Self-confidence or God-confidence?

1 Corinthians 10:12

"Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence."

The context surrounding this verse is one where Paul is warning the Corinthians of being too self-confident in themselves, but this verse in particular stuck out to me for a slightly different reason.

In our culture being self-confidence and having good self-esteem is very highly regarded. But I think these ideas are so ingrained into us, that we so easily forget to rely on God; to put our confidence in God; to find our self-worth in how God sees us.

I know I screw up, I know that I make my mistakes. We are all human and will fail and fall. So often I can get caught up in trying to do things right, trying to be a good Christian, that I forget that I am God's daughter. I don't need to measure myself by the standards of this world, or put such a high value on how others view me when I am a daughter of the King! I have been chosen by the King, and He sees me as I am and loves me. He knows I will make mistakes, he knows I won't be perfect, but he sees my potential. He sees who I was created to be and is continually encouraging me to keep growing towards that.

The arrows that the Enemy throws at me through the hurtful words of others, or the things he whispers to me in areas where he knows I am weak don't need to hurt when I remember that I am God's beloved.

My confidence is in the One who created me; the One who knit me together in my mother's womb; who already knew the mistakes I would make; already knew how I would grow towards Him; already knew of the times I would turn away.

My worth is found in being God's beloved daughter. I don't need anything else beyond that, yet God is constantly reminding me through those around me. He is constantly encouraging me through the words of others, through incidences where He shows he is caring for me, through the truth that He speaks through the Bible. He lavishes His love on me so much!


Dear Papa,
I am in awe of the love that you have for me. How you are in every little detail, loving me through good and bad, constantly speaking to me and whispering, even shouting at times, how much you love me! And I can never reciprocate all that you have done for me. I owe you my life, yet you sacrificed your Son so that I might be redeemed, my debt paid in full. I want to give you my whole life and everything that is part of it, but so often I fail. Yet your grace is there to catch me, to bring me through, to teach me lessons, and to draw me closer to You. There are not enough words to describe you or what you have done for my life. Thank you so much for everything! For my friends, my family, my church, my new home, the people I will meet, and so on. I could go on forever!

Thank you for this reminder of how much you love me. I can never thank you enough. May my life be a life of continual worship to you!

I love you Papa :-)

Marieke

Thanks God!

My car recently started making an awful noise, and I was a bit worried that something horrible had gone wrong that would cost tons of money. I had been praying about it just yesterday.

Well, now it is fixed, and I didn't even have to pay a single penny! My dad had to get a part for his car at a dealership and since his car had gone kaput, I picked him up and took him there over lunch. He heard the noise and guessed what it was, so he grabbed a mechanic and all my car needed was some steering fluid (or whatever it's called). So the mechanic filled up the tank thingy (can you tell how much I know about cars?) and even gave me the rest of the bottle to keep with me in case I need it again. I'll eventually need to get the line checked for leaks, but talk about God's provision!

Thank you Lord!

Talk about God "winning the battle" before I even get there *grin*

God's plans

Scripture: Joshua 13:1-7

In this passage of the Bible, God speaks to Joshua about how His plans are not completed, even though Joshua has loved a good long life. There is significance in mentioning Joshua's long life because Joshua was one of two people (the other being Caleb) who trusted in God's faithfulness in helping them overcome obstacles that they would encounter when taking hold of the Promised Land of Canaan. Everyone else in Joshua's generation passed away as they traveled through the desert for about 39 years.

So here is Joshua, after defeating many enemies, and taking over much of the land God promised to the Israelites, but God essentially tells Joshua that he is not done. That his promise has still not been fulfilled and more is to be inherited.

And God lays out exactly what is still to be given to His people.

And then God tells Joshua this:

I myself will drive them out before the People of Israel. All you have to do is allot this land to Israel as an inheritance, as I have instructed you. Do it now: Allot this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Josh 13:6b-7

Many of the people groups that lived in Canaan were larger than the Israelites, outnumbered them, and had more weapons and experience in warfare. Yet here God is saying "The victory will be mine, you don't need to anything but simply take what I am giving to you".

If only I could remember when I hit obstacles in my own life, that the victories belong to God. He has made promises to me that he will keep. All I have to do is surrender the battle to Him, and he will make the victory and give me what has been promised. I still need to take action, I still need to go out there and do what he has asked. There will still be hurt, and there may be casualties, but He is in charge, and he will not let me fail where he has promised there will be victory.


Father, thank you for winning the battles before I even get to them; for going before me and conquering the enemy before I even get to the battlefield. Continue to fill me with your spirit as I go through life so that I can simply focus on the things you are calling me to do, not focus on the difficulties that come my way. My hope is found in you, and I know you have a future laid out for me that will challenge me and bless me in ways that I don't even know. Whisper your truths to me in moments of doubt, as you already do, and speak to me that I may speak truth and blessing to others as well. I don't want to be so focused on what is going on in my own life, that I miss chances to reach out to others who are dealing with their own obstacles and enemies. Please continue to give me wisdom, that I may give you glory in all that I do.

Amen

it's raining grace today......

Tonight, I felt God' grace in a neat way. Lately I have been having moments of feeling overwhelmed, stressed out and the like due to my upcoming move. The timing coincided with my church's Grand Opening and I just haven't had the time to devote to some of my responsibilities. I have gotten the essentials done, but I haven't done my best.

At the leader's meeting tonight, I realized that I have a fear of failure, and worry what other people think of me. I realized that these things have been affecting my life in subtle ways that have stolen some of my joy. It added an extra burden to my life that I am not meant to carry. Yes, I am responsible for taking care of Nursery related things, and I have been slacking in some areas, but it is not the end of the world. The people around me understand and God knows what's up.

I can so easily get caught up in being busy and so easily let guilt weigh me down. But what good does that do? When I am focusing my attentions on God, the rest will fall into place. When I am connected with God and connected to his will, where can I go wrong? It is only when I stray, when I let the busyness of life get in the way of my relationship with God that all the pressures and stresses threaten to overwhelm me.

But that is what I love about God's grace. It is there for the asking. Wallowing in guilt or fear does no good, but taking God's hand and letting Him pull me up to my feet draws me closer to Him and sets me back on track. As long as I am "falling forward" when I fall on my path closer to Jesus, I will continue to grow. We all fall, I will continue to fall, but as long as I am letting God pull me up, or even pick me up, the falling doesn't matter. What matters is being close to Him, of keeping my eyes focused on Him and persevering on the path he has set before me.


God, thank you so much for your perfect timing. It may not seem perfect to my human eyes, but you know the whole picture and you know what is right and good, even though it may not seem that way at first. Thank you for placing me in a community of fellow believers who love you more than anything. What I love about our church is that we can all be ourselves, and that our "style" is simply a reflection of who we are. The love that we have for each other can only come from you! I pray that you would continue to grow us closer to you, both individually and as a church, that we would continue to shine your love everywhere we go! You are truly an awesome God!

Here I am Lord....

~Marieke

Here I am...

The beginning of my online prayer journal.