Tag: promises

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3 Ways to Build Confidence in Christ

Confidence is something many people spend their lives chasing. Lots of money is spent every year by people trying to look and feel more confident. But true confidence doesn’t come from what is external; confidence is at a deep, soul level, within us. And true confidence isn’t purchased, achieved, or earned, it is given to us as a gift from God. Jesus Christ is the only solid, secure foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11) on which we can have true, lasting confidence.

That said, we can do things that can help keep our confidence in Christ strong, as there are many things that will consistently try to come against us, and tempt us to doubt. We need confidence to endure the tests, trials, and storms that all of us will face in life. A few months after I started Life with the King in 2019, I wrote a post called Confidence in the Promises of God about the confidence that comes with believing God’s promises in Scripture. I shared three key promises to rely on, and today I want to offer something deeper still. Here are three ways (there are many more!) to build confidence in our Lord, Jesus Christ:

1. Seek the Depth To Which You Are Loved By God

We are so incredibly loved by God. He loved us so much that He gave us the written Word, an enduring love letter written for us to know His heart towards us. He loved us so much that He gave us His Son, Jesus, to die so that our sins could be atoned for by His blood, shed to save us from death (Romans 8:2, Hebrews 2:14). He loved us so much that He gave us the Holy Spirit, to give us power, comfort, wisdom, and discernment as we seek to live according to God’s will for us. The Holy Spirit dwells within all believers (Acts 2:38, Romans 5:5, 1 Corinthians 6:19). These are just a few of the ways we are cared for and protected by God; there are countless ways He forgives, shows grace, and is kind in uniquely personal ways to each of us on a daily basis. Caring for us and protecting us was His plan all along. “When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up” (Psalm 94:18). God’s love protects us. As the Truth about the depth of God’s love for us becomes clearer, our confidence can do nothing but grow! We can be confident in God’s love for us.

2. Develop a Trusting Relationship with God

It is our relationship with God that brings us joy and light (guidance, clarity) in life (Psalm 97). We have confidence that we have final victory over evil and idolatry (Psalm 97:9-11) because of who God is. Scripture often refers to knowing God’s name, which means knowing His character, what He is like, and what He cares about (for more, see the Characteristics of God series). To Truly know what God is like, we need to go to the Source Himself. We can’t rely on other people’s relationships with Him, we need to get to know Him for ourselves. Seeking out His heart by talking to Him, and earnestly listening for His voice, build relationship with God. In that relationship, trust and confidence of the security of His love can grow. “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you” (Psalm 9:10).

3. Believe and Rely on God’s Forgiveness

God’s forgiveness forms the foundation of our confidence (Psalm 99:8). “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight” (Ephesians 1:7-8). We rely on being forgiven by God through Jesus Christ. We easily forget what an amazing luxury it is to be forgiven. It is our state of being forgiven that allows us to confidently walk with Him. Being forgiven means we are securely within His grace, because of our relationship with Him.

To recap, revelation of God’s amazing love leads to trusting relationship with Him, which leads us to living confidently in a state of knowing we are forgiven. This isn’t something we do once in life, it is something I’ve had to start fresh with many times. But every time, God wipes the slate clean in His merciful forgiveness. He is ready and willing to help us to strengthen our confidence daily. We can deeply experience the freedom and victory Jesus has already gifted to us by living confidently and being confident in Him.

Confidence doesn’t originate in us, it comes from God Himself, who is the Source of who we are. It seems to me that we are only as confident as how much we trust in His love, relationship, and forgiveness.

May God help us confidently overcome through Jesus Christ and our full reliance on Him! Amen.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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Called by Your Name

There is nothing more intimate than either giving your own or taking someone else’s name. It implies complete trust, total devotion, and displays to the world a staggering declaration of merged identity. Names help to identify us. True identity, however, goes deeper than our names. Our fundamental identity can be found at the very Beginning, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Not only did God create us in His image, but He chooses to call us by His name (Daniel 9:19, Jeremiah 15:16). God, the King of Kings, calls us by His name.

While God’s name itself is somewhat mysterious, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14) to Moses, He clearly wanted to be known to us as a deeply relational God. He also told Moses that He is “. . . ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob . . . thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15). Whether we know His actual name or not, God identifies Himself to humanity as the God who has meaningful, faithful relationship with us.

Appealing to “the name of the Lord,” or to His character, is first mentioned in Scripture in relation to Abram (Abraham), in Genesis 12:8. This is shortly after the children of man’s Tower of Babel efforts failed in trying to “make a name for [them]selves” (Genesis 11:4). God then promised Abram that He would “make [his] name great, so that [he] will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). No one can make a name for themselves on their own strength or efforts. Who we are relies entirely on who God is, thus only the names and purposes that He establishes will be able to stand.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). Jesus fulfilled the promises that God made to Abraham, so that we all can be called by God’s name, heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17), sons and daughters of God the King. This is what I think of when I hear the phrase “identity in Christ.”

When we know the name we carry, we can only respond in humility and love for the Giver of our name. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We find incredible grace and protection in God’s name, something the Old Testament prophets knew to long for, “…only let us be called by your name, take away our reproach” (Isaiah 4:1). Jesus’ name covers us, all of our identity, before God. Being saved from sin and death is to be called by Jesus’ name. In Jesus we are dead to sin, and alive in Him (Romans 6:11, 1 Corinthians 15:22). If you are a believer in Jesus, “. . . you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). There is True life in Jesus’ name. Halleluiah!

Our identities are secure in who God is, going back to the promise He made to Abram that “. . . in [him] all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:7-9). God has been faithful to fulfill that promise; it benefits us today as it’s not only brought Abraham’s blood descendants into covenant relationship with Him, but all people. Jesus’ sacrifice restores what sin distorted for us and our identity; in Christ we are made new, according to the will and loving purpose of the One who gave us our True name in the first place.

No matter what we’ve done, or what we may be going through, God loves us, relates Himself to us, identifies with us, and continues to make a Way for us to take joy in being called by His name. Amen.

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved‘” (Romans 10:13).

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).

“And whatever you do in, word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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More Abundantly

For me, this is the verse that’s summed up this week: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20). At this time last year, I was just starting to feel like myself again after many months. At this time last year, I wasn’t writing at all. Around this time last year, God planted the seed of an idea which is now a business, Your Life with the King. God has done far more abundantly than all that I could ever ask or think!

Soul Crushing

In my journey prior to this, I would describe my soul as having been crushed, as much as I had tried to avoid it. I was living in a way that I felt trapped; my energy was never replenished, and I spent my time working on things I didn’t care about. I didn’t see a way out of it, and my inspiration to write or make art was gone. I had taken big hits spiritually and emotionally and became physically sick. Something had to change. It took time to become clear how, but God gave me a way to walk toward the life He had for me. He never leaves us trapped.

Transformation doesn’t often come without being crushed. We may call it different things, like being broken, being poured out, or being at rock bottom. But God is able to use it for our ultimate good because in our crushed state we are open enough to let Him into our hearts. Jesus Himself was “crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5); yet it was for all of our ultimate good. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). In our brokenness, we are open to receive the love that Jesus poured out for us and our healing.

Yes, being crushed is painful. But God’s healing comes in the transformation and we are offered freedom in Jesus. Being crushed isn’t easy but it is worth it, I can now say from the other side. We can trust that no matter how painful this life gets, God has it all, sees us fully, and cares for each one of us more than we could imagine. God is a Good Father who is excited to do more in our lives by way of freedom, abundant blessing, and grace. The crushing is often a necessary part of the journey there.

Expect Good Things

When we are discouraged from being crushed in life, it can be hard to expect God’s goodness to follow. Knowing God’s character and pressing into relationship with Him and what He promises in Scripture is a lifeline in these times of brokenness. “It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; (Psalm 136:23). God’s love endures, even and especially into the “low estate” times in our lives.

I can struggle with expecting the worst outcome, even though God has shown me the opposite is True, over and over. God wants us to expect His goodness to show up in our lives, to “believe that [we] shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13)! I am encouraging myself as I encourage you to expect good things, and to expect that God will fulfill His promises to you. Even when I get in my own way of accepting God’s amazing abundance in life, He is bigger than that too; “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). God is Truly for us, more than we are for ourselves.

Paul wrote from prison, “. . . it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Even when our present circumstances seem anything but good, we can expect God to reveal His goodness and fulfill His promises. We can expect God is trustworthy and True.

He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, and we can expect that He will. To God be all the glory! Amen.


“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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