Grace Confidence

                Spending half of my life playing sports I’ve gained a considerable amount of confidence in myself.  I have learned how to work hard and expect to win at all cost.  There was always a way to accomplish my task and I knew I had the ability to fulfill the goal. 

I thrived on being at the plate with the game on the line.  That was my time to beat the pitcher.  I knew that I was going to get the hit that would eventually win the game.  I had so much confidence in my skills that I wanted the pressure.  Self confidence ruled my world on the baseball diamond.  There was not another player that was better than me in my head.  I was the best player in the park to me.

                Now that I have grown older and matured some, I realize that I was not the best player in the park and I probably didn’t always win the one on one battle at the end of a game.  But the confidence I had back then is still driven deep into my being.  I know when I put in the prep time, I can still accomplish most of the tasks I have in front of me.  I still thrive on gaining the upper hand with my preparation and hard work.  I know that all the self confidence in the world will only keep me in this world.  Now I am on a path to learn how to have Grace Confidence.

                Now in order to learn how to have grace confidence, we must first figure out what is grace confidence.  Grace confidence is a simple yet profound principle.  It is simply leaning on God and knowing He has all situations under control.  That does not mean that He will always give you the outcome that you want. 

It means that regardless of the outcome for you, it will accomplish His purpose.  Proverbs 3:5-6 has a clear cut definition of grace confidence.  It reads, 5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”(NIV)  Allowing God to have control and not relying on all the self confidence we have built up can be an overwhelming task.

                The concept of grace confidence is hard for some people to grasp.  Some people want to rely on their own knowledge and experience to get through situations.  They don’t see the benefit of asking God to go before them and make the path straight.  There are many reasons that people don’t ask God for help, but I feel the biggest reason is that they feel they can do it on their own.  God will not force His will on us, He allows us to ask for help.  He desires for us to ask for help and wants for us to ask for His help in our daily lives.