The right kind of confidence
I am reminded a lot of confidence this week, when I do not feel confident in much of anything.
But, I will NOT LOSE my confidence or my reward! I will stand firm in Christ and in His truth, and in the fact that He lives in me. My confidence is not based upon condition or circumstance, nor feelings or opinions (of others or my own), as I sometimes think. The enemy wants to steal our confidence.
Just because the sun is not shining (or rather that its beams aren’t obvious) does not make it any less true that it still remains there or that it’s shining. It’s just not shining through.
It is not any less true that the sun is the sun and that it does daily rise, and that it does just what it was meant and created to do. It does never not rise. Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean that it’s not there or working. The wind is still the wind, even when it’s not blowing.
Sometimes God is like a mighty rushing wind and so obvious (Acts 2:2) and sometimes a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). Don’t miss it just because it’s not what or as how you think it should be. Sometimes we can’t feel Him at all but He is all around us. (Acts 17:27-28) He always shows back up and shows out when we least expect, and in ways that we can’t imagine. He works in mysterious ways. Just look around. Creation is proof.
I can’t change Who God is or who He created me to be. I can be confident of this. We see in Genesis 1 as God was creating the heavens and the earth, and all in it, He also looked and saw that it was good. God makes no mistakes. We were created in His very own image.
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. Genesis 1:31
Just because things may look bleak as they sometimes do, does not mean that He’s given up on us, but that He’s just working behind the scenes. It’ll eventually shine through. Good things just take a little time.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Genesis 1:2-3
I am reminded that God can do whatever He wants to and whenever He wants. He can bring something from your nothingness and bring light out of dark. Just as His Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters, so it is over our lives.
We are works in progress but He is perfection and we can be confident in that. We are His.
Confidence is not based on feelings but truth and the fact that God remains, and so, so must our confidence in Him. Not in feelings or conditions. For His love is unconditional, and His power is undeniable and never ending. No matter how it feels… It doesn’t change the fact that God is still God and that He loves and is for you. That His power is in you. Just because we don’t feel a certain way or use what He has given, doesn’t mean that it’s not still there.
Confidence is unwavering and sure to the core. Again, It’s not based upon emotions or circumstance. It’s not up and down like feelings/ we can be rooted in the right kind of confidence.
So many are confident in conditions, job titles, what they do or don’t do, rank, opinions, positions, standings, finances, beauty, vanity and the list goes on. These things are temporary and daily aging, fleeting and replaceable. The things of God are not! That is why we must build our hope on things eternal and hold to God’s unchanging hand. Our true treasure should be in things eternal.
Confidence has full trust, security, safety, reliance, and assurance IN the One it’s confident in. It’s not who I am, or what I have. It’s WHOse I am and what He has. I am my Father’s and my confidence is in Him. He owns it all/ He created it all. Too many people are self reliant instead of God propelled. They will eventually fail and come to find that they need more than self confidence when things aren’t working like they thought ‘they would or should’. “Many are a man’s plans but it is the Lord’s plans that stand.” Who or what is propelling or guiding you? Where does your confidence lie? What are you not confident in? What or who are you leaning or reliant on? It’ll eventually fail.
We all go through dry, dull, bleak, dark, rainy, productive and sunny seasons. But we can be fruitful in all of them… even though we don’t feel like it. Fruits just take time to come out. When things are dormant and cold, the real work is happening underneath.
Work for the reward, not the feelings. The feelings will come but the work won’t. We just decide to work and see it through. The work will be rewarded, not the wish. It’s easy to have good feelings toward something. It’s hard to work toward something when the feelings have worn off. The work will be rewarded. If not now, later. We don’t fall out of love or lose confidence. We fall out of work and stop trying. We give up hope and let go. We are told to hold onto our hope, to endure till the very end and to not grow weary in doing well. We receive our reward and harvest at its due time, but only if we do not give up. (see Zechariah 9:12)
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. Hebrews 10:35
If God tells us that it will be rewarded, it will be. Hold onto that!
He’s still working on me, to make me what I oughta be…. 🎶
BEING CONFIDENT Of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Philippians 1:6
I lift up mine eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? The Lord, The Maker of heaven and of earth. 🌍
May we be confident and have Godfidence in the right things, rather than in the wrong. May we be fixed on the true facts of what God says and not the false facts of what we think or feel. May we rely on the One Who made us and died for our shortcomings and sins. It is finished. That’s the hope we can abide in.
No doubt that it was dark that day as Jesus faced and endured the cross, and the time leading up to it. But, He overcame. The third day is coming soon… He endured for many years leading up to.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith ; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Hebrews 12:2-3
Our minds are the place where we begin the battle and either quit or endure. It’s where the lies begin and where truth begins. Those whose minds are stayed on Him are kept in perfect peace because they trust Him. Confident in Whose!
For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught. Proverbs 3:26
