As the President of the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs, the Lord laid the theme of Cultivating Faith-filled Confidence on my heart early on. Years later we’re still seeking Confidence from Him as we serve God and the people He has entrusted to us! We’ve texted and messaged “confidence encouragements” to one another, we’ve held 100+ Zoom webinars about it, we’ve prayed confidence over one another at retreats and conferences, we’ve written about it and published our first Anthology!
I want you to receive confidence from the Lord for this new year in abundant measures and new ways. I’ll share why confidence is important, what I believe the Lord means by “confidence” and how to hear from Him to cultivate godly confidence in life, through trials, as you serve, as you grow and prosper in all dimensions of health, and as you write to share what He teaches and how He leads you!
Shout a resounding “YES” to God’s confidence and read on, subscribe, and share with us as we grow together in confidence!
Why is Confidence Important?
Confidence is a feeling or consciousness, even faith or belief, in your ability to act in a right, proper, or effective way.
When you are not confident, you are filled with doubt about yourself or in your calling from the Lord, and you react instinctively to survive. That’s a good thing! But it doesn’t feel too good, does it?
As a Biblical Counselor of families in crisis since 1995, I walked alongside others who struggled to survive. When faced with overwhelming stress, we automatically respond to protect ourselves. Professionals categorize these responses as fight, flight, freeze, fawn, or flop responses.
Without Confidence:
- You fight to maintain power and control and to face a perceived threat.
- You flee (in flight) to run away from danger. That’s not always a cowardly act. There is a proper time to flee to safety and wait upon the Lord!
- You freeze with an inability to move or act against the threat.
- You fawn or cower, even yield to please someone to avoid conflict.
- You flop/faint or may even collapse and become unresponsive.
Faith-filled Confidence:
Next time, you can respond with steps to build confidence:
- You can foster peace instead of fighting. In the Bible, God tells us in Matthew 5:9 that He blesses the peacemaker!
- You can stay the course instead of fleeing (flight).
- You can spring into action instead of freezing.
- You can stand your ground instead of fawning or giving in.
- You can stay calm instead of flopping/fainting. In Isaiah 7:4 God says, “…take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted…”
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.Psalm 46:1-3, NASB
God understands and even writes about the impact of traumatic experiences and the lack of confidence we feel. The Lord was aware and understood our distresses long before we were able to identify and label them, and the good news is He promises that we can find encouragement in knowing God hears us!
What is Faith-filled Confidence?
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
2 Corinthians 3:4, NASB
With confidence, I can say true confidence comes from the Lord and from God’s word, and from no other source. Of course, there is a difference between how the world defines confidence and how the Lord defines confidence.
Confidence According to the World
- Confidence is support, especially in a legislative body.
- It is a discrete and trusted communication made in secret.
- Confidence is a relation of trust or intimacy.
- It is a firm belief in the integrity, ability, effectiveness, or genuineness of someone or something. You place deep confidence in others.
- Confidence is great faith in oneself or one’s abilities.
- It is faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way.
Confidence According to the Lord
There are seven different original lexicon words in Hebrew in the Old Testament for the word confidence.
From God’s Promises in the Old Testament, you learn:
You are to put your confidence in God. In 2 Kings 18:19-22, King Hezekiah was credited with confidence and trust in the Lord God as he reigned over Judah. Psalm 118: 8 and 9 tell us it is better to trust in the Lord than to place confidence in man.
Confidence in God comes with reward! Your foot will not be caught (Proverbs 3:26). You will have refuge (Proverbs 14:26). You will be saved and strengthened (Isaiah 30:15).
You can put your trust in trustworthy leaders.
From God’s Promises in the New Testament, you learn:
You can ask God anything, and He will hear you.
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
1 John 5:14-15, NASB
- Paul teaches that confidence in the Lord will empower you to preach the Gospel unhindered! (Acts 28:25-31). Confidence in the Lord will affirm your love for God! (2 Corinthians 2:2-3). Your ministry will be commended (2 Corinthians 6).
- Like Paul, you can be gentle and bold as you work for the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:1-2). You can be confident that in weakness and in strength, the Lord will use you (2 Corinthians 11).
- Your heart will be comforted, and you will have confidence in those you serve (2 Corinthians 7:16). You will receive grace from those you serve (2 Corinthians 8:22).
- In confidence, you will be led by and walk in the Spirit with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5). You will have a boldness for stewardship (Ephesians 3). Your life goal will be to “worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3). You will realize and receive a great reward in confidence (Hebrews 10:35).
- Whatever you ask of the Lord, you will receive (1 John 3:21). You will be confident of eternal life! (1 John 2:28).
- God’s way is that you would have a confident heart and a faith-filled life!
We Build Confidence as We Hear, Believe & Obey the Lord
Confidence comes from the Lord first and foremost. Our responsibility is to hear Him, believe what He says, and respond to Him in obedience. HBO – hear, believe, and obey!
Hear the Lord
Hearing God requires you to purposefully and intentionally meet with him as the CEE—Chief Executive of Everything for your life—on a regular and very intimate basis. I asked God some very specific questions as I felt Him prodding me to make some significant changes in my organization this year, and I heard His answers:
- when I was willing to sit still long enough and
- when I was willing to acknowledge His answers, especially as some of them were not exactly what I wanted to hear.
What will it take for you to hear from the Lord in this season—perhaps more intimately than you’ve ever heard Him before? Listen to God’s voice with a sincere heart.
Believe Him
I love the Scripture, “Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief’” (Mark 9:24). I have found myself praying that prayer more often in the last 18 months. If I believed what I heard—truly believed it—I would have acted on it much sooner and with utmost confidence.
Are there areas in which you’ve heard from the Lord in preparation for this new season but unbelief has hindered you from moving forward?
Believe Him. He brings good news. Believing God will give you perfect peace and strong confidence.
Obey Him
Obedience is hard. There is blessing in obedience!
Leviticus 26:3-4 (NASB) states, If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Then verses 5-13 go on to list additional blessings that will follow obedience:
- Seasonal rains
- Produce and fruit
- Lasting harvest
- Food to eat “to the full“
- Secure living in your land
- Peace in your land
- Freedom from harmful beasts in the land
- No war in the land
And more! Amen to all of these blessings!
Will you ask the Lord to reveal to you an area of disobedience and offer Him your willing obedience?
We Need Confidence in Life, through Trials, and as We Serve the Lord and Others
In life, do you sometimes look at the big picture and freeze? Through suffering, do you sometimes struggle under the trials of life—small and big—and wonder where you will find the strength to continue?
As God’s servant in business or ministry, have you started and stopped different projects and wondered how to get back on track?
Our lives and our work and ministry must begin with Who God is and who we are in Christ.
Confidence in Life
Life can be so complicated, so busy, so involved. You often feel something is testing your faith. Praise God! He is your Source of confidence. He is THEE SOURCE.
In 2 Corinthians 3:4 you read, Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Paul goes on to state that your ability is from God. The Lord makes you able to do what He has called you to do. Takes a bit of the pressure off, doesn’t it?
Confidence Through Trials
Suffering can often seem to hinder you from fulfilling your God-given calling. In your time of need, you ask God for relief. When you hear, believe and obey God with hope, you realize His hand is intimately mixed up in your troubles.
In 2 Corinthians 4, we read of the confidence of Paul’s ministry in spite of many trials. Lest we think his trials were mild, he describes them as affliction, struck down, being delivered over to death. Because he believed in Jesus and His Words, he continued to be confident to minister, to speak, even to die. He encourages you not to lose heart or hope when facing great trials and various sufferings of this world.
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, (NASB)
God is your firm foundation when major trials come. In his work, The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis said, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
To find confidence from the Lord, especially during times of intense suffering, it helps to remember God’s promises and provisions. When you read through the Psalms of Aspah and of David pay close attention to their vivid descriptions of their suffering. They didn’t mince words. They were hurting and they talked about it! Remembering God’s promises and provisions increases your confidence.
Confidence as We Serve with Joy
Entrepreneurship and your good work in business and ministry can be a constant challenge.
The acrostic JOY stands for
- Jesus
- Others
- Yourself
In all you do, especially in the work you have been called to, you are to keep fervent in your love for God to glorify Him through Jesus Christ. You are to serve Him!
Pray that you will be a good steward of what God has called you to do. Stewardship is about service (1 Peter 4:10). Stewardship incomes with great reward. And, yes… good stewardship requires you to be obedient and well-informed, even educated.
God gives us so much already, true, but He is also ready to give you so much more if you are willing to trust Him and plant that first seed… to give others some of what God has given you.
We Need Confidence in All 7 Dimensions of Wellness
God calls you to grow and prosper in all dimensions of life. He wants you to encourage others, to draw them to Him, and to bring Him glory and honor in your life experiences.
B.E.L.I.E.F.S.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV)
In my own Private Counseling practice, we wanted to be able to meet the client and his/her needs in all dimensions of health. We focused on 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and we used the acrostic B.E.L.I.E.F.S. to describe seven dimensions of wellness:
Body – Physical wellness is crucial to our bodies’ good health and optimal functioning. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Emotions – When we are experiencing emotion, we are often completely unaware of it. It’s important to be emotionally healthy. (Isaiah 26:3)
Livelihood – God’s vision of work and financial wellness can transform our labors into purposeful pursuits instead have-to drudgery! (Colossians 3:23-24)
Intellect – Giftedness for learning may vary, but we should all strive to reach our total mental capacity through lifelong learning and critical thinking. (2 Timothy 2:15)
Environment – Families should provide a safe and healthy home and outside lifestyle that honors and respects others and the surrounding environment. (Proverbs 24:3-4)
Family/Friends – We were created for unity and togetherness. It is how we serve the Lord – we touch the lives of others! (Genesis 2:18)
Spiritual – Spiritual wellness is the first and foremost foundation of health and wellness and involves growing in faith and beliefs and seeking meaning and purpose in life. (Jeremiah 29:11-14a)
My Favorite Confidence Scriptures and Quotes
“For the Lord will be your confidence And will keep your foot from being caught.” Proverbs 3:26
“For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth.” Psalm 71:5
“And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.” Isaiah 32:17
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” Helen Keller
“Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt
It’s my fervent prayer that you are encouraged and empowered with a confident heart and a faith-filled life from the Lord for this new year in abundant measures and in new ways. I’d love to be a part of your unique confidence journey this year and in years to come!
Be Confident and Blessed,
Karen
Karen is the Founder of Karen Bourg Companies and the RHEMA Group (with her husband Fred). She works with Christian women as they confidently navigate their paths – in life, through trials, and as they serve the Lord by receiving insight [rhema] from the Lord within their God-given calling.
Confidently Navigating Our Paths in Life, through Trials, and as Entrepreneurs by Receiving Rhemas from the Lord
