When the Enemy Attacks Your Confidence

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.  It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Psalm 118:8-9

I was young when the enemy started his attack on my self-confidence.

Maybe he did this to you as well. He attacks us in different areas, but for me, it was often about worth. I looked around and compared myself to other girls, and all I could see was how I fell short.

Many people kick into competition gear at that point, don’t they? But I didn’t really have that gear. It just wasn’t me. And so I didn’t try to compete.

Instead, I tried to prove myself.

I wanted to prove myself worthy somehow, to show up and become enough to earn people’s respect.

It was exhausting. I never “made it” far enough. But now I see the enemy’s work for what it was.

The enemy wanted me to spin my wheels and keep my focus on working harder to become more.

The enemy wanted me to twist God’s words and to swallow that twisted version down.

The enemy will try to keep us from fully believing God’s truth, from truly receiving God’s love.

But Jesus changes everything when His love breaks through.

As for worth, Jesus already proved my worth and yours, when He hung on the cross in order to free us and make us His people.

As for proving ourselves, there’s not a thing any one of us can do to make ourselves more valuable. We already ARE more valuable.

As for truth, let’s reject the enemy’s lies, and let’s accept real and powerful truth, who we are in Christ.

Jesus is able to transform our thoughts and demolish those lies we’ve built our lives upon.

In my last post, on the Object of Our Confidence, I wrote about hoping in the Lord and not in ourselves. About how we need deeper trust in God instead of greater confidence in ourselves.

It got me thinking about the relationship between self-confidence and confidence before God.

We have confidence before God because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. That confidence comes from Christ’s work for us–His sacrifice which covers us once and for all–and grows because of His work in us.

Through faith in Christ, we enter the Most Holy Place—the presence of God–with freedom and confidence.

It is there, in the presence of God, where He works in us. He transforms us from the inside, so that our trust in Him deepens. The result of deepened trust in God? We grow in confidence before God and man.

Confidence is this quiet assurance that God is near and He cares for us personally.

Confidence is also trust that all we are is from God, and that He made us for His glory. So we can be bold and courageous and confident as we move throughout this world.

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:4-5

 

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