Confidence

Dr. Mike Kingdom Paradigms
Hebrews 10:35
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.ESV.

Ever noticed how some people exude confidence no matter the situation? Whereas others fidget, hesitate, and cast doubt without any effort. Confidence is the assurance of knowing who you are; especially after your strengths and weaknesses are battle tested. But more importantly, great confidence comes when you truly know God really loves you, goes before you, and will carry you when times are tough based on continual experience. Real confidence is the balance between knowing yourself and knowing your Maker.

Today many people have a false illusion of how real confidence is developed. Parents raise their children under the illusion of self-esteem. Whether Johnny or Susie fail or succeed, they create the illusion that their child is the best. Johnny may run the race and finish last, but instead of facing the reality of failure and learning from it, parents discard the truth for wanting to make the child feel good about themselves. They confuse performance with self-worth and end up damaging the child’s natural inclination. Instead of helping the child discover their real identity in Christ, we create a platform of measuring their self-worth through performance.

The same in our relationship with Jesus. We grow in confidence as we lean on him and witness how he responds to our dilemma. He may not change our circumstances, but will always provide a way for us to move through it. Afterward we will come to know more about ourselves and substantially more about our Lord.

Confidence is developed when we fail, learn from it, and grow from it. We learn how to succeed and how to properly fail. We learn humility along with confidence. Humility in understanding who we are in Christ and always confident in Him.

No we don’t need false adoration, nor flattery to feel good about ourselves. We just need to know who we are in Christ and trust him to take us through the ups and downs of life. Through this sanctifying process, we gain confidence and assurance. We truly come to experience, realize, and know His grip on our life.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Discipleship 360
Author of e-Books:

*  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
*  Great Business Emulates a Good God
*  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
*  Simply The Messenger
*  Unequally Married

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God Prepares the Way

Dr. Mike Life in Christ

1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Ephesians 2:10 ESV.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 

One of the joys of walking with the Lord is knowing He goes before you. Instead of manipulating circumstances or people which causes division and relational conflict, Christ-followers have the distinct honor of leaning on their heavenly Father in searching out the best means before them.

The fact is God has an eternal investment in you and wants you to succeed in life. However, not the way many people think of success. His desire for you and me is to build Christ-like character which leads to a productive life. The problem is most people want a productive life without the character.

When you know that God cares for you more than you realize, wants what is best for you, and has already prepared the way for you, your only challenge is to discover it and walk through it. How does one discover it?

Simple answer: By growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ; not only intelligently, but relational. We need to hunger for a love relationship so intimately with Him  that we can rest our heads on his “bosom and hear his heart beat.” We need to develop a relationship with Him were we know how He communicates with us. Whether through His Word, Spirit, our conscience, that slight nudge, or that inspired thought that comes outside our mind, we need a thirst for more of Him and less of us.

Biblically we see how John the Baptist prepared the  way for Christ. How His Father led Jesus through planned events which fulfilled scripture and proved that He is the Messiah. We see how the Spirit led apostle Paul throughout his ministry. We see the same with many others throughout the Bible. Even Jesus mentioned that he is preparing an eternal place for us.

In summary, you were created to do good work which God prepared beforehand for you to do (Eph.2:10).  Lean on Him and He will unwrap it for you.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Discipleship 360
Author of e-Books:

*  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
*  Great Business Emulates a Good God
*  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
*  Simply The Messenger
*  Unequally Married

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Copyright 2017 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Accountability – Maybe

Dr. Mike Life Tools
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity…Heb. 6:1 ESV.

Imagine if God didn’t do his job. If He decided to take time off and leave the universe operating by itself; without anyone accountable or responsible for its maintenance. Some in fact believe that is precisely what God has done. These are our deists friends. They believe God created the universe, walked away, and then left everything for us to operate and finish the work. Yet we are reassured throughout Scripture that God is on his throne and continues to be involved in the lives of his children. He is not an absentee parent. He takes personal responsibility for the rearing of his children.

Now some of us may prefer to have him neglect his involvement in their life, but I for one appreciates his graceful, untimely interventions. Otherwise this life may have been over a long time ago.

Yet all this leads to the question, “how accountable are we in our relationships and responsibilities?” Do we accept personal responsibility for the development of the relationship or just expect everything to fall into place without effort? Are we accountable too others for the contribution of the relationship or expect the other side to do all the giving and we just take?  Or are we control freaks who need to dominate and control the relationship?

If we haven’t taken the time to understand the impact we have in the lives of others, maybe it’s time to evaluate. Are we carrying our share of the load or leaving it for others? Maybe it’s time to accept personal responsibility for our actions and be held accountable by others. Maybe it’s time to grow up and become the person we were designed to be.

A part of maturity is accepting our role in the lives of others. That would include our mates, parents, siblings, neighbors, work associates, fellow citizens, and yes, even God. He’s done most of the work already. We just have to accept our role in the matter. Is it too hard of a matter to be held accountable by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? It’s His story. We have the privilege to participate with him and hold up our side of the relationship. And our relationship with Him includes everyone else in our tiny world. So maybe being accountable to others isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe it’s the one thing still holding us back from experiencing life the way He designed it to be.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Discipleship 360
Author of e-Books:

*  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
*  Great Business Emulates a Good God
*  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
*  Simply The Messenger
*  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2017 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved