Why can I be confident?

Psalm 27:1The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

Psalm 121:8The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

You can be confident because God promises to watch over you and protect you. Your confidence comes not from your physical circumstances (how you look or what you achieve), but from that inner assurance that God is by your side, making his wisdom and power available to you daily, and working out his plan for your life.

Philippians 4:13I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

You can be confident because Christ is your strength. This kind of confidence is not pride, but rather, complete security in knowing that God has called you for a specific purpose and has given you all that you need to carry out that purpose.

Numbers 23:19God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

Psalm 118:8It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people.

You may worry about putting your confidence in God when you’ve already been hurt by people you trusted. However, God is far more trustworthy than any person. He is not human, and he keeps his promises without fail. That is why you can be completely confident in him, because he has never broken a single promise. He will always do what he says.

Zephaniah 3:17“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

John 16:33“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Romans 8:38I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

You may wonder if you can put your confidence in anything when you look at the state of the world. There are dangers, trials, and sorrows. Yet God promises his light, his peace, his presence. Confidence comes from knowing with certainty that your eternal future is secured. When you know that this life isn’t all there is, you don’t need to fear what happens to you here on earth.

1 John 2:1-2My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

1 John 3:1See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!

You can be confident because God loves you unconditionally. No sin you have committed can cause God to love you any less.

Romans 12:6In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.

1 Corinthians 12:1, 4, 6-7, 11, 18, 22, 27Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. . . . There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. . . . God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. . . . It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. . . . But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. . . . In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. . . . All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

You can be confident because God promises to use your gifts and abilities for his kingdom. You are specially created to serve him. Recognize, appreciate, and exercise the gifts and abilities God has given you. Don’t miss out on the joy of using them for God.