Originally published Monday, 03 October 2016.
I got to the end of the day, pulled into the driveway, stared out the front windshield and laid down a verdict, "I didn't succeed at loving. My morning goals - looked like a blown-out tire by afternoon.
Sure, I began the day with aspirations a mile long - I'd do great things with God, we'd pour out love on people, we would encourage the world with the love of Jesus. But then, life happened. Ugh. I felt much more like a woman on a treadmill - working up a sweat and getting nowhere - than a woman on a mission of grand importance.
I exhaled. Scrunched down in my seat. Clenched the steering wheel.
I stink.
God, I am sorry that I didn't win for you today.
I am sorry that I let you down.
My heart is to go all out for you, but I lost.
Have you sat like me -
wanting to make progress only to end up discouraged?
I recently signed up for Michael Hyatt's Free To Focus Productivity Summit. Reason being? I have a minuscule amount of time to complete a massive amount of ministry. I need help.
Learning a ton, Michael said something that struck me; it clicked: Not keeping up, makes you feel like you are losing. Feeling like your losing diminishes productive confidence.
My confidence ride likes waves. I go high when I am confident, but when the waves crash - so do I. I eat it.
With this, I wonder, shouldn't my confidence look more steady, more consistent?
More like Jesus?
More grace-filled, less about getting ahead?
More locked and loaded on eternity, less concerned with check-marks?
More set on God's big mission, less engrossed with endless busyness?
How does God see confidence?
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Heb. 4:16
I might say, "Do more",
but God says,
"Be more with me. Come more - to me."
Lasting confidence.
Enduring confidence.
Unwavering confidence.
What if I no longer lived like a temperature gauge -
hot and on fire with passion one day, cold in defeat the next?
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
no one will snatch them out of my hand. Jo. 10:28
Godly confidence is knowing that God will never let you go.
It is less in what we do,
or how we see things, and more in who He is - and what he does.
He has our future. Confidence!
He knows our way. Confidence!
He will be faithful. Confidence!
We can fly arms wide open into his will. Confidence!
We can fall and he will still make my fly. Confidence!
We can not know the way - but he will. Confidence!
Confidence in Jesus, can't be stolen, revoked or denied. It is a solid rock; it does not waver.
On what ground does your confidence stand confidence?
Achievement? People pleasing? Perfection? Performance? Busyness? Perhaps it is time to exchanges confidence that crashes like waves for rock-solid confidence that can't be stolen.
4 Foundational Truths that Breed Confidence
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There is no effective building of anything unless the Lord truly resides over everything.
Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Ps. 127:1 -
God's work is less about what you do and more about what He's already decided to do.
For I am confident of this very thing,
that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:6 -
You don't need to fear, God protects you from the snares.
For the LORD will be your confidence
And will keep your foot from being caught. Prov. 3:26 -
You don't have to know where you are going, just that God is going there with you.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Heb. 11:1
The real power of confidence transcends our natural eye. When we pull our strength from the supernatural, something amazing happens - we often do the supernatural. Suddenly, focus is exactly what we have and progress is exactly what we get. It never comes by our strength - but always comes by His. This removes the pressure. It is a heavenly movement on our behalf, not a heart-attack ridden movement by our striving.
This kind of confidence? It makes all the difference.
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