All posts tagged: confidence

I know who you are: 10 Days of Holy Confidence

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Day #1 Lord, Maker, Savior I know that through it all You are greater Your love for me Will never fade away Those who hope in you Will never be ashamed ‘Cause I know who You are…’ “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” According to the Old Testament, your name is your identity. There is usually a meaning and purpose behind every name. This idea applies to God as well. He reveals Himself to us through His names. This Thanksgiving season, let’s do ourselves a favor and ask ourselves this fundamental question: How well do we know God? Many bible characters asked and answered that very same question. For example: Paul said, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.” David said, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Job said, “I know my redeemer lives, and in the end, He …

Platform Generation

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We live in a day and age where numbers really matter. The number of followers and friends you have on social media matter. It matters so much that people buy followers to make themselves look influential. Studies show that people spend up to 9 hours a day trying to boast their status in the blogger sphere and on social media. This phenomenon is so strong that even the number of members in any organization can change the status of both the organization and its leadership – positively or negatively. Positively they are able to leverage their influence to change the world. Negatively they become self-absorbed, narcissistic and needy for the praise of men. Sadly, when it comes to numbers, a lot of people think you need a huge following to change the world. I disagree! For example: If your church is small, it doesn’t mean you need to fold your hands and be mediocre. It doesn’t mean you remain silent. I pray that your church grows; I pray that you find what it takes to bring in …

Cultural clashes in defining beauty

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My wife was recently in Boston to give a short talk at TED. The video is available on their website right now. I would appreciate it if you took just a few minutes of your time to follow the link/video still below, watch the video and give her your feedback. About this speaker Dalali is not only my wife, but the mother of my two children and the most amazing person I know. She is a State Street new hire, who graduated from California State University, Chico with a double major in project management and accounting. Her research focuses on how leadership styles played an important role in political upheaval. Delali is also a certified SAP associate and led a project to convert SAP ERP Financial case studies from IDES to GBI dataset, to support SAP curriculum progress at her university. About this talk In this talk she shares her personal story of how growing up in West Africa, she was bullied and marginalized for being skinny. Her family worried about her, put her on …

Fearfully and wonderfully made

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For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Psalm 139:13-15 And God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good. Gen. 1:31 If the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” was really true, there will be no one in our world struggling with low self-esteem, insecurities and inferiority complex. There will be no deaths because of the words bullies use to hurt and intimidate people. Words are powerful. They can make or break you. Proverbs says, there is “life and death in the power of the tongue.” And James says, “the tongue is a fire, a restless evil full of deadly poison.” If you grew up hearing your parents, close friends  or bullies calling you damaged …

The Power of Delight

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Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 ESV Psalm 73 is a Psalm attributed to Asaph. Asaph was the music directed of King David who himself wrote most of the Psalm. But in Psalm 73, Asaph tells us how for a while he’d questioned the faithfulness of God toward his own. He tells us how much he envied the wicked because he looked at their lives and saw how much they prospered and how they had everything they wanted. But when he looked at his very own life and those of other God-fearing people, all they had were trials, troubles, tribulations and afflictions. This was something he couldn’t understand. Why would a godly man like him be afflicted with so much troubles and pain and lack, while the wicked lived in prosperity and ease? He goes on to describe how he began to trip and slip until he got heavenly perspective. Check out verses 2, 3 and 17: But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, …

Abba, My Father

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For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:15-17 There are seasons and times in our lives when fear, uncertainty and doubts suffocate the assurance of knowing God as not only King, Savior or master, but Father. Sometimes we get squeezed into a mindset that equates him as no different from our earthly fathers. In fact, sometimes it is easy for us to see Jesus relating to the Father with this joyful confidence, but we may see ourselves as disqualified for it. In any event, it is quite liberating to have those doubts and fears lifted and our confidence reinforced by the Spirit that He is far different from our earthly …

Defenestration

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Webster-Merriam People’s Top Ten Favorite Words and how the Bible might have something to say about it. Part 1 Defenestration:  a throwing of a person or a thing out of a window; or a usually swift expulsion or dismissal. Defenestration comes from Latin (de- means “from; down, away;” and fenestra means “window”). The word first appeared in English in 1620. Have you ever been kicked out of a church? Have you ever been kicked out of your job? Maybe you know how it feels  to be kicked out of school or dumped by a girlfriend or a boyfriend. How do you model genuine faith in those times. There is a young woman in my church going through the feeling of being dumped. She now sits on the other side from where she used to in church and the guy is claiming that she should not come to church because this is his home church. But she says he is the one who needs  to find another church because this is her home church as well. They are mean and …

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

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Proverbs 3:5, 6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” I have been praying, waiting and trusting the Lord for something very important, but over the last two days, I have become increasingly anxious about it. So I decided to go to church and sing some old hymns. I thought, maybe that will help me snap out of my anxiousness. You know what, it worked. After singing a few of my favorite hymns, this one ministered more than the rest and  for practically the entire day, I couldn’t stop singing it. I can now say with confidence, I know that my God will take care of me. Let me sing it over you if you are feeling anxious today. I pray that you will find the grace to trust him more. I’m not too confident you will like my voice, or my playing, but just take it as a joyful ‘Noise’ of encouragement. Tis so sweet …