Learning Curve

by Jon Walker© 2008 Purpose Driven Life

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (NASB)
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The secret to living with confidence is to be confident in God’s compassion and power. He is the Almighty and everlasting God, and his power and compassion are unlimited. We gain confidence by developing confidence in God and letting go of confidence in ourselves.
When we think we have to do it on our own, or when we think we are doing it on our own, we stand on an uncertain foundation, like the man who built his house upon the sand. No matter how confident we are in ourselves, eventually the rains will come, washing away our self-confidence.
But when we have God-confidence, we know – deep down – that we will always be able to approach God’s throne of grace boldly with confidence – knowing “we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:16, NLT)

With God-confidence, we know we are loved and accepted by God; we know we are created and shaped by God; we know we have talents and skills given to us by God, and by understanding our true position in Christ, we can be confident that God is with us always, even unto the ends of the earth, even when we open our mouths to speak.
In faith, we can be confident, knowing God’s power is there, trusting God makes it possible for us to do “all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, NASB)

What does this mean?
· Transfer your confidence to God – Believe he is “working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13, NLT) Compare your track record to God’s and see which of you has proved to be more trustworthy. If you believe your confidence should still remain with you, ask God to help you dig deep to uncover why you believe that way. He is never upset or surprised by such honesty.

· Trust God’s Spirit is working within you – Ask God to develop within you a confidence that his Spirit will give you a supernatural power to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and to release prisoners from the darkness. (Adapted from Isaiah 61:1-3)

· Why God-confidence is important to you – You may be thinking, “There’s something I’d really like to do, but I don’t think that I can do it.” This kind of thinking may keep you from even trying, but if you’re confident in God – and what he can do through your life – then there’s every reason to move forward, and no good reason to stand still.

· If you had God-confidence, how would the next few days of your life be different?

Posted in: Articles on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at at 12:50 PM