Surprising Confidence

I want to help you walk in powerful, enjoyable, inner confidence. And I want to help you get there through an “odd” person in the Scripture.  

Gideon.  

Gideon is not exactly a picture of boldness and confidence. At least he doesn’t start that way. But his transformation is stark. The same insecure, fear-filled Gideon who asked Yahweh for multiple assurances in the beginning of his journey, also boldly declares to his enemies in Judges 8:7, “All right, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna in to my hand, then I will thrash your bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers (italics added).”  

Ha! Saucy. 

That is some SERIOUS, BOLD trash talking!  

Gideon threw that down. How did he go from being afraid of his own shadow in chapter six to trash talking in chapter eight? And what can we learn from him for our lives today?  

Gideon made three very important decisions that led to his transformation. I am going to walk you through one a week for the next three weeks. I am not giving all three at once because I want you to seriously marinate in each. (This is like the torture of Netflix dropping new episodes of your favorite show once a week instead of all at once!) 

So take these one at a time, marinate in them, and be faithful as the Holy Spirit leads.  

Gideon’s first decision was to choose to identify himself according to the LORD’s word. I amend this in our lives to say you must choose to identify yourself according to the Trinity.  

Watch this in Gideon’s life. The LORD recruits Gideon to be the deliverer of His people who are being oppressed by the Midanites. Judges 6:14 says, “The LORD looked at him (Gideon) and said, ‘Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”  

Watch Gideon’s initial response in 6:15, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manesseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” Gideon’s primary identification is according to his tribe, his family, and his place in his family. Consequently, there is NO WAY he can be the deliverer of Israel. Or, more generically, there is no way he can be faithful to whatever God wants him to do.  

Gideon’s vision of what is possible IN HIS LIFE is limited by the boundaries of his physical family. 

Yahweh bats away this “familial” limitation in the next verse, “But the LORD said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man’” (Judges 6:16).  

Ah, Yahweh’s presence in Gideon’s life is the game changer.  

Gideon – I am according to my family.  

Yahweh – You are according to Me!  

How clear is the contrast between Gideon according to family and Gideon according to Yahweh to you? Gideon’s confidence transformation BEGINS in this wonderful place of learning how to see himself as Yahweh sees him. To know that Yahweh is with him. That he is only bound by the will of God in his life and nothing else. 

The first step in living a life of confidence is to learn how to see yourself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit see you. Notice I am saying that you need to learn how to see yourself in the Trinity.  

• You are a son or daughter of our heavenly Father. How does He see you? How does He feel about you? How deep is His love for you? How strongly does He desire LIFE for you?  
• You are a brother or sister of Jesus. How does He see you? How does He feel about you? How deep is His love for you? How strongly does He desire LIFE for you? 
• You are a temple of the Holy Spirit – His chosen dwelling place! How does He see you? How does He feel about you? How deep is His love for you? How strongly does He desire LIFE for you? 

You have been made BRAND NEW in the Kingdom family of the living God by grace! As Gideon’s “according to Yahweh” identity did not depend on Gideon being good enough, good looking enough, smart enough, or rich enough, neither does yours. Breathe. Relax back into Trinitarian, LIFE-giving juice.     

Now, to embrace “God with him,” Gideon had to see beyond his familial boundaries. What about you? What do you need to see beyond? Do you need to see beyond your family because of what they have said about you, not said about you, done to you, or not done to you? Do you need to see beyond what the world says about you because, according to the world, you do not have what is needed for great things? (Romans 12:2) Do you need to see beyond Satan, the accuser, because he continually reminds you of why you cannot have what God our Father wants you to have? (James 4:7) Or do you need to see beyond yourself because you are your own worst enemy? (Luke 9:23) 

Who or what do you need to see beyond so that you can embrace who you are in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and so that you can embrace what is possible?  

Confidence in the Kingdom of God is a paradox. Cultivating confidence is not about you and/or your abilities. Gideon’s confidence, and your confidence, flow organically from resting back in to the presence and work of “Surely, I will be with you” (Judges 6:16).  

Spend this week doing nothing but relaxing back into the truth of who you are as a son/daughter of your Father, a brother/sister of Jesus, and a chosen dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. As your limitations surface, as you hear naysaying voices internally or externally, renounce them. Do not accept them.  

Breathe.  

Allow your heart and mind to be filled with our Father’s love as His truth pushes out lies and negativity.  

Confidence is coming!