The other day I was praying in my prayer journal, as I do sometimes, and I wrote the word self-confidence down as a need for myself as well as a friend of mine. But it suddenly hit me that the confidence I want and need is not found in myself, so I quickly marked it out. I began to think about what the word ‘self-confidence’ really means.
According to Merriam Webster’s
Dictionary, Self-Confidence is defined as
“confidence in oneself and in one's powers and abilities.”
Wow. This is
a very worldly term. Not much room for Jesus if we are to have confidence and
depend on ourselves in all that we do.
Often, our
own confidence denotes pride.
I do believe
there is a healthy amount of confidence that is needed in our lives, but that
confidence doesn’t come from self – it comes from Jesus Christ. I often pray
that I will be confident in who I am in Jesus, but for some reason seeing the
word ‘self-confidence’ really jumped out at me.
So I have
decided to now pray for Jesus confidence. It’s not about me, it’s ALL about
HIM! I can’t do anything in my own strength.
“I can do
all things through CHRIST who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
“He must become greater; I must become less.”
John 3:30
“No, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
Romans 8
goes on to say that NOTHING can separate us from God – “For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” Vs. 38-39
”Such
confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in
ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”
2 Corinthians 3:4-5
“In him and
through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Ephesians 3:12
“His divine
power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of
him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3
Such powerful scriptures! I could just quote scripture after scripture to
back up that WE NEED JESUS! We can’t do anything on our own. “Nothing is
impossible with God.” Matthew 19:26
One of my
favorite authors, Beth Moore in her book So Long Insecurity said, “We're
going to have to let truth scream louder to our souls than the lies that have
infected us.” As humans we worry way too much about what other people think
about us. We have to let go and let God lead, and be the people He created us
to be. And not worry what others’ opinions of us are.
So I guess the question is, where does your confidence come from – self
or God? And if your confidence is lacking (like mine often is), we need to pray
for healing in that area in our lives. Because we are called to stand up and be
His hands and feet and shine His light in this dark world. Afterall, we are
created in His image – we reflect our Creator.
Lead, guide, and direct our paths, Lord Jesus. Make us whole and
confident in who we are in You. All that we need is already in us, so manifest
the Jesus confidence in us and use us for Your glory – that in all we do we may
glorify You! I want to exude You, Jesus. I want every ounce of my being to
honor and praise Your Name. Please don’t just let my words be just words,
cultivate the things of You in me and push out the bad. You are the Great
Physician; heal us and use us for Your work. We want to be Your hands and feet
in this dark world. I want to shine Your light! Take me, break me, mold me,
make me – I am Yours! We love you, God! Amen.
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