In chapter 5, we talk about Gideon who, like us, doubted his strength and abilities. When God called him to defeat his enemy’s immediately Gideon’s insecurities started shouting excuses, listing all his inadequacies. Yet through his story we see God wasn’t limited by Gideon’s limitations, and He’s not limited by ours either.
God could see beyond who Gideon was to who he could become. He promised Gideon he would defeat his enemies, but he would not fight alone. “The Lord answered, ‘I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive’”(Judg. 6:16).
Gideon’s first steps out of the shadow of doubt would require he focus on God’s promise and power, not himself. Eventually, with God’s help, Gideon defeated his enemies and his doubts. In today’s video message, I share how we can do the same by intentionally identifying our doubts and throwing them away, so that we can take hold of and live in the security of HIS promises instead! Please click the arrow below to watch.
- Don’t Throw Away Your Confidence printable (click here)
- Message Notes: You can download video “Message Notes” in a PDF format here or in a MSWord doc here. I encourage you to watch it once and just let God speak to your heart. Then if you want to, watch it agagin and follow along with the message notes which include parts of the message, verses and blanks to fill in. 🙂
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I don’t know about you, but whew – this chapter was just what I needed this week. God used it to remind me of how good HE is at being strong in my weaknesses – and unlimited by my limitations. Being really sick for two weeks, with an injured teenager and a 3-year old who has sleep/anxiety issues that have caused her to wake up all night for the past three out of five nights will make you think it’s time to resign from just about everything you do {but don’t worry I’m not}. 🙂
Connecting in Community: Ok friend, let’s talk. Overwhelming circumstances will send me to the trash every time! What’s tempting you to throw away your confidence this week? Did chapter 5 help you identify your triggers? What promises are you going to take hold of after writing down and throwing away your doubts? Or share other answers to questions 1-7 at the end of the chapter.
Share your thoughts below this post. I really want to hear from you – yes you! You are an important part of our community and conversation!
Great! Since Friday I quit my job, I have been feeling like a failure – now I can throw that away and replace it with God’s truth! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (me). This means to me that God will help me find the right job for me!
Since being sick, I have fell behind on this study. I finished chapter 5 questions on Thurs. and chapter 6 questions yesterday (Sat.) Both chapters where eye openers. For chapter 5 question 7 really spoke to me. When you asked to describe if and how you are beginning to see the struggle with insecurity as part of your spiritual journey. I see it clearly how my insecurity is part of my spiritual journey. In the prayer you said, “When doubt overshadows my thoughts, help me shift my focus back to You… In all these things I am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” I can pray this, but God is showing me I need to believe it.
Chapter 6 Question 3 I chose eight instead of seven. I like all of them, but these eight spoke to me. Since I was behind on this chapter, this week I am going to say each one out loud when I feel I am doubting. The ones I picked were 1 Cor. 6: 19-20: I have been bought with a price and I belong to God. Eph. 1:3-8: I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child. Romans 8: 28: I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances. Phil. 1:6: I am confident God will complete the good work He started in me. 2 Tim. 1:7 : I have been given the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. 1 John 5:18: I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me. John 15:16: I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. and Phil. 4:13: I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Question 6 Do you recognize Satan as a spiritual bully who wants to intimidate and defeat you? Yes. If I don’t rely on God’s promises and truths and stay in His Word Satan will use that against me. All Satan wants more than anything is to defeat me to do God’s Will in my life. How will you take what you know now and prepare yourself for the daily battles when he tries to steal your confidence as a child of God? I will do the same as Jesus (really try to, I like the visual of throwing away our doubts) and not let Satan bully me anymore. I will rely on God’s Word to show me who I am really am in Him. His chosen, beloved child of His.
Wasn’t able to watch this last week due to visiting my Granddad in the hospital, but am really glad I went back and watched it today! Will definitely try throwing my doubts away! Thanks so much for all you do Renee! May God richly bless you!
God bless you Renee that you persevered. I had been struggling with anxiety all my life and the sad aspect of it was that i didn’t know it was anxiety until about a year and half ago. Because of the anxty issues i never lived because i was always afraid. I found out about the Confident Heart through a friend. I’ve only read the first two chapters (i haven’t really had an opportunity to get the book), but the first two chapters and the 7 day doubt diet were very helpful, especially the part about not throwing away your confidence. . At the moment i’m in job that i dont have any interest in (i want to get into the Helping Industry since i enjoy helping people), the thought of going to work and the fear of not getting a new always triggered anxiety but your beautiful words helped me to stay calm at my present job until i find a new job that i will be more useful and happy with. This is my confidence in God and I shall not throw it away just because you held on to yours, God bless you. Heidi, Ghana
Don’t worry Max we’re all there with ya!!! You def made me laugh, thank you 🙂
I have been reading this book and soaking up all of God’s promises…printing verses and writing down verses. These are all very important things…but I feel I must share the one thing that is lacking in this book…it is the fact that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God.
Sometimes things happen in our lives because of sin we have not dealt with. We are the clay and He is the one forming us and changing us. If we focus too much on His promises we fool ourselves into believing that everything should just be o.k. There are verses all through the Bible that should be read side by side with all these promises…for example when we read about dross…maybe when one is going through a ‘firey’ trial God is clearing out the dross…the impurities in our lives…our minds…our hearts.
When you wrote about how Eve was deceived by satan…that was correct however another point to share would be the fact that Adam was right there…why was he not the ‘head of his household’? Why did he not ‘jump in’ and stop Eve from doing the wrong thing? My point being…we’ve been sinners from the beginning…all of us.
When I am going through any kind of trial I must spend time examining my heart and see if there is sin that I must confess to God…there usually is…it’s a pretty scary thing to ask God to bring to mind my sins!
It is then that I need His promises the most.
As I read chapter 6, the book that I keep recalling is Henri nouwen’s Life of the Beloved. One day while walking along Columbus ave in NYC, Nouwen’s friend turned to him and said why don’t you write something about the spiritual life for me and my friends? Speak to us about something greater than ourselves. Nouwen’s one word for his friends was “beloved”. He goes on to say there is a voice that speaks “you are my beloved, on you my favor rest”. It is not always easy to hear or believe that voice in a world of brokenness. It is our dark side that says, I am no good, but our LIGHT radiates BELOVED. Nouwen’s book is an excellent guide for spiritual living in a secular world.
Awesome chapter. Thank you so much Renee for this book and all your prayers and advice. I feel like we are all in this together. This bible study has helped me with so many things that I am going through that I feel without it I would have thrown away my confidence. God BLess
I was away at a quilting retreat over the weekend, so it was a busy week getting ready to leave and I didn’t get to watch the video until last night (Sunday) and finish answering the questions. The one that struck a chord with me was #6 – What triggers cause me to doubt myself? I agreed with all the examples and as I started to write that in my journal I heard the words “illness” and Injury” loud and clear in my head. Of course! My poor body has been under almost constant attack since last summer – shingles, allergies, sinus attacks, torn tendon in my ankle, lower back has been acting up with all the limping I’ve been doing due to the ankle and for the first time in two years I just had a head cold! I don’t like being sick, it really drags me down and I feel pretty worthless. Illness and injury really have added to my sense of self doubt and I wasn’t even aware how much until now.
Thank you and God bless everyone posting and sharing here. I take time to read in the evenings and am blessed and encouraged.
Renee, I just wanted to thank-you for the wonderful prayer you recently sent to all of us. It has been a bittersweet week-end as I have had to watch my older son be treated unfairly by those he thinks of as friends. This being his birthday week-end has made it even more painful. However, with being able to turn to God’s promises when I try to “fix” this, has eased the pain and gives me the promise and the hope that God works all things to the good and I need to trust in His understanding and not mine. The prayer brought additional peace and comfort (especially the reminder that we are just where God wants us whether or not its page 10 or page 110 since I have had trouble finding time to keep reading on a regular basis). Thank-you and may God bless you.
You are so welcome!! It was all Jesus. He wrote that prayer for each of you. And His timing truly is amazing. I love how He knows what we need. I’m so honored to be His pray-er and encourager in your lives!
Thank You. Lord. . .Thank you, Rene!!!!
Chapter 6 is SOOOO awesome, inspiring and encouraging! Ahh. . . .
I am claiming and proclaiming my Freedom in Christ. . . who I am and Whose I am!!! I have written the verses and promises in my journal today and I am claiming them for every moment of every day!
Sweet Freedom!!!!
Today is it’s own day; tomorrow will be it’s own, too. I will claim these promises for each new day!!!
Today I KNOW I am accepted. . .I am secure. . .I am significant because I am Christ’s.
Praise the Lord!!!!
; – )
Love this Renee! Thank you for this video and encouraging us to be obedient–I cannot wait to literally throw my doubt away and watch as God blesses my efforts. This act of obedience has been on my heart this week as I am leading a group of women through a study I wrote on the book of 1 John. I’ve underlined and highlighted the words in 1 John 2:3 once a time before and then again this week “obey His commands.” Thanks for echoing Him and His heart…keep going!
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Through-John-LIGHT-Feel-ebook/dp/B0070PLSLS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329719271&sr=1-1
Loved this video and the chapter this past week. I know this is an older post now, but I wanted to comment anyway. Years ago, I thought I knew my calling in life and that was to go overseas and serve, be it for just a little time or a long time, whatever God wanted. It was such a spiritual high at that time. Then, I started to suffer from major anxiety, mostly relating to traveling. At one point, it was so bad, I couldn’t even make it up our little landmark mountain! The beach, which is my favorite place in the world, elicited an anxiety attack that caused me to never want to return again.
It is so very crippling. And it makes me feel like I have thrown every bit of confidence in my calling away. I have doubted the Lord even calling such a failure to do medical missions, even if it was just a week! I will say, I haven’t stopped traveling to different areas. Some are easier and better than others, but I continue to plan trips. I just suffer such debilitating anxiety beforehand and during that I can’t enjoy the trip and stay in a constant state of stress. It seems so silly, but it is so real to me. And its lasted for five years now, so I also feel very guilty that I have such little faith.
Anyway, its shattered my confidence that God would even allow me to serve on a mission trip. So this message, Gideon’s story, and the video were just perfect for me this week. Could use your prayers, thanks!
The book, the questions, the videos are so helpful. I am so aware of the many ways I doubt myself and God’s forgiveness. Sitting in mass this evening with my grandkids and singing Forgiven, I suddenly felt truly forgiven. I do not need to continue to hang on to these things; I can let them go. I felt the true joy of forgiveness.
Loved the video Renee. Thanks for the visual picture of writing down and throwing away our doubts.
Here are my answers to chap 5 questions
1. I focus most on my thoughts duringvthe day.
2. I didn’t think today about measuring up to someone’s expectations
3. Scared to talk in front of others, introverted
4. Doubts I am facing-am I being the mom god has called me to be?
5. Betrayal from others
6. Fear, worry, guilt
7. I have viewed doubt as an emotional weakness. I have not asked god to take it away and help me be confident. I do struggle with giving my insecurities and anxieties over to god. I tend to hold onto them instead. I need to focus on throwing away those doubts and insecurities and asking god to fill me with the confidence I need from him.
One of the best things I started doing this week is to tell myself to put my focus back on Christ. When my stomach turns because I’m doubing myself or getting into what others are thinking of me, I immediately know, I took my focus off God. I need to turn to the light, I need to turn to God. I have been praying over and over againt that when my minds starts to get negative that God helps me put my focus back on him. Within a couple of minutes, my mind has settled down and I feel peace within. It seems so obvious now what I needed to do but I just never got it until now. I’ve put my focus on me and I need to put in on God. How awesome! I can do that!
That is so encouraging how you are applying these truths and steps of action and seeing what a huge difference it makes when we choose to change our focus. Thanks for sharing Lucy!
So many thoughts and verses came to my mind when reading this chapter. First I remembered an acronym I learned back in high school: LIGHT = Living In God’s Holy Truth…I thought about how that related to Renee’s revelation in the bathroom. We weren’t meant to block the light with doubts and insecurities but our hearts were created to live in the light of God’s truths and promises and then reflect that truth to those around us. Just as the moon (at its fullest and brightest) is reflecting the light of the sun…we were created to reflect the Light of the Son to the people around us. This also brought back to my mind a few verses God showed me when I was going through a very lonely and dark time in my life:
Esther 8:16 “The Jews had light [a dawn of new hope] and gladness and joy and honor.” Esther clearly had reasons to fear rejection and even death but chose to believe God and acted in faith and courage. She saved her people and gave a nation a future of hope and joy and honor.
Micah 7:7-8 “But as for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him I will keep watch; I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. 8Rejoice not against me, O my enemy! When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me.”
Malachi 4:2 “But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams”
During that time in my life I felt so attacked by the enemy with loneliness, fear, doubts, rejection and abandonment. They say that the night is the darkest just before sunrise…so on the days I thought I just couldn’t take anymore pain this verse encouraged me that God’s hope and healing were just over the horizon, like the rays of the rising sun. Persevere and keep living in God’s Holy Truth and security and confidence will reflect from your life and bring healing to someone else.
I love the acronym you shared: LIGHT = Living In God’s Holy Truth…and the verses. Great stuff! Thank you for taking time to leave a comment and share your heart!
Thank you, Audra, for sharing that awesome acronym: LIGHT!!!
You, too, are an inspiration and I’m thankful that God has brought you to sharing with this group!
God bless you mightily, Sister in Christ!
; – )
I have found that doing that very act of actually throwing away that which is hindering my confidence really works! What an awesome visual. Throwing away those things has given me like a new perspective as well as a freedom to do that which God has called me to do! Thank you Renee! Week by week i am learning and putting the lessons into practice for my life. I have had many difficulties and supprisingly enough am finding that those things that i was holding onto are really not worth living in despair. It is a new day for me i am so blessed to be a part of this! Looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me next!!!!
Yay, I love hearing how you are “applying” these truths and seeing the difference. God is so good!
I so needed to hear about persevering. I have been seeking a small group for prayer or study and felt lead to open my home to do that. I asked about 23 in my S.S. care group to join me. No one showed up. So I want to give up. I’ve been without companionship for 26 years and I don’t have a best friend to share the ups and downs of life with. I covet your prayers.
Brenda, you have my prayers and,, the prayers of the beautiful women in this Bible study who will lift you up to the Lord. My best friend is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who cares for me, walks with me, listens to me, loves me, and,,, i talk with Him, and then silently listen to Him as He whispers back to me. Brenda, never give up, never give up, never give up on what you feel the Lord is leading you to do.
Renee, what a blessing you are to each and every one of us who have come together in this Bible study. Thank You.
Hi girls, I started out full of God’s confidence and peace today. A harsh phone call with my husband sent me into such a tailspin. You see the last 3 yrs of this marriage have been extremely hard. I am wondering if I can ever heal while I’m still in it. This Bible study has been helping me immensely. Just knowing you sisters are out there dealing with your own issues and that we are all praying for each other really helps. God bless you all.
I’m praying for you, your husband and your marriage. Always remember that God can heal us where ever we are as long as He is in the center of it.
Thank you Linda, I pray God blesses you in a special way. Love in Christ, Becky
Renee,
I know that you have had your own challenges with health, etc. during this study but thank you for perservering and reaching out to others and myself. I’ve had a tough couple of days…mainly due to my thoughts and baggage that I carry. I was encouraged by a comment to “repent”; go the other way. Please pray that hurts will heal by the grace of God. I know He wants me to keep HOPE alive..in my thoughts and words…and I hate it when I fail to please Him because I’m forfeiting victory in this area of my life. Thanks for the printout and video.
I am praying for all of you.
I am having a big struggle this week with my husband suddenly losing his job and having a huge debt and alimony from his first marriage now staring us in the face (we can’t afford it on only my salary). What I’m battling with is fear – fear of losing my security, fear of the “what if’s”. It’s making me lash out at my husband and then get angry at myself for feeling this way. I’m trying so hard to give this to God and I’m clinging to the verse: ” The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I am trying to be confident in God’s promises but keep questioning why I deserve His love, especially when I keep lashing out at my husband. (This may not make a lot of sense – I’m just typing it as it’s in my mind.)
God has spoken to me and I actually heard it (I know He speaks to me always but I’m too stubborn to hear). He planted in my heart the need to start a Prayer Group at my work. I’ve never done anything like this before and certainly not as a brand new employee. But, start it I did and He has put other Christians in my path, so I can see his Glory all around me. I just can’t accept that I’m worth it.
Trish: I hope that you have written “I’m not worth it” on a piece of paper and then crumbled it up and threw it in the trash!
You are God’s masterpiece! (though you may not feel like it).
Act as if it’s true. When you feel like lashing out at your husband – think to yourself: “I am God’s masterpiece. How would His masterpiece respond to this situation?”
It is so hard to put into place this changed (turned) way of thinking. (I struggle with it every day!)
Blessings and prayers for your situation.
Thank you Carol – reading your response brought tears to my eyes. What you said is so true and has really blessed me. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Trish
(PS – last night, I shared with my husband some of the stories from my childhood that really hurt – situations with my mother that made me question my self worth. I’ve never shared those stories with anyone and, although it was really hard, it has brought us closer together. I know that God is working through this Bible Study to help me (and others) heal those old hurts and help us move forward into the abundant life he planned for us!!)
I’m glad it was helpful Trish. I had afterthoughts that perhaps I had stepped out of bounds, so it means a lot to me that you’ve replied.
Bravo that you were able to share past hurts.
I will pray for your husband’s job situation.
Blessings.
I’m so glad you shared with your husband and you are seeing God work in such a sweet way in your relationship with your husband. Im praying for you both tonight!
The way I am bombarded by thoughts of insecurity, I feel like Im going to need to carry my own personal garbage can with me, but if thats what it takes – pen and paper in hand and a trash can rolling around behind me I will do it.
Im tired of being hunted by lies.
That makes for a funny thought – lugging around a huge garbage can! But perhaps it is just the image i need! Thanks.
Don’t worry Max we’re all there with ya!! You def made me laugh, thank you 🙂
#7 I have viewed doubt as an emotional weakness in the past. I have asked god to remove doubt from my heart, but I have not asked Him to replace it with cinfindence—I will have to try this.
I have doubted for a long while that things in my marriage would change. this week for the first time I was able to see this clearly that things are changing.
I was late for work on Wednesday and thought that my husband didn’t care because he didn’t say anything as he usually does. So I became very upset and emotional over this, and most of my day didn’t go well because of this. When I returned home he had cleaned the house (it was his day off) and did a pretty good job—for a man that is. He did all the things he said he was going to do for a change. Normally he does some and not all and doesn’t do a very good job. the next day when I questioned him on all this, I found myself doing things differently. I began with an encouraging word which is something I never do. I complemented his work the day before and thanked him for doing it. Then I asked him if he knew I was late he said no, and said he was sorry for not realizing it and saying something like he always does. This small menial emotion lead to other feelings and things going on in our marriage. which is why I became so emotional sometimes small emotions can lead to bigger ones when not dealt with. we are getting with another couple to talk thing out more on Sunday (unless things change). Please pray for this to go well for us and that both of us can be open.
What I learned through this is that I need to stop doubting things will change, because they have and I can see that now. so there is hope for us yet. I need to trust god is always at work in my life and an the job—-because He is–I saw this clearly this week, that my husband is trying. Also that it truely benefits to pray first, which is what I did (I normally don’t but getting better at giving things to God first) before I talked to my husband. I also sought advise from other sisters as well as prayers. So God was already on the job before i even went there. Thanks to the sisters for volunteering to pray without being asked by me. I even had one pray for me at work in my presence. God is answering my prayers I have had for a while.
All the glory for this goes to Christ, my Lord and Savior, who loves me and didn’t leave me after all. I was wondering if He was there or not, but now I am confident that He truely is and always will be. I just need to keep that in mind always.
May God bless all of you and sorry this is so long but it is a great victory for me that I wanted to share with all of you. I also feel it is due to reading this book. I was meant to be reading it. thank you Reneee for writing it it has truly ben helpful to me thus far May god Bless your ministry. LOL
Wow, I love how God is working. thank you for sharing this with us Caroline!! We’ll keep praying. You keep believing and trusting and praying and watching :-).
GREAT video and GREAT chapter! My comment is kind of a combination of the two. I was thinking about what it is that causes me to throw away my confidence so easily. And I think a lot of it has to do with a quote from Chapter 5…”We find ourselves in the shadow of doubt many times because our thoughts are mostly about ourselves: how we’re performing and what others are thinking about us.” Indeed!
I have actually struggled with this very thing the past two weeks. I had worked really hard on a couple of things and felt pretty good about the work I had done. But then, it seemed like every one of the things I did was overlooked…as in no one noticed and no one said, “Wow, Kimberly! What a great job!” or “Thank you SO much!” So then my confidence took a big dip. Maybe I hadn’t done such a good job. Maybe I had been fooling myself.
So there you have it…finding my worth first off in how I had performed and then worrying about what others thought about how I had performed. SO thankful God is working on me. Helping me to see I have got to fix my eyes on Him, my hope in Him, my confidence in Him. SO glad He ADORES this work in progress. 😉
Love you bunches! Praying you feel better. Praying for your whole family. Praying for the women you are sharing with this weekend. THANK YOU for helping all of us place our confidence in HIM! (hmmmm…and apologies for the blog post sized comment!!!) 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing so honestly!! And for you prayers – and your blog post comment. I love reading your words and your thoughts. I just love everything about you friend!!
I got a little bit behind in my reading, but as I sat down to begin Chapter 6 this morning, I just felt so thankful, Renee. SO thankful to not be alone in this struggle. Honestly, I thought there was something wrong with me for so long. Reading your book is like reading my own heart spelled out on paper. I know I have thanked you before, but I want to thank you AGAIN for having the courage, for trusting the Lord, and writing this book. So glad He has me reading it again. 🙂 MUCH LOVE, K