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I have a confession to make. Despite spending the last seven years writing, speaking and preaching, I have a terrible case of stage fright. Right before going up on stage to speak before hundreds or sometimes even thousands, my heart feels like it could pound itself out of my chest.
Maybe you struggle with stage fright as well, or maybe it could be a confidence issue in some other area – in meeting new people, trying new things, taking a risk in your career or joining a ministry.
A lack of confidence can be crippling in many situations and being held back to the point of paralysis is never what God wants for you. God wants you on the move, growing, thriving, taking leaps of faith and trusting in Him. All of these things require a certain level of confidence. How can we gain the confidence to do the things God is calling us to do but which may seem to too daunting for us? Here are three things you can start doing today.
Put your Confidence In Christ
Paul knew the confidence necessary to step up to church leadership. That's why he taught in 1 Timothy 3:13, "For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus." We may not have all the ability and strength to do the things that God calls us to do. That's because God will often call us to do things much bigger than us.
One of the reasons why He does that is because He wants us to put our faith and confidence on His ability, not His. That opportunity to speak publicly, get that promotion, pursue a relationship, or be generous may be frightening, but it's about what God wants to do through you if we allow Him to use us as instruments of His faithfulness.
Cast Aside The Fear
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When we come to Christ, we experience His perfect love and 1 John 4:18 tells us that "perfect love casts out fear." Fear can and will cripple us to not walk and act in confidence. Fear is what tells us that we have no right, that we can't be used by God or that we can't do things well. It's time we let God's presence cast that fear aside.
That's not to say that we will never struggle with fear. Fear will always be there, but it doesn't always have to affect us. We can overcome through Jesus and we can go beyond the fear and act in confidence.
Perform For The Audience Of One
The fear to perform drives out confidence when we think that we will underperform. And many times we will fail to deliver, but we must always remember that we perform for the audience of one – we perform and live for God and His opinion is what matters most.
Here's something we need to come to terms with: God is proud of you. Sure you may fail and stumble at times, but He is not looking at your results. He's looking at your heart. We live for the glory of God and God is most glorified when we give our hearts to Him and do our best without fear that He will not accept us if we don't deliver because He will always be ready to accept, affirm and cheer for you as you do things for Him.
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