Live With Confidence

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.  He will be like a bush in the wastelands;  he will not see prosperity when it comes.  He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.  But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:5-8

I opened my bible to this passage yesterday.  It spoke volumes to me.

Trust in the Lord.  Not man.  It was as if God was speaking directly to me, “Alissa, trust in Me, not in people.  Then you will have confidence.  Not fear and worry.”

Who doesn’t want confidence?  I certainly do.  Honestly, I live a life reigned with fear and worry.   There are so many things I would have loved to have done or do currently, but fear keeps me from moving.  Fear paralyzes.  I have had this dream of becoming a writer and speaker for so long, and yet the only thing that has prevented me from pursuing it, has been fear.  And you may think of fear as “scary movie” type fear.  But fear that is even more disabling is the fear of failure, fear of losing control, fear of losing something, fear of rejection, fear of not being good enough.  These fears are real and I experience them often–sometimes without even realizing it.   So, am I destined to live with this fear?  Will I always struggle and never fulfill the plans God has for me because I am afraid of taking a risk?

And life with God is a risk.  It’s called faith.  There is no guarantee of personal success, or happiness, or safety, or a life without sadness.  Life with God is about trusting.  Believing that He is God, that He is who He said he is!

Yes, Lord this is what I desire!  

But… how am I trusting in “man”, other people, myself, my husband?  How am I NOT trusting in you?

This question plagued me.  I love the Lord.  I placed my faith in Him 12 years ago.  I DO trust in Him, don’t I?  It was like God spoke to me, “Then why do you fear?  Why do you worry?”

Well, I long to be transformed by His word.  I know He is calling me to live differently, to follow Him, to pursue him with passion, to live a radically obedient life! I do want this!  I desire this in my heart, in my spirit!  But in the body, my flesh is weak.  But, I must remember that in my weakness, God is strong!  He is strong enough, big enough, good enough, powerful enough, loving enough.  He is ENOUGH! He alone can break this stronghold of fear in my life!

Jeremiah 17: 7 says our confidence is in the Lord, trust in Him!  There is no fear.  There is no worry.  Get that?  None of it.

So, I ask myself, what is confidence?  It means having certainty, freedom from doubt, a feeling of trust, confident hopefulness.

Then, what is fear?  To be afraid, feeling worry or concern or insecurity, uneasy, apprehensive about a possible situation or event.

Which one do YOU want?  Confidence or fear? You cannot have both. We are either confident or fearful.  They are in opposition to one another.  If I am confident, I am not lacking security, uneasy or apprehensive.  If I am fearful, I am not free from doubt, trusting and certain.

Wow.  I either trust God and have confidence in Him.  Or I live in fear.  They cannot exist simultaneously.  Now, do I struggle with fear in the midst of my faith in Christ?  Absolutely.  Following Jesus doesn’t mean I will always have confidence and never fear.  It means that when I begin to fear, I must remind myself to realign my heart to trust in Him once again.  To believe He is who He says He is and believe He will do what He says He will do.  And then, with courage, listen to what He is telling me to do and obey.  Its about obedience!  Life isn’t about growing in our faith so we feel good.  He calls us to move!  To go!  To get up and do something!  We were never meant to be stagnant.  We were never meant to be comfortable.  I look around me right now as I sit here writing this and I am comfortable.  I live in America.  I have a beautiful home, an abundance of things.  We are safe and my kids are playing outside in 70 degree weather.  I am healthy, and well fed.  I am comfortable.  So are you.  But Jesus never called us to be comfortable.  He says in Matt 28:19,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Did you read the same verse I just read?  There are some verbs in there: go, baptize, teach, obey.  These are not words of a stagnant, comfortable person.  But us women are really good at reading His word, listening to a great sermon or a great speaker at a women’s event and thinking, “Boy that is awesome!  I’m pumped up!  That was inspiring.” and then never do anything with it.

James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.”

I don’t want to just be inspiring.  I want women to respond to the Holy Spirit’s calling on their lives and get up and start going after God!  I want women to have a passion for what God’s passionate about and I want them to be transformed through His word!  That is what Jesus wants.  That is what I want.  I want that for my own life.  I want that for your life!

Psalm 71:5 says this, “For you have been my hope, O sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.”

It’s not about just hoping for confidence, its about knowing we already have confidence.  In this verse, confidence is a noun!  God is our confidence.  He is our certainty.  He is a sure thing, now and forevermore.

There is no fear where there is confidence.  Let me end with Psalm 27: 1-3.  Oh, how I pray this will speak truth into your hearts.  I know I haven’t won the battle with fear today.  But, I am committing to read this verse daily for the next month.  I challenge you to do the same.  And then, inevitably, when God’s truth is spoken into our hearts day after day, it will become our truth.  And only then will fear of my flesh begin to fade away and my confidence in the sovereign God of the universe begin to grow.

Psalm 27: 1-3  “The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid?  When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.”

We all struggle with fear.  What fears are paralyzing you from moving forward in your life? What dreams would you pursue if you had confidence in the Lord?