Kingdom confidence is very different from self-confidence.

Self-confidence is what the world says we have.

Confidence (noun)

• a trust or a reliance that is applied to our own abilities, our own strengths, our own giftings, our own competency.

And for many of us, we're familiar with that. We understand what that looks like; it is basing our confidence in being prepared to do something.

We are told we have confidence when ready to do those things.

How do you grow in confidence?

I did a quick little search on how to grow in confidence, and the number one search result was that "you connect with your inner power, your strengths, and your abilities."

The world tells us we have to get skills; we have to go build our strengths.

And I am not opposed to any of that. Not at all. I am from the corporate world, and I have a file that's 10 inches thick, telling me all about the strengths that I have,  my giftings, and how to grow in specific skills.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with any of that. Because the Holy Spirit will use all of those things in our life. But, God calls us to be in the world and not of it.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:19, "the wisdom of the world is foolishness."

It's the counsel of the world to lean on our gifts, lean on our strengths and minimize the weaknesses. But the world's wisdom is not telling us the truth.

What is the Confidence God Gives?

I asked, "God, what is this confidence you have for me?" Because God's confidence is not any of those worldly things.

And he gave me this odd instruction. He led me to look up the word confidence in Webster's Dictionary from 1828. Yeah, the original Webster's dictionary. 

• a trusting or reliance, an assurance of mind, a firm belief in the integrity, stability, or veracity of another.

In this definition, confidence is trusting in someone else.

And then God began to surface His Word:

• Psalm 71:5, "for you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth."
• Psalms 118:8, "It is better to trust in the LORD than put our confidence in man."
• Jeremiah 17:7, "Blessed is he who is trust in the Lord whose competence is in him."
• Proverbs 3:26, "Jehovah shall be your confidence."

So here we have this kingdom definition of confidence that invites us to trust in God. This means that we have to do things differently.

Examples of Kingdom Confidence in the Bible

I asked God to show me an example of what this looks like. And he brought to mind the story of David.

David, we know him to be a mighty warrior. He has an army called David's mighty men. They have strengths; they have skills; they have abilities and giftings. And in his testimony, when he's facing Goliath for the very first time, he says, I have come against the bear, and I have come against the lion. And that testimony gave David the courage to go against Goliath because he knew God was going to deliver him as well.

David had the faith, and he had the trust in God, that God came through for him before, and he would do it again.

But David surrendered to God, he surrendered all of his skills, his giftings, his reputation as this mighty man of God, this mighty warrior, and he surrendered it to God.

And we see several times when David is leading the army forward, where he asks God a question:

"Do I engage?"

Because the heart of Kingdom confidence is yielding all of our strengths and abilities to God, we yield it to him, and we put it in his lap, and we say,

"God, these are yours."

Because they're going to be places that God will call you, and me, that are outside of your strength and giftings. And you need to know like, you know, like, you know, who God says you are. So we need to get to the place of surrender, based on what we can do, and put our confidence in God, based on what he says.

How do we walk in Kingdom Confidence?

For the past few years, God has been showing me how to walk in Kingdom Confidence, and I'm going to be sharing my story and teaching on it regularly. I'll be teaching on things like:

• Who is God?
• Who does God say we are? What is our identity? 
• What does God say that we can do? What's our authority?
• What promises does God have for us, and how do we access them?
• And identify where does God say we have dominion? Where has he given influence? 

And then, as part of Kingdom confidence, we let God equip and empower us, through the Holy Spirit, to do the things, sometimes the crazy things that he has asked us to do. 

I hope this has been a wonderful introduction to kingdom confidence, and I am excited to have you on this journey.

Talk to you soon.

Cherlyn