Confidence Is an Inside Job预览

On a Mission

Standing up for ourselves is hard. Is it worth risking something when we don’t know how—or if—God will show up? How can we walk in confidence with him?

Remember Daniel of the Lions’ Den fame?

Daniel, though a Jew, was living in Babylon. He and three companions—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—were selected for service to the Babylonian king, Darius.

But some kingdom officials were jealous of Daniel and tricked King Darius into making a law: anybody who prayed to anyone—human or divine—instead of to Darius himself was going to be punished by being thrown into a den of lions. Daniel stuck to his normal routine of praying to the one true God. So with a heavy heart, Darius gave the order for Daniel to be thrown to the lions.

The next morning Darius called out, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” (Daniel 6:20).

Daniel called back to him and confirmed that, yes, he was alive, because God had closed the lions’ mouths.

When your story is hard, even when it feels like the end isn’t a happy one, God has not abandoned you. He’s still with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

And do you know what makes it easier to choose to act in any given situation? Having a mission.

A mission is when we realize how God can use us as an instrument of good in the world. Daniel had a mission, and so have countless others who have lived in confidence.

You have a mission too. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). We can be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6).

When you trust yourself, you know that even though things get hard, you and God will be able to tackle whatever comes.

What drives you to get out of bed in the morning (besides coffee)? How do you think God could use that drive and your unique characteristics to do good things?