Confidence

Hebrews 10: 35

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

Confidence is important. It often affects our performance. This is a kind of self-confidence; confidence in our training, knowledge and skills. There is another kind of confidence too. It is confidence in our salvation, our relationship with the Father and ultimately confidence in Him. This confidence really does have great rewards.

Your behaviors are significantly affected by your measure of confidence. I think of basketball players who shoot because they have confidence in their skills and they keep on shooting even if they miss their first five shots. Confidence causes you to act differently than you would if your confidence is low. You make that sales call, believing you will get the sale. Sometimes it is that confidence that gets you the sale.

Well, our confidence in God works the same way. We behave differently because we have great belief. Perhaps we pray for someone. Perhaps we have the boldness to take a step that the Father has spoken to us because we have confidence in Him and believe that He is backing us up. When we act in the confidence we have in the Father it is called faith. You do what you wouldn’t do otherwise because you believe in the one who is backing you up. And brother when you act out of the confidence that you have in the Lord, it pays huge dividends.

Is it easy? Not always, but it is rewarding. No one has ever done anything great without taking a risk. Think of some of the ministers you know and the awesome success they are enjoying. You know they went through times of fear and doubt but ultimately they let their self-doubt receded behind their faith in the Almighty. Their confidence in Him and His ability carried the day. I marvel at these folks and how they have walked on the water. It is so inspiring because they have not done anything that you and I cannot do. They haven’t succeeded because of their great intellect or because of their great skill. They have attained great heights because they trusted the Word of the Lord. They were willing. They were bold enough to step out on that Word and trust God to be capable. Their success is because of God. The difference in some of us and them is that they were willing to step out in their confidence in God and we have not been . . . until today.

Today is a new day. We can express our confidence in the Mighty One. When we do, the reward is great. I don’t say it is easy. I am just saying let’s do it anyway. We don’t even have to believe in ourselves. We just have to have confidence in Him. So, how far can we stretch today? What would Dad like to do with our faith in Him? This can get really fun. It’s kinda like a roller coaster; it’s a little frightening as you get started but oh so exhilarating and then once the ride is over you want to do it again.