Read Psalm 56:3-4 and 2 Timothy 1:7

 “Have confidence in yourself and faith in your ability to succeed.”

This is a slogan we used while coaching high school boys’ basketball. This slogan was plastered on the front of the bus so, whenever you would get on or off the bus, you would see it. It may have helped our boys become a little more confident when we played road games on a different court in front of fans who were rooting for the other team. It was hard to measure whether signs like that helped. It was definitely a positive sign and It could help young people think in a positive way.

We talked about Jesus and encouraged our players to have a positive attitude and be self-confident with poems like IF by Rudyard Kipling and THE MAN WHO THINKS HE CAN by Walter Wintle. We hoped and prayed that the same message would carry over and into their lives as they moved into adulthood.

We would pray before every game. That is the key idea! We would pray The Lord’s Prayer together in the locker room after every game. We talked about God and how He is always with you (Romans 8:31). We tried our best to model confidence and faith in God.

When a person has God-confidence, he is depending completely upon God and His strength to handle the things in life. It’s not about your strength or the confidence that you put into earthly things. God is at work in your circumstances. Having a worldly focus means putting your confidence into things like money, education, people, and appearance among other things. To have confidence in God and in ourselves is something many of us lack at times.  Even Timothy seemed to lack confidence at times.

“God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.”

2 Timothy 1:5-7 MSG

So, focus on God’s truth.

Self-talk can help you become more confident and more dependent on God (2 Cor 10:5b). Memorize and repeat scripture verses and worship songs to yourself. Repeat it in your mind. Scripture and prayer are our weapons!

While teaching high school seniors, I would stand in front of about 25 students and sometimes I was not real confident. By repeating the lyrics to a worship song, it would give me more self-confidence and God-confidence, knowing that I’m working for God, not men (see Col 3:23). One example is a song titled “Here’s My Heart Lord” by Casting Crowns: (video below)

“Here’s my heart, Lord

Speak what is true,

I am found, I am Yours,

I am loved, I’m made pure,

I have life, I can breathe,

I am healed, I am free.

Here’s my heart, Lord

Speak what is true.”

Live with courage. Encourage yourself and others with self-confidence and God-confidence.

Pray for God’s guidance!

Why not start now?

Tom Weckesser