Confidence Devotional JourneySample
Day 28 | Equipped for our Everyday
Reflection
Our confidence grows as our competence grows. We experience this link when cooking a recipe over and over, learning to drive a car, or playing a sport. So how does my competence as a disciple of Jesus grow?
Well, in similar ways: practice and experience, guidance from God through His Spirit and through prayer, having a go and learning from mistakes, and teaching and support from others. Linked to these is the Bible as the reference of expertise – which, as Timothy reminds us, is useful for teaching, rebuking, and training in righteousness.
But it is the slightly less-quoted verse 17 that stands out to me: ‘so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’
That phrase, ‘thoroughly equipped’ and its different English translations – ‘proficient’, or ‘capable’ – sound like competence to me. In fact, ‘competent’ is the word the New American Bible plumps for. And this competence is for every kind of good deed and good work, including actions on my frontlines today.
If I am confident in the Bible, I read it regularly, carefully, and expectantly. In doing so, my competence and confidence in every kind of good work grows.
Responding in prayer
Lord, thank you for the Bible, for its relevance and trustworthiness, and that it is Your living word that helps me grow.
Scripture
About this Plan
In theory, we all know we can be confident in our faith, and when we’re gathered together with other Christians, we often feel full of confidence. But when daily life hits, it can all drain away. How can we change that, with God’s help? This Lent devotional journey will help you grow deep faith-confidence that lasts from Sunday into the rest of your week, so you can boldly join in God’s work right where you are. Over the 40 days of Lent, you’ll reflect on six key ways we can grow in confidence: 1. Confidence through being convinced 2. Confidence through community 3. Confidence through compassion 4. Confidence through consistency 5. Confidence through competence 6. Confidence through courage
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We would like to thank LICC - The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://licc.org.uk