“The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 NIV.
Confidence is from your conviction of truth rather than your translation of current events.
My thoughts and comments today are about “a confident life.”
Daily life without confidence is tougher than life is meant to be. But confidence can be misplaced. Job searched his heart, “Have I put my trust in money or felt secure because of my gold? Does my happiness depend on my wealth and all that I own? . . If so . . it would mean I had denied the God of heaven.” Job 31:24-28 NLT. Job had it right. Confidence that rests on anything less than God’s Word and character is insubstantial and ultimately unreliable.
Confidence may dissipate when unmanageable and unchangeable situations raise doubts and instill fears. Confidence is not an easy thing to have in the kind of world that struggles against God. Civility and common courtesy are fairly uncommon in an, “every man for himself world.” Entertainment assaults sensitivities with coarse language and violent, sexual, or aberrant improprieties. Negative political ads malign the character and intent of opponents irresponsibly, slinging accusations without liability. To the point of dismay, headlines blare reports of governmental waste, incompetence, and brazen lack of accountability.
Crime and uncaring brutality offend normal sensitivities. Deadly health crises from the other side of the globe land callously intrude our cities, neighborhoods, and homes. In a global economy, one country’s financial recklessness impacts the affairs of other nations. With brutality, terrorists murder innocents without regard for the sanctity of human life. Confidence is hard to come by in such harsh realities.
Don’t look around; you can’t find confidence there. Look up; God is there. Then look inside; God is there too. In this truth, you can be confident, “The Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” 1 John 4:4 NLT. Meditate on that. God lives in you; that indicates permanence. God is greater than all others; that provides security. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5 NKJV.
When the Bible speaks of “the world” it is rarely referring to geography. Biblically, “the world is a system of unbelief and misbelief,” a system lacking God as its center or focus. You are warned to avoid the world system, but not to fear it. “Do not love the world or anything in the world . . The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Read 1 John 2:15-17 NIV.
When faced with Sennacherib, the Assyrian King and his plundering army, Hezekiah, the Godly King of Judah encouraged the nation, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” 2 Chronicles 32:7-8 NIV. When you face difficult places, people, or situations, remember the Almighty God is with you; His Spirit abides within you. “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV.
“In quietness and confidence shall be your strength . . The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” Isaiah 30:15 NKJV/32:17-18 NIV. That is what a confident life looks like.
Today, my prayer for you is to be assured of the omnipotence and faithfulness of God.