Day 21: Combative Confidence

That little monster poked its head out at me today. You know, that ugly, painful, nasty green with envy monster. Jealousy. I hate that little punk. It's satan's personal sidekick who is actually quite lazy when you think about how little effort it puts in. It just throws a picture out there, a comment, a thought, and, if not grounded in our identity and if we don't rope in our emotions immediately, it can lead us on a downhill icy slope going fast.

Let's be real... It's hard to watch those around you getting all you've been praying for. I get it. Social media doesn't help at all. Sometimes even people we love who mean well don't help out at all either. For me today, it was pictures. Smiling, happy, young married couples. Just one click on Insta and it's there. And it's like something punches you in the gut. You're happy for them, but you think it's not fair and jealousy leads you to the comparison game, the questioning game, and lots of other spiritually deadly games that aren't fun at all.

Jealousy not only poisons your interaction with others and your relationship with others, but it also poisons your perspective. It makes you see the time you are in as worthless and unfair. When not spoken against actively, jealousy gives way to hatred, hatred of others, yourself, and the place where God has you in life... which is really hating His good plans for your life. We must immediately speak against the lies of the enemy, which includes jealousy, as soon as it tries entering our territory.

There is a cure though. Confidence in identity. Confidence in Who God is. Confidence in God's plan for your life. Confidence in God, period. Knowing who you are and Whose you are is key in fighting against all the attacks of the enemy. This is especially true for jealousy. Envy tries to make you see your season of life as invalid, worthless, and unfair. It not only makes you feel unloved but it also sucks out all the joy, all the goodness of the season God has you in.

But we have a weapon that makes envy shriek with terror, causing it to run away without trying to fight. That weapon is confidence. Confidence in our identity as the child of the One True King, Who has beyond good plans for your life.

When you are grounded in who you are and Whose you are, you scare the enemy to pieces. So the enemy will try to attack, but you have something much more powerful: Combative Confidence. Confidence in being God's child not arrogance in ourselves leads us to understand that anything the enemy says is invalid, twisted, and straight up lies from hell. Next time lies, envy, deceit, insecurity, jealousy creeps up to your door you proclaim, in your spirit and verbally, that you are a child of God, He has a plan and a future for your life that is GOOD, and you are not held captive by the enemies schemes.

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones."

Proverbs 14:30

"Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good." Romans 12:21

"But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind."

James 3:14-16

"Though the wicked hide along the way to kill me, I will quietly keep my mind on your laws. Even perfection has its limits, but your commands have no limit." Psalm 119:95-96

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Cami