Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety. Job 11:18
If we stand back and take a look, it will become obvious, if it isn’t already, that the majority of the church struggles with insecurity. I started making that observation about the time the Lord started calling me to make some bold moves to outgrow my own. When I realized it wasn’t just my problem, but a widely spread one, I knew this mission I was being called to is about becoming a warrior and inspiring others to as well. Without addressing those insecurities, we will never come to our “promised land’. And we won’t win any battles with the enemy because He will always play on our insecurities.
Confidence in who God made us to be, and His reliability to catch us is more than the simple "believe in yourself" inspirational quote leads us to think. True security not based on us or our abilities, but on the God we serve and His view of and love for us.
The problem is, many Christians confuse security with arrogance. Or they simply do not see a value for it. But the truth it, our spiritual side works with our physical and emotional. If one part of us isn’t healthy, it will impact the whole. It will affect our ability to see, hear, sense and speak. God created the whole being, not just the spiritual, and He appeals to all aspects of us as He speaks into us and reveals truth by uncovering lies or ignorance. You see, His concept of health and the world's are two different things, so we need Him to keep us on His path.
When we react or make decisions in fear…when we hide or cower…when we pretend…when we are dishonest…when we don’t believe we have a purpose or gift..when we make excuses, we are insecure. When we cannot manage to love other people, we are insecure. When we feel numb or crippled by the lies that we cannot move forward, we are insecure. When we enable bad behavior or defend our own we are insecure. And let's not leave out the insecurity revealed when we have unrealistic expectations on ourselves or anyone else.
The only way out is to be in relationship with God and let Him teach us how He sees us. That's where the way we see ourselves is changed. Without God the Father, Jesus and His Holy Spirit, we'll never have a healthy view of ourselves. We can’t speak it into others until we accept it for ourselves. And we sure can’t impact a world we are too afraid to live in.
We were meant to stand strong, as believers of God, but standing on our own isn't strong. There is nothing attractive about insecurity. It ruins relationships and pushes people away. And the world will not want what we have if we, ourselves, aren’t confident.
It doesn't happen overnight; it's a process. Confidence, or "Godfidence" is composed of both transparency and humility. That might sound contradictory to what you're try to obtain, but, in fact, is key. We have to be willing to let our walls down and truly see ourselves, limitations, strengths and all. We can’t change until we do. We won't lean on God consistently without both. We need Him to expose our insecurities and heal us from them continually. It’s when we think we can do all this stuff on our own that we become arrogant and prideful. Both of those are simply masked insecurity.
For me, this journey He put me on for emotional health has changed the way I interact with Him. It has also give me healthier relationships overall. It has lowered my defenses, enabling me to truly hear what I need to hear. It has also given me a keener ear into the needs of others. On the same hand, it has cost me a lot...a lot of uncomfortable moments of standing up, speaking up and disturbing the unhealthy facade of peace.
God will use even one emotionally healthy person to help others. He will use them to call others into accountability in a loving way that motivates but does not cripple. Security is the call to freedom from lies and unhealthy entanglements. Freedom is where we live fully as who we were created to be- blessing our God the most.
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