As a believer, any confidence comes from my foundation in God—certainly not from myself! If I relied on self-belief, I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning! So speaking from my perspective, it is important to be confident that my actions align with God’s design for my life. I begin there: his intention gives my actions meaning and purpose. Therefore, it is essential to know his intention for my life. This requires constant communication and best efforts at receiving feedback. It helps to be in the Word so you have a better chance to recognize God’s voice.
If I am confident that I am supporting God’s mission, taking one step forward at a time becomes easier. It also lessens our incessant focus on ourselves, which is the source of self-doubt. I am familiar with God’s power; I know he can accomplish anything. Any doubt I experience comes from trying to convince myself that I am capable, apart from his power.
Unfortunately, aligning your actions with God’s mission and resting in his power is sometimes insufficient. Those forces opposed to God’s success do not willingly lie down and allow God to triumph. They know the most effective path to disrupting God’s agenda is to undermine his soldiers. So just as you confidently take the next step, secure in your knowledge that this is right and God has chosen YOU, there is a whisper in your ear: You can’t do this. You’re too young/ old/ fat/ thin/ uneducated/ incompetent/ imperfect/ unacceptable… you get the idea. It is almost amusing how many excuses can be impregnated into our brains, and also funny—but deadly—that we instantly accept and buy into their premise.
This can be difficult, but one of the best ways I have heard of combatting this niggling doubt is to address it with objective logic: What is the proof of my incompetence? How do you account for the time I successfully managed that new project? Or the time I facilitated that meeting with alacrity? But the bottom line is that lack of confidence equals infiltration of fear. And the best defense I have found for fear is in Scripture. A file of memorized verses is a ready sword to slice through lingering self-doubt and fear:
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Hebrews 10:35-36 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
II Cor 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
II Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-discipline.
I wish I could say that these suggestions are foolproof in combatting self-doubt. But imperfect people will fail in his regard, just as in all others. My assurance is that God will honor our efforts. Nothing can bring a smile to his face faster than a child who seeks to be like him, aligning their steps with their father’s and doing their best to remember his admonitions when their own fortitude falters.
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