Where Is Your Confidence?

Good morning, everyone! Wow, it is a beautiful day in July with temperatures in the 60's. It's so wonderful to have the cool weather after temperatures soaring into the 100's. Today I just wanted to share something that God has been teaching me lately. I am learning about putting my confidence in Christ in every facet of my life. God has given me certain abilities that I am confident in doing, but sometimes there is no fruit that comes from some of the things in which I invest my time. I know that the reason is that I completely left God out of my planning and doing. God gives us all talents and abilities, it's just how we use them and whether He's a part of it that will cause an impact on another person's life. My prayer and desire is to use these talents and abilities to glorify God and I hope the things I write in this little blog will make the difference in someone's life. Truthfully, most of my life, I have not been a very confident person in the abilities God has given me. My pastor has been encouraging me to express in writing those things that would be a benefit to other people. I am trusting God daily to be able to do this. I looked up the words "confident" and "confidence" and "self-confidence" in the dictionary and found these definitions:

• confident - having strong belief or full assurance; sure: confident of fulfillment.


• confidence - full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing.


• self-confidence - 1. realistic confidence in one's own judgment, ability, power, etc. 2. excessive or inflated confidence in one's own judgment, ability, etc.

I must totally trust in God and let Him be my confidence to be successful in anything I do. I know that without a doubt. This way I stay on the right path. "...for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared." Proverb 3:26 NIV

There are many who are reading this that believe their life is futile and worth nothing. This is not true. We are all God's creation and He has breathed life into all of us. God created all things beautifully...including YOU! If you have received Jesus Christ into your heart, you have the Spirit of God living inside you. Don't let your heart condemn you and say that you are worth nothing. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL IN THE SITE OF GOD!! He has put His confidence within us. "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God." 1 John 3:21 NIV

In my research, I found this quote by Nelson Mandela who was a Nobel Prize winner and former President of South Africa. This was from his 1994 inaugural speech. In never thought about confidence in this manner:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

We must, with confidence in our God-given abilities, come out of our shells and let our light shine to this generation in which we were born. I encourage each of you to reach down deep within and find that confidence God has given you. Use it to help yourself and others for His glory. ". . . let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16 NIV

"And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever." Isaiah 32:17 NASB

Note: Photo taken by my daughter, Karen, at Laguna Beach, California on August 31, 2007