How Can You Become Confident?

Establish your worth according to God's value system. God demonstrated our importance to Him in two great acts. First he created us in His own image, and second He-through Jesus Christ- died for our sins. God thought so much of you, believed in you, and saw you as a person of such worth, that He allowed His Son to die so that you could live. When we begin to see ourselves in light of God's actions on our behalf, then we immediately begin to have more confidence.

Another way we become confident is to focus on God and not on our situation. Try living according to the first three verses of Psalm 27. We can make three observations: First, confidence is not the result of an absence of problems. It is very clear that the psalmist encountered many problems and difficulties.
Second observation is that confidence is a result of trusting God in our problems. In the midst of his difficulties, the psalmist kept focussing on God and not on his difficult situation. "The Lord is the defense of my life."
Third, victories yesterday give more confidence for today. In verse 2 he speaks in the past tense. In verse 3, he talks about today. Confidence today is the result of victories yesterday.

Another way to develop confidence that convinces others is to develop friendships with confident people. The old cliche' is true: Birds of a featrher do flcok together. A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him. If we want to be confident, we must surround ourselves with confident people, people who believe in us and will be encouragers.

Another way to develop confidence is to put a few wins under your belt. Start with building on small successes and little by little you will tackle bigger and bigger challenges. A few successful victories under your belt gives you the impetus to keep stretching your abilities. If you keep winning, you may see yourself as a no-limits person. Repeated failures produce the opposite effect. You begin to see yourself as a hopeless loser. The best way to develop rational, well-balanced confidence is to go after a few victories immediately following a failure. Don't allow yourself the luxury of wallowing in self-pity.

A great confidence booster is a personal victory list of past successes and achievements. This is a biblical concept. There are two Bible characters who practiced this. Samson, who became a total failure, and David, who became a great success. In Judges 16:20 we see Samson's victory list. And read the David's victory list in 1Samuel 17:37 There are two strong similarities between these two men. They both were chosen, ordained and anointed by God, and they were both leaders of Israel at a time when Israel was battling against the Philistines. But this is where it stops. Samson and David also had three distinct differences. These differences made one a winner and one a loser.
The first thing we notice about Samson is that he wanted to please himself. he lived life in the flesh, depending on his own strength, and felt no need to rely upon God, even when going into battle. He chose the road that always leads to ultimate defeat.
Unlike Samson, David desired to please God. He knew that, left to his own resources, he was already defeated. So he called upon th eLord and went to battle with divine help. His weaknesses became God's strength and he was assured of victory.
Samson's alienation from God not only led to his defeat, it ended his leadership. For David, however, this episode with Goliath was the beginning of his leadership. It was the incident that brought him into a position where God could greatly use him. Victory lists should give us confidence, not cockiness.

Another way to increase your confidence is to quit comparing yourself with others. Comparison always leave you found wanting. You will get the feeling of inadequacy when you compare what you can offer with what someone else offers, etc.

One of the surest ways to build confidence is to find onething you are good at and then specialize until you are special. It could be a sport, a task, a natural ability, or a personally developed talent. Use that strength as much as you can to build your level of assurance and specialization.

Also, begin to develop a knowledge of people and product. Remember that success is just 15 percent product knowledge and it's 85 percent people knowledge. Once you have knowledge of your product and of the people with whom you work, you have an inside edge on meeting their needs. This inevitably raises your confidence.

"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward" (Hebrews 10:35).

Be Encouraged.

>> Letter # 35 (14.12.2003)