Chapter 1 - What is God Confidence?
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
- Philippians 4:13
IN OUR CULTURE, WE ARE ALWAYS TAUGHT TO BE SELF-CONFIDENT. Self confidence is believing in yourself and not relying on God for help. As kids, we were taught to love ourselves and to look inside for our confidence. Have you ever heard the old saying "If you think you can, you will"? Yeah. That is basically the simplified definition of self confidence.
You see, I don't believe in being self-confident. I really, really don't agree with the world's definition of "confident". When you are self-confident, your confidence is dependent on yourself. How confident you are is dependent on how you feel in the morning, what your friends say, how you see yourself when you look into the mirror, and the clothes you wear. That is self confidence.
As a young generation who follows Christ, I believe that we need to be God-confident. God confidence is different from self confidence in that it is a total reliance upon God. We are not a reliable source, which is why we need God to lead us and strengthen us. You see, when you are God-confident, your confidence is now dependent on God. You now know what He says about you, how He sees you when you look into the mirror, and that you can do anything with His help.
You have probably heard Philippians 4:13 as a child, right? Many of us never actually understand what it means. Let's take a closer look at this Scripture together. This verse says:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
What this verse is NOT saying is that you can do a thousand push-ups or fly to Saturn with God's help. It IS saying that whatever comes your way, God is with you, and you can do anything with His help because He is with you and for you.
Be encouraged! God loves you and wants to be your Helper. He loves it when you talk to Him and ask Him for anything you need. Don't ever be ashamed to come to God in prayer. He is waiting, and He is ready to listen.
Take a few moments to write your thoughts in the space provided. Write down something that you learned in this chapter, or just talk to God. Write a little love letter to the Lord. He wants you to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. Once you know who He is, you will be able to obey Him.
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