have not arrived and I have to give that fearfulness over to God, and realize He is far bigger than me.
So even though I lack confidence when …
I am fearful, He is all-knowing and all-powerful
I am weak, He is strong.
I fail, he ALWAYS succeeds.
I am not enough for whoever, He is always enough for everyone AT ALL TIMES!
I am imperfect, He is perfect.
And there is so much more.
I know this word places a high value on self-confidence. Even the church does. Because only the self-confident will stand up for themselves. But I am here to tell you that standing up for yourself, tearing another person down to get your point across and voicing your pet peeves is NOT a biblical principle.( NOTE:: There is a difference between fighting for your ” self imposed rights” versus your physical safety. If you find yourself in danger LEAVE!!). Fight for what God says is right not what you think should be right! That is called entitlement.
Time and again we are told not to fight for ourselves but that God will fight for us.
Bible Knowledge .Com lists out 29 verses that Talks all about relying on God to fight for us!
May I encourage you to look at the verses tonight and tomorrow. Then tomorrow we will delve into my verse for the year and we will be discussing what God-fidence REALLY looks like.
And then hopefully later tomorrow I will get caught up with Day 3 and we will look at the differences between self confidence and God-fidence.
Have a GREAT NIGHT
Blessings
Mary
