CONFIDENCE DESPITE FEAR

Confidence often coexists with fear and trembling.

But when we are secure in our God-given identity and depend on Him, we can be victorious and advance God’s kingdom.

The apostle Paul revealed that he was quivering in fear when he shared the Good News with those at Corinth (1 Corinthians 2: 1-5):

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

So much for confidence — or rather, the lack of it — in a spiritual leader. With knees knocking and butterflies fluttering around in his stomach, Paul still became the greatest apostle of all time and the one who was largely responsible for setting the tone of New Testament (NT) doctrine — as he wrote most of the books in the NT.

Gideon saw himself as defeated, bereft of hope, when the Midianites invaded his homeland. Offering no resistance to the enemy, he was threshing wheat when God spoke to him through the angel, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valour … Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” (Judges 6:12, 14).

Earlier he had thought he was incapable of leading Israel against their enemies — coming from the weakest clan and being the most insignificant in his family. All that changed when God called him and gave his self-image a boost. And, as they say, the rest his history.

Let us depend on the Holy Spirit rather than rely on our past achievements or natural gifts. 

And then make confident strides into battle and advance His kingdom.

David relied on the sling and five stones to slay Goliath. He had to lay down the heavy, cumbersome armour and sword — weapons traditionally relied upon to win a battle.