Confidence is having trust, faith, and belief in someone or something. It helps you do the impossible, something that will bring about success. Confidence makes us feel good about our lives and ourselves.
But, did you know that there are two different types of confidence?
There’s confidence in yourself and confidence in God. So, what’s the difference?
Confidence in yourself means you are sure that you can accomplish a goal. One of my daughters wanted to make something sweet. She’d never made something sweet from scratch, before. She asked me if she could make something yummy! Of course, I said, “Yes!”.
She began combining flour, sugar and other ingredients and making them into balls. I can only imagine her wondering if they would tase good once she was done. Let’s not forget the fruit she put inside of each of them! Once they were finished, they went quickly! Everyone enjoyed them. She knew she could do a good job, and she did! All she needed was the chance. She was able to see that what she was feeling was correct. She had faith that she would make something tasty. She believed in herself enough to know that this was going to be a good thing. That’s confidence in yourself, and that’s okay!
Confidence in God is Totally Different
This type of confidence is more spiritual than anything. It takes knowing God and His Son, Jesus. You may know yourself and know how far you’re willing to go for anyone or anything, but you can’t know how far you’ll go with God because God is limitless. Having confidence in Him takes getting to know Him and learning that He is trustworthy. We can trust Jesus above all else. He never goes back on His Word! He keeps His promises!
So, what does confidence in God look like?
Knowing that you’re saved by the blood of Jesus is the first and most important thing to know about yourself. If you’re not saved, then your confidence is only in yourself and your own ability and that will only take you but so far, but it won’t get you to Heaven. Confidence in the Creator of Heaven and Earth will have you doing what others say you can’t do, but because God says you can do it, you do it. Confidence in Almighty God looks like having faith in what He told you, despite what anyone says. You can believe that you’ll be successful at whatever God tells you to do because He is Success. He knows what He’s doing and telling you to do. Confidence is knowing you can’t do something well apart from God. You can do things well without God, but they won’t count when you stand before Him. Doing what He tells us is the only thing that will count towards our righteousness in Him.
David was a King of Israel who had total confidence in God. He was victorious in every war He fought and was the commander of the strongest army in the land. David defeated 9′ tall Goliath when he was still a boy.
When Goliath (a soldier in the Philistine’s army) dared challenged the army of God (the Israelites), God’s army was afraid but not David. He asked the men what was this Philistine (Goliath) that dare defy the armies of the living God. David had no fear because he knew his God from being a shepherd in his father’s field. He was trained up to know God. Even though he had a father, He had a strong relationship with the Lord. David even killed a bear and a lion while shepherding his father’s sheep, as a BOY.
David is as an example of how we should put our faith and trust in God. God will help us do things we’d never think to do nor ever think we can do. You’re not too young. God can give you something great to do, and He can get it done, quickly. Do you want to be used by God? Do you want to have more confidence in Him than in yourself, like David? The Good News is you can have confidence that God can work through you to do amazing things! Plus, you can help others know God through the good work He gives you to do. All you have to do is ask Him, then wait for Him to answer. When He does, you’ll have all you need to have a successful life, period.
So, yes, you should have confidence in yourself but not more than the confidence you put in God. When you have confidence in God more, then you’ll have confidence that what He’s told you to do, you can do! And that’s the best confidence to have, ever!
I’m glad you read this! (Muah!)
Thanks for reading!
It’s easy to have confidence in God, but what about Jesus? Some people have a hard time believing that Jesus’ actual body come up out of the grave and rose up into Heaven. This is where faith sets apart believers from unbelievers. If you can believe that Jesus rose from the dead, then you can follow Him. If you follow Him, then He know that you trust and love Him. If He knows that you trust and love Him, then He can call you “Friend”.
