Holy Confidence
Recently, I read a book by Mark Batterson called Praying Circles Around Your Children. His Biblical ideas and methods for praying for your children were thought-provoking. I took several notes and have ideas I want to mull over again. I do not necessarily agree with everything he asserts, but I do know how to take a bite, chew, and spit out the bones. 😉
One concept Batterson introduced which I had never heard of was “holy confidence.” This is how he introduced it:
“I’m not talking about self-confidence. I’m praying for holy confidence that comes from doing the will of God for the glory of God. It’s a confidence that is anchored in the power of God, the grace of God, and the Word of God.” – Mark Batterson, Praying Circles Around Your Children
Nowadays, our world is all about SELF. A quick look at the quotes shared on social media proves it, but our focus should be on God and the FULL assurance we have in Him. When you think about the attributes of God, you can wonder why wouldn’t we be completely dependent on Him?
Some of us are dependent on who we have made ourselves to be – our career, our family, our service at church…We are trusting in our own abilities, power, and qualities.
Shew, I have found myself in this position many times. My worldly identity seems so wrapped up in my everyday life and what I do – clean house, care for my family, ministries at church, etc. The better I think I do, the better I feel about myself. It’s natural as humans to respond this way, but as Christians, we need to look past ourselves. Instead of looking in the mirror for assurance, we ought to shift our gaze to God. (2 Corinthians 3:5)
Truly getting hold of the wisdom of holy confidence would give us such peace and power in our lives. If things in life aren’t looking good? We have holy confidence and do not fear knowing the Lord is in control. If things in life are looking good? We have holy confidence and thank the Lord.
It’s a simple idea but hard to live. Why? Because it’s spiritual work.
E. M. Bounds said, “Human nature does not like taxing, spiritual work. Human natures wants to sail to heaven under a favoring breeze, a full, smooth sea.”
It means we are living our life in His will. We are in His Word and praying consistently. We are putting our full faith and trust in Him. We are striving to live a holy life for His glory. (His glory is key, because we are not doing this for others. Matthew 6:1)
Holy confidence is being fully dependent on Christ. It’s knowing whatever we face, we can be assured the Lord will be there through it all. We can hold on to His promises.
I am praying the Lord will help me to daily live with HOLY CONFIDENCE in Him. Will you? 💕
6 Comments
Kathy Little
This brought back a lot of memories of “praying for my children”!! I journaled a lot back then and still have plastic totes filled with the journals!! And yes… that verbiage “holy confidence” is new to me as well! But I like that!! Prayer, in itself, is somewhat a display of that concept of confidence in the Holy One!! It’s deferring to the One with the power in, over, and above life! It’s a type of surrender (this is assuming we aren’t praying as a manipulative, last-ditch, might-as-well-try-it type thing!! But rather it’s our privilege — to think that the God of the universe welcomes a word from me and invites me into His presence!!) Your writings always bring me to think deeper and process the things you said long after I finished reading!!
Leslie
Thank you for reading and commenting, Kathy. 💙 The verbiage is new to me, but I do realize the whole concept is what the Lord wants us to be doing as Christians and is old (Adam and Eve) in its doctrine. I like the term though; it has a good sound to it for me. (I am an English word nerd though. lol) Prayer is such a lifeline as Christians that we don’t use consistently or properly. I do pray quite a bit but know I need to improve greatly when God has given us such power. I buy and read so many books on it because I want to learn more, but it is quite simple. 😊
Julia Bettencourt
Hi Leslie, Thought I’d return your blog visit. Love that verse in 2 Corinthians 3:5 that you have quoted on the graphic. “Self” seems to be one of those topics that I think needs a bigger discussion among Christian women. Reminds me of something that CH Spurgeon said, “It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ.”
Leslie
Yes, humanism has taken the world over with all the “believe in yourself” and “you can do anything you want” attitudes. I have a collection of C. H. Spurgeon’s quotes. I need to add this one to it. Thank you for sharing! And thank you for visiting and commenting! 💚
Carey
I love this concept of holy confidence! I struggle a lot with self-confidence, and I am always praying to be more confident. But reading your post, I think I have a holy confidence issue.
If I fully trust in God, believe who He says I am, know that I am doing His will and His grace empowers me; then there’s no reason not to feel confident.
Leslie
Yes, Carey! Our confidence comes from Him. He will enable and empower us to do exactly what we should in His will. Thank you for stopping by! ❤