CONFIDENT STRENGTH

By: Dennis Harworth

            What are you overly confident and braggadocious about?  This was a reflection question asked at a Men’s Bible study.  I haven’t heard that word in a very long time.  I couldn’t really answer the question for myself.  Honestly, the first thing I thought of was people in the service industry who just brag about what they can do. “Oh yeah, I can do that,” but they just said that to get the job.  They might sound confident, but they probably don’t have a clue what they are doing.  Being boastful or arrogant might come across as confidence, but there’s a big difference between actually knowing you can do something and just saying convincingly that you can.

          Take this into the spiritual realm, and let’s talk about confidence in God. It’s not about what you can do – even with your abilities or experience.  It does not come from relying on your own strength, ideas, or opinions.  Confidence in God is about a deep trust and assurance in what God can do—and not only for you, but through you.  This confidence in an all-powerful God begins with a deep, passionate faith in the character, nature, and attributes of the one true, faithful God and His promises.  It is knowing and believing who God is, what His Word says, and who we are in Him.  It comes when you put His Word in your heart which gives you the strength and confidence to do what God said you could do.

          Paul the Apostle was a great example of being very confident in the Lord God.  I can imagine he spoke with conviction about God’s strength in Philippians 4:13, as well as the tone in which he said it.  It is not like the way we meekly say today, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” as a wishful thought you throw up in the air.  I don’t think so!  I feel like Paul was this fiery, ignited, passionate man who boldly declared and decreed:

“I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!”

He openly proclaimed it because he had this confident strength inside him. He wasn’t going to be shut down, shut up, or put out. He was going to say it like it is because he knew – deep down inside – that passion, that strength, that confidence is only what God can give.  Paul could speak with assertiveness and full expectation that what God said would come to pass – because God said it.  He believed it.  You know what?  If God said it – and it’s impossible for Him to lie – it has to happen! (Hebrews 6:18).

You can have this confidence and believe what God said.  When He says, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29), – He does.  When He says, “I will strengthen you” (Isaiah 41:10), – He will.  When His Word tells you, “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13 NLT). – you can take it to the bank.  You can act on it with full assurance that when He said it, it’s a done deal!  You just have to be obedient to act on His promises with your

CONFIDENT STRENGTH.