Belief in God is Source of Self-Confidence

June 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Coping with reality requires belief that we can manage the challenges inherent in the problems we are given by God to solve.  God not only gave us the circumstances of life, but he also gave us the power to believe in ourselves and the capability to overcome.  This belief in ourselves gives us the self confidence to take the next step and each step after that to accomplish a goal even in the darkest moments.

We all know how difficult it is at times to muster up the self-confidence to face a fear and do something difficult or something we have never done before.  Those who do not have this self-confidence belief view themselves as hopeless and helpless to move ahead and make a difference.  Some people remain in a constant state of self doubt, rarely acting to improve themselves or take on a challenge.  Some people waver back and forth between beliefs of hope and hopelessness.  Some remain stable and stalwart over time in their self-confidence to master all challenges.  We ask what makes the difference between such stability and instability of belief?

We believe it is possible to live a life full of self-confidence to overcome any circumstance and to make upward progress towards your life goals.  A self-confidence that is stable, steady and unwavering.  However, such stability of self-confidence is not possible without an unwavering belief in God and Jesus Christ.

A stable optimistic belief about our ability to overcome any challenge requires a belief in God’s word and His promises.  To understand more about how this belief in God works in our lives we turn to an incident that occurred as Moses was leading his people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land (refer to Deuteronomy 1:9-46).

   * The Israelites were at the edge of the land of the Amorites needing to cross through the land.  They expected a hostile response from the Amorites if they trespassed on their land.  God promised Moses he would be with the Israelites, not to fear them and they would be successful in battle.  But, the Israelites were fearful and doubted God’s word and promise.  They and sent out spies who reported that the Amorites were taller and stronger and inhabited large cities with walls reaching to the sky.

Instead of following God’s command and believing Him, the Israelites hung back in fear, hopelessness and helplessness.  God determined that the Israelites were not prepared to go into the Promised Land, and so kept them in the desert for 40 years until a new generation of believers would come forth who had learned to believe in His word and promise.  

The importance and value of listening to God and believing His word and promise is further seen in how the Israelites responded to God’s anger and the response of God to further disbelief.

   * Upon hearing of the Lord’s anger and punishment, the Israelites said they were sorry and would now go forth in battle with the Amorites.  God told them not to as he would not be with them this time.  They went into battle anyway, and were soundly defeated by the Amorites.

Thus, we see belief playing two critical, but opposing roles in self-confidence.  First, God grants us self-confidence through our belief in His word and promise that we can overcome the impossible with Him. But second, if we choose to find self-confidence only through belief in ourselves and not Him we, like the Israelites, will suffer disastrous results from our actions.

The New Testament book of John also tells us that to acquire the sustainable, stable and secure optimistic beliefs needed to face any challenge or circumstance we must look to belief in God and Jesus Christ.

John 6:35 states:

   * Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

In other words if we believe in Jesus we know we will have life, never want and can face any challenge of life, always.

But just as the Israelites doubted that God could lead them to defeat the Amorites, Jesus also recognized that even some who had seen him resurrected in the flesh had doubts - John 6:36 states:

   * But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.

All Jesus asks for is their unwavering belief in his work and promise as the messenger of God when he says in John 6:37-38:

   * All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down to earth not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me.

In saying He is doing God’s will, Jesus is role modeling what he wants us to do with the word and promise of God: to believe in it and to act with unwavering confidence, with the optimism born of knowing the Lord is with us no matter how frightening or insurmountable the circumstances appear.

For more Christian Optimism: Go to: http:www.drrussbuss.com

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At Moment-to-Moment: Our mission is to teach "skilled optimism"- how let go of a negative in a moment; view life as one continuous learning curve with multiple "do-over" opportunities from a Christian perspective. Products include a daily blog, seminars, publications, speaking, radio show, & coaching.