The Confidence Connection
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3 (NKJV)
by Alexandra Copeland
Our goal is to abound in faith so that
we are able to be successful in life. Most importantly, our
number one priority should be to utilize faith to get some
things accomplished in the earth for our Heavenly Father. He
has demonstrated such an overwhelming love for us by giving
His Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins. He’s
given us His matchless and perfect Word, and the gift of the
Holy Spirit that indwells us. He has given us a body as His
temple, and the earth to call our home. The level of which
God has demonstrated His love towards us is absolutely
astounding. It is unparalleled, and we did not deserve any
of it. So we should desire, if we truly love the Lord, to
use our lives to show Him how much we appreciate His
goodness.
In order to get anything done in the
earth, we’re going to need faith. Romans 12:3 (NKJV) says,
“For I say, through
the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to
think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of
faith.” God is warning us through the Apostle Paul that
we shouldn’t get a big head because we may have a greater
level of skill and ability in one area than the next person.
He’s warning us not to get arrogant or conceited about what
we’re able to do, because Heavenly Father is the One who
doles out the goodies. He gives us skills, talents, and
abilities, and to exercise them in this earthly realm He has
also given every person a measure of faith.
This is something we are all born with.
A healthy baby comes out of the womb with a mindset
conducive to growing and learning, and soon they are able to
walk, run, and become self-sustaining to a certain degree.
So we begin life with faith, and we would not be able to do
anything or go anywhere without faith, because it takes
faith to accomplish any-and-everything.
One of the problems that we encounter
sometimes is that we become so reliant on ourselves, on our
own abilities and skills in the flesh, that we forget to
grow in the faith of Jesus Christ. We become comfortable
setting bars and benchmarks, and more and more we look to
other things and people to make our worlds go around. We
won’t get very far in God’s purposes like this.
It is inevitable that we will all reach
a point where a certain measure of faith is not going to be
sufficient to move us further in the plan that God has for
our lives. God has a plan for each and every one of us. We
are not accidents. No matter how it is that we came to be,
God sent us to this earth for such a time as this. Our
mission is to do what He has created us to do. This is where
we find our groove. It’s where our confidence gets wings.
Jesus Christ understood confidence. We
can see this is John 8:29 (NKJV) where he said,
“And He who sent Me is
with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do
those things that please Him.” Talk about a branding
statement, this is one for the ages. These words just ooze
with confidence, and it is a confidence that is anchored in
God. Jesus said, “I
ALWAYS do those things that please Him.” Whoa! Those are
the most beautiful words that any being can utter.
Confidence is the action part of faith.
It’s trusting your empowerment from God to move out in the
faith of Jesus Christ. You can have faith without
confidence, but you can’t have confidence without faith. In
other words, you can believe that something can be done, and
not do it. The confidence connection is made when we believe
that something CAN be done; we believe we are empowered by
God to accomplish it, and we take up our crosses and do the
doggone thing. So the confidence connection links the
personal ability that we’ve cultivated through God’s grace
with the overwhelming privilege we have to do those things
that please Him.
There’s a certain favor that engulfs
your life when you’re on track with God’s purpose, and this
favor spills over into everything that you do. It blesses
situations and circumstances, and it even causes other’s to
be blessed simply because they are connected with you. This
favor comes with pleasing God. It is in pleasing God that
our faith muscles really begin to get a workout and our
confidence builds. Things that would normally take a person
three years to do will be cut to a fraction of that time
when he or she becomes confident in God and in their ability
through Christ.
When we begin to think that we can do
things without God’s co-sign, or when we do not make a
commitment to grow in a Christ-kind of faith, the end result
will be lack of confidence in ourselves. This is symptomatic
of someone that will spend a good portion of their lives
trying to make square pegs fit in round holes. They hitch up
with a person that they never received a green light from
God to marry, or they exhaust resources of time and money in
a project or venture that doesn’t jive with their purpose.
They will experience roadblocks and
setbacks. Many will attribute these to life just happening,
but really, it is a call for us to go deeper in our
relationship with God, so that we can lean more on His
supernatural ability working through us, rather than trying
to make things happen for ourselves. Philippians 2:13 (NKJV)
affirms, “for it is
God who works in you both to will and to do for His good
pleasure.” Often times this is the place that we have to
go back to. We have to remember that it is God’s power on
loan to us. He’s working on the inside of us to accomplish
HIS purposes.
A person that has lost confidence in
themselves can be one of the saddest people that you will
ever meet. Life seems to come to a standstill for them, and
everything in their lives loses momentum. They are afraid to
try anything because they’ve been met with so much
disappointment in their lives, and they don’t want to get
back on the horse again. It isn’t God’s Will for anyone to
feel this way, yet we see so many people in a mental and
emotional state of having no confidence and many
insecurities.
God can and will build up this area in
our lives if we will allow Him. Getting back on track
requires that we get in the Word of God and begin to
meditate on those powerful scriptures that teach us about
the faith of Jesus Christ. It is also very important that we
recognize that sometimes disappointments and even disasters
in our lives occur because we’re dabbling in areas and
situations that are outside the boundaries of God’s purpose
and design for our lives. God doesn’t want us to be
insecure. He wants us to be confident by making a greater
commitment to walk in His Will, get closer to Him, and to
focus on doing those things that please Him. When we do
this, we’ll grow in the same confidence of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. ■
Scripture taken from the New King
James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.
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