Sharing a little confidence

As I said in the previous blog I have been reading a book  on leadership and creative thinking which has started me thinking on a number of things. This is revalation hit me in the face this morning. The author was using a lot of historical military examples for his points (a real boys book) and he was talking about the Islamic assault against the Knights of St John on the island of Malta in 1565. The author wrote this"....he had already lost hundreds of his fighters and even more importantly, his troops had begun to lose confidence."

 

Fear is attributed as the cause of many people not entering the fight when real difficulty arises. However after reading that sentence I became aware of how important confidence is in our lives. When our confidence becomes eroded things that we could once do with ease become mountains to be climbed. Many situations and trials can leave us without confidence in God, ourselves, in our ability, we are not quite sure what happened and why it happened. I believe that attacking our confidence is a direct and highly effective strategy of our enemy, left unchecked this strategy can immobilise and cause us to be a spent force in situations we face. Lacking confidence  may eventually cause us to step away from our God given call.

 

I can relate to this in my own recent experience, it can be a tactic of the enemy through people and situations to erode your confidence. Once we begin to identify what we are facing, we can take some steps to deal with our problem.

What am I not confident in?: myself ? the situation? God? my ability to do this task? Then start to address the process. Preparation to face any given situation can help build your confidence. Coming out of a situation knowing that you did OK because of your preparation,  can make the next difficult situation a little easier. You did not lose your confidence overnight so it will take a while to rebuild as it will for me.  I can control my level of preparation and  not leave it to chance, therefore I become stronger.

 

This can apply to the preparation I make with my Heavenly Father. Have I spent the time I need to in my Prayer Closet? Do I know well the knowledge and skills I need in this situation? Part of my preparation will also be spending time with  people who  speak "life" into me,  to encourage me. ( To encourage means to share courage).

 

There is a book title that says "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" This is great advice so  remember that your Heavenly Father has confidence in you when you have none in yourself. Listen to the still small voice that says " I love you, you can do this, I believe in you"

"Courage faces fear and thereby masters it.
Cowardice represses fear and is thereby mastered by it"
Martin Luther King Jnr.

Time to step back in the ring one small step at a time. You won't win every time but you won't fall as far back either. If this not you, who can you encourage? .... Share a little confidence.