Prayer To Find and Live With Confidence This Life God Is Giving Us

 The ongoing challenges of lockdowns and unemployment and change in this pandemic has shaken the confidence of some folks.  Who am I?  What can I do?  How can I be successful?  Legitimate questions at any time not just during these difficult months.

God has given gifts to everyone; no one has been left out.  God has a plan for our lives and He equips us with everything we need to fulfill that plan.  The gifts He gives us are not solely for our own benefit but are to be used in serving and caring for others. Sometimes that involves paid employment and at other times it doesn’t have to.  The first step in developing confidence in using our gifts is acknowledging that God is our creator and each one of us is individually gifted with the qualities God desires.

Lord … You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalm 139:13-14

In order to improve our confidence, we will need to demonstrate to ourselves that we can actually achieve what we set out to do.  How do we do that?  It’s not just going on ability.  We ask God to direct us and help us and then we step out and do something we haven’t done before.  We leave the safety and security of our comfort zone in order to achieve something new.  There are many people who will not return to the vocation they served in prior to this pandemic.  It might perhaps be the perfect opportunity for some to actually be involved in something far more enriching than previously. 

The essential basis of whatever we do is the fact that God has created us for a purpose and has prepared us, using everything that has gone on in our lives, to do the good things that He has prepared for us to do.  These days are not meaningless, not spinning out of control because of the unpredictable economic times we live in.  They are carefully orchestrated by God to demonstrate His good work in us and through us. 

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

Heavenly Father, we want to participate today in all that You have planned for us to do, relying on Your promises to be our strength when we are weak, and to fill us with everything we need to accomplish Your plan for us.  Help us to not be pessimistic but rather to choose to live optimistically confident as a person You can use to fulfill Your good plans.

So many things shout negative messages to us about what we can do, what limits are there but they are not a challenge to Your ability to do good through us.  So, thank you, God, for the good plan You have for our lives and the gifts You have given us to fulfill it.  Help us today to know and understand Your plan and then please fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we are instructed and empowered to carry out

Do what the LORD your God commands and follow his teachings. Obey everything written in the Law of Moses. Then you will be a success, no matter what you do or where you go. 1 Kings 2:3

Lord, all we have to focus on today to be successful is to do what You command and follow Your teachings.  No matter what we do or where we go, You’ve promised we can be confident of success when we stick to that simple focused agenda.  We go forward into whatever this remaining season of the pandemic requires us to face with confidence based on Your promise:

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.  Jeremiah 17:7-8