The quality of confidence can be defined as: faith, belief, trust, assurance, certitude, being sure, undisturbed calm. It is a spirit of faith that is certain of success, yet not afraid of failure.
Every person used by God reaches their potential through confidence in God – despite difficulties, challenges and obstacles.
Encounters with God
Think of what happened to these people after an encounter with God:
- Abraham left home to become a great nation.
- Esther conquered fear realising she had come to the kingdom for ‘such as time as this’ – to rescue her people.
- Moses led Israel out of Egypt.
- Joshua led Israel into Promised Land.
- David defeated Goliath.
- Mary overcame public shame, criticism and gossip to become the mother of Jesus.
- After Pentecost, Peter preached with boldness. Contrast that to his denial of Jesus before the coming of the Spirit.
Confidence before God leads to confidence within yourself then confidence before others and even confidence in the face of opposition.
Of course, we want to avoid over-confidence, which is more about self-confidence than confidence in God. False confidence can lead to arrogance, presumption and boasting. Pride goes before a fall but God exalts the humble.
Lack of Confidence
Most leaders I know deal with a lack of confidence. They face regular feelings of fear, unbelief, doubt, inadequacy, inferiority, insecurity, and intimidation.
Timothy was a young leader with a good faith from a godly heritage and good character but he was shy and lacking in confidence. That is why the aposlte Paul wrote to him and said:
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7. NIV
Godly Confidence
The apostle Paul models a godly confidence when he says:
“I can do all things (that's confidence!) through Christ who strengthens me (that's dependence!).” Philippians 4:13.
Confidence (like passion and faith) is NOT permanent! You can gain it, you can lose it, you can maintain it, you can build on it and you can grow it.
Tomorrow we will look at some confidence knockers then some confidence builders.