Joyce Meyer - Confidently You

W hen you see a confident person, you recognize their confidence right away. You notice it in the way they walk and hold their head up high. You hear it in the way they talk. You perceive it in the way they deal with other people. And you see it in the successes they enjoy.

I believe confidence is the key to much success and fulfillment in life, and I am glad you have chosen to take the journey toward becoming confidently you. Whether you view yourself as someone who is fairly confident most of the time, someone who has almost no confidence at all, or someone in between, I believe the lessons in these pages will give you a greater understanding of what true confidence is and how it operates and manifests in the life of a godly person.

Confidence is a quality that most people admire and want but sometimes struggle to develop. The good news is that confidence is a quality anyone can have. Its not like height, eye color, a beautiful singing voice, or other characteristics people are born with. Confidence is like discipline or physical strength; it can be developed. If you think, I am just not a confident person, that can change. You can be confidentstarting today.

Though confidence is often associated with people who have strong personalities, you can also be quiet and reserved, studious and serious, or relaxed and laid back, yet confident at the same time. Becoming confident doesnt mean you take on a different personality. It means you become the best, most courageous, most positive version of yourself.

As you grow in confidence, you will be amazed by the possibilities that open up for you and the ways you can flourish and enjoy your life. The first step toward a confident you is to change the way you think about yourself and about God. Once you realize how God thinks about you and learn to see yourself as He sees you, confidence follows. A good prayer to pray before you go further in this book would be: Lord, help me to grow in confidence as I come to understand how You think about me. I choose today to agree with the way You see me and, based on that, to become my most confident self.

Confidence has become a buzzword in secular societywhat the Bible calls the world. Usually, when people think of confidence, they think of self-confidence. The world applauds this kind of confidence and urges everyone to develop it to the greatest possible degree.

The world often considers people with low confidence deficient in a quality necessary for success and views confidence as the solution for all kinds of problems. For example, our society says that if people arent performing well at work or if their social life is boring, they simply need to be more confident. There are so many resources to help people be confident that it almost boggles the mind. Just think about how many times you hear television self-help gurus, celebrities, or athletes urging you to believe in yourself! Im sure that if we knew how much money people spend in the United States each year trying to boost their self-confidence, we would be shocked.

I wish the world knew that self-confidence isnt as valuable as many people think. It may help people accomplish certain goals, but it requires them to rely on their own strength and effort. Theres a lot of striving involved in developing self-confidence, and striving can leave people feeling exhausted and frustrated. Reaching goals through the power of self-confidence isnt always fulfilling, so people then set new goals and drain their strength to achieve them. Ultimately, confidence that is entirely self-focused and self-energized doesnt lead to much satisfaction.

I have walked the journey from self-confidence to confidence in God, and I want to make clear from the start of this book that our confidence must be in Christ alone, not in our human strength or abilities, not in other people, and not in the world or its systems.

Worldly confidence wont take you where you truly need to go in life, but confidence in God will enable you to live a life beyond anything you have ever imagined. Self-confidence may help you work your plan for your life, but confidence in God will empower you to live in His plan, which is far better than anything you could want for yourself. To be confident in Christ means that you trust Him to enable you to do whatever you need to do.

At the end of each chapter of this book, you will see questions designed to help you grow in confidence and scriptures that I refer to as Confidence Boosters because as you study them, they will strengthen you to become your most confident self.

I am praying for you to become more confidently you, and I believe that your growing confidence in God will bring an abundance of His blessings, strength, fulfillment, and joy into your life.