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    Yesterday I wrote about confidence in the Lord and how that relates to courage. Part of our confidence is in the all surpassing power of our God. Therefore, we do not have to walk in fear any longer. I believe that is a huge part of walking with confidence. The other part of it that I wanted to talk about today is confidence in our role in the body of Christ.

    We waste a lot of time in this word wishing we were someone that we aren't. We get jealous and distracted from our worth in Christ because we are looking at someone else instead of Him. I want to remind you that we are made in Christ's image-- not man's. You shouldn't be exactly like the people around you because you carry a unique piece of Jesus that they do not. A unique calling that others do not. Live confidently in that reality.

    Realize that the whole point is for us all to be different yet united with one mind and one heart. We work together as a team to accomplish Jesus' will for the world, but that only works when we are each fulfilling our specific callings with our specific gifts. Only you can fulfill your piece of that. Have confidence in the gifts He has given you and how they fit into the beautiful plan He has for your life specifically.

    Walk confidently through the world knowing that you are a child of the One true King. Do not fear the world or what it could do to you because He has overcome it all. Do not look with envy upon others within the church of Jesus or outside of it. Go through life fearlessly being who you were created to be in Christ.

Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 12:12-20 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (ESV)

Romans 12:4-5 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (ESV)

Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (ESV)

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (ESV)

Philippians 3:20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. (NLT)

Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. (ESV)

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