Three Things to Know About Confidence

It is elusive. It is something others have. It is something we all want but secretly fear we will never obtain. 

Confidence. 

That ten letter word has eluded many people and been the bane to even more. 

Just search the word “confidence” on Amazon and you will get over 1300 results. But what does the Word say about confidence? 

Let’s look. 

Job 4:5-7

But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart. You are terrified when it touches you.

Doesn't your reverence for God give you confidence? Doesn't your life of integrity give you hope?

“Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed?

Confidence by definition is “full trust, assurance and certitude”. 

So when we read Job we can see three things about confidence that we may not have seen before. 

1. Confidence comes from our reverence of God.

This is not as easy as it sounds. Real reverence is giving respect and honor, but more than that it is giving a PLACE of honor and respect in our lives. God isn’t just God on Sundays. He wants to be revered and honored every day in your life. When we think something is important we give that thing priority. How would you rank God in your life? Is He number one or are you? Maybe your spouse has slipped into that spot. Maybe your kids have usurped Him in your life. If we really honor God as the most important part of our lives, then this will give us confidence.

2. Confidence can overcome fear.

When trials come, and they will (James 1:1-6) we all face that moment of panic. If left unchecked, that little jump in the pit of our stomach can turn into debilitating fear. Crippling us from reacting, and strangling us with its talons fear can literally choke the life out of us.

I know a 50-something woman, let’s call her Andrea (name changed to protect her privacy) who recently found out she has breast cancer. After a biopsy, they found that the cancer has not reached her lymph nodes yet, (good news!) but they are waiting on pathology to find out if the cancer is aggressive or not. She has experienced tremendous pain from the biopsy, and fear has made her conclude that if the cancer is aggressive she will not take chemo-therapy. She is giving up before she ever begins the fight. FEAR IS DEADLY!

Confidence in God, in His ability to perform His word, in His purpose for you will strengthen your resolve in life. You will no longer be steamrolled by the trials of life, but will count them all joy instead. You will be prepared to stand and fight, knowing that the Great I Am is behind you and no enemy can prosper against you. That is what confidence can do: it makes you more than a conqueror.

3. Confidence renews your hope and gives you heart.

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” Psalms 18:2

“Now I know that Adonai gives victory to his anointed one — he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand.” Psalms 20:7

“The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Psalms 34:22

“In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.” Proverbs 14:26

 Our hope gets misplaced at times. We think our jobs are what sustain us, or our purpose is only found in the work place or as a wife and mom. These things hold value, but they alone mean nothing. God is our hope. He is our confidence. Trust in Him and the rest will come.

The Bible says faith comes by hearing, but so does confidence. Hear what God is saying to you right now. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. God has plans for you. He will never leave you or forsake you. With Him all things are possible. Build up your TRUST and confidence will come. 

What are your struggles with confidence?

This tandem series on CONFIDENCE is a joint effort between Dana Pittman and Dayna Bickham. Both Dana and Dayna blog about life, grace, and God's love and plan for you. To follow this series, visit here to learn more.

Disclaimer: Some affiliate sites have been mentioned in this blog. 

Overcoming Disappointment and Finding Hope Again

Disappoint means not (dis) settled (appoint) if you break down the etymology of the word.


Disappointment (not being settled) is a hard thing to deal with. If you have anticipated something, like a new job, or a new baby, or a new home, and those things did not come, disappointment is a natural response. The thing we have to be careful of is not to allow disappointment (not being settled) turn into anger toward God or a lack of faith on our part.


Waiting on God in these times is hard. Sometimes we feel all alone.


Even the greatest prophet, Elijah felt alone. He had just splendidly called fire down from heaven, defeated the Baal worshippers and established the sovereignty and holiness of God before the nation and then with a death threat he forgets the faithfulness of God.


How did that happen? How did He go from such a high to such a low so quickly?


Elijah became disappointed the miracle on Carmel did not have more immediate results with the people of Israel. He became self-focused and overwhelmed by fear when Jezebel threatened his life, and he even wanted his life to end. This is more than just disappointment, this was burn out.


Burn out is defined as fatigue, frustration, or apathy resulting from prolonged stress, overwork, or intense activity.


If we are not careful, if we allow disappointment to fester and fear to take over, we end up depressed and unfocused. We become burned out on our works, and in desperate need to get back to the basics with God, which are prayer, worship and reading the word. It happens to the best of us and it often happens after great disappointments.


When we face disappointment we can recognize it, give it to God and allow Him to teach us in that moment, or we switch our focus from God to the circumstances and whine about it, like Elijah did. The former should be our response, but the latter is usually the case.


Thankfully, God is faithful despite our response and He can bring us back around, just as he did with Elijah.


The first thing God for Elijah is he provided for him, even in his desert place. He gave him food, shelter, and water. He teaches us in that moment with Elijah that He is always faithful. He meets our needs and is our sustainer.


Restoration and rest are essential to overcoming burn out and surpassing disappointment.


Resting in God’s provision begins to pull our focus from ourselves and begins to set us back on the path we were meant to be on in the first place. God allowed Elijah to rest and store up His provision, because there was a bigger lesson coming soon.


That second lesson was one I’ve had to learn over and over. God reminds me every time when I take my eyes off of Him, to find Him again. He reminds me to get quiet and focus. God is not in the circumstance: not in the hurricane-like winds, the earthquakes, or in the fire. God is in the quiet, still small voice. The comforter to our soul, He is our buckler and our shield. We have nothing to fear when He is the focus of our lives.


When we stop focusing on the circumstances and focus on hearing what God has to say about the circumstances, then we can move on to the next thing God has for us. Disappointments come, Jesus said in this life we will have trouble, but He also said He had overcome. BE of GOOD CHEER!


Trust in the Lord, and remember His promises are yes and amen. He has planned a future for us, one full of hope and peace. He has promised that He will work things out for our good if we love Him and are called according to His purpose- and we are called!


Jesus talked to the disciples about disappointment. When things do not go the way we plan, we should shake it off like the dust from our feet and move on. Let God deal with the circumstances, let God deal with people’s hearts, Let God deal with our hurts, as we shake off the disappointment like the dust it really is.


We need to get still and let God speak comfort and peace to us. We need to listen for His direction. He will bring us through the flood; he will bring us through the fire.


Let the winds of life blow, let the fire rage, God will raise a standard against it, and if we listen for His voice and follow Him, we will come through.


Lift your eyes to the Lord, where all of your help comes from.


So when you are disappointed, when the hard things of life come, trust that God has a plan, and that plan is designed and tailor made just for you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don’t lean on what you know, lean on Him, even in the disappointments. Don’t become burned out from the work and weighed down by the stress of what you have faced. Guard your heart, and listen for His still small voice. He cares for you.


Have you been disappointed before?  

Developing Your Automatic Truth Response!

My Heart Broke

Recently I spoke to someone who described themselves as unhappy. This was a believer, and a strong woman of faith. She is more than unhappy, she is depressed. I heard her pain, and that is real, but I believe there is a way through. After all, we serve a BIG God! 

I Understand 

My husband and I both have battled depression. This is something that I can spend quite a bit of time talking about. I believe that  depression for the Christian does occur, but there is a way to conquer it and never have to deal with it again.

We get depressed when circumstances and fear exalt themselves above our trust in God. Our doubt allows us to become overwhelmed and over-taken. When this happens, we often do not see any way out. 

A Matter of Perspective 

Let’s look at the 12 spies that went into the Promised Land. (Numbers 13-14) Per God’s instructions Moses sent out 12 spies and they all saw the same things: giants, and milk and honey. In other words they all saw obstacles/circumstance and they all saw God’s promises, but 10 came back choosing to focus only on the circumstances and 2 came choosing to focus on God’s promises. The fate of a nation was delayed 40 years because they had their focus in the wrong place.

We are three parts. God likes threes. God - The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit. See? Three. We are a spirit, we live in a body and we have a soul which is made up of our mind, will, and emotions. 

Depression is a soul issue.

Dictionary-Online defines depression as this: ‘sadness, gloom, dejection’ and goes onto define it as a ‘condition of general emotional withdrawal’. All of these things are a part of the soul, our mind, will, and emotions. (Remember, that we have talked about condition versus position before, and for more on that click here.)

Romans 12:2 says we must renew our mind. We must think and dwell on the things God says, not the lies we allow in our lives, those lies we tell ourselves, and that the enemy, Satan, the father of lies, tells us. Meditate day and night.

The Practical Application of the Spiritual Message

So let’s talk about how we do that. First, get the word in you. Read and listen to the Word daily. Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing…..get the point? Then we must remind ourselves what the Word says throughout our day to day walking around life: our feed the baby, shop for groceries, and drop kids off at the mall- life. This is how you meditate on the Word day and night.

For me it is like a vitamin I take daily to build up my immunity. We boost our immunity physically by feeding our bodies good things and taking care of it regularly, right? And when our body is in working order and a foreign virus enters we have an automatic response to get rid of the thing that does not belong. We must be the same when we have encounters with lies. I call it an Automatic Truth Response  or ATR. 

LIE or CIRCUMSTANCE	WHAT GOD SAYS- the ATR
YOU ARE SICK	GOD IS HEALER
YOU ARE UNABLE	GOD IS MORE THAN ABLE
YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH	GOD IS MORE THAN ENOUGH

What God says is what we should say, believe, act on, and walk out in our lives daily. It should become our ATR. Focus on God more and the problems less.

Let’s look at what happens when we DON’T develop this ATR.

A thought (idea) becomes a high thought (something we think about with regularity) then we begin day dreaming about the thought, playing out scenarios in our heads (Imaginations) and before you know it we are in a strong hold of the enemy, all brought on by a little thought we did not take captive in the first place. We have given a foothold to the devil. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Now we feel like we are helpless in our circumstances. We would rather disobey God’s will for us and wander in a desert for 40 years, barely existing, than battling through our circumstances and enjoying the milk and honey. Now we are depressed and taking a pill to get through the day and we don’t seem to know how we got here.

We need to WAKE UP! For a lack of knowledge God’s people perish (die!!!!).

2^nd Corinthians 10 is clear! We must cast down anything that exalts itself above God.  Proverbs 23:7 says as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.  “Cast down” in Strong’s Concordance (2507) means pull down, lower, and to take authority over!

A Real-time Example of Authority

Recently a friend of mine told her six year old about authority. After having a bad dream that scared the child, his mother wanted not just to comfort him, but to teach him to overcome fear and the enemy. So she reminded him about the times she gave him instructions to tell his little brother something on her behalf. It could have been something as simple as clean up a mess, or to stop throwing a toy, but what was said was not as important as the authority behind it. “Mom said!” It is the same with the enemy. Any lie or circumstance that exalts itself above God, that brings fear or doubt into your life - you must take authority over it and tell it “Daddy says!”

Our authority comes because we are the righteousness of God in Christ. We are the head and not the tail. Our authority comes because THE SAME SPIRIT that raised Christ from the dead lives in us!

The Physicality of A Mind and Heart Battle

When I was a smoker, quitting was not easy. Sometimes I still remember the temporary satisfaction I got from a cigarette. When I do I cast it down. I remind myself that God is my refuge, not a pack of Marlboros. I remind myself that I am the temple of the Holy Spirit, not a blackened lung from a health class poster circa 1990. I say that I am bigger and better than that cigarette because the God of the universe made me and that cigarettes were made by man. THIS WORKS!

What Christ did on the cross is freely given and we can freely receive that, but real freedom from strongholds like I am talking about comes after a battle FOUGHT AND WON! That is freedom that will not be wasted. That is freedom that reflects in our everyday life and shines like a beacon on a hill and draws the lost toward Jesus!

I do not mean to sound so strident. I only want you to find freedom from depression and anxiety. Do not believe the lies. Do not be overwhelmed. Rest in God’s authority and cast down anything that tries to make itself bigger than God in your life and you will OVERCOME! You will have a Breakthrough! Depression will no longer hold you in its talons. 

Join the Conversation: 

I mentioned my husband and I have battled depression before. My husband still does. What get's you through every day? 

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