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Confident · Fostering Faith

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  Welcome back to Fostering Faith. We're in season two, episode five, and this week we
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  wanted to talk about confidence. How's your week been, Gia? Good. What's been so good
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  about it? Um, I don't know, just hanging out with my friends. How's your weekend? Good.
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  Do you have anything else coming up that you're excited for? The basketball season, actually.
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  What'd you do on Sunday? Um, I had, I practiced volleyball. So you have a potential to play
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  travel volleyball too this year. So tryouts are coming. Whenever you go into a tryout,
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  what is one of the key things to have? Confidence. Why? Because you have to stand out to them.
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  How would you get confidence in volleyball? Um, that like thinking, not like, don't think
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  of other people, just think of yourself and how you're good at stuff. Well, and the fact
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  that you are downstairs hitting balls constantly. And so having confidence that you've practiced
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  your skill, I think is important. What other things, what areas in life do people lack
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  confidence? Um, I say like following Jesus. I feel like you need confidence to do that.
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  Okay. What other areas is in, doesn't have to be about faith, but what other areas do
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  people need help with confidence in? Um, how they look and how they act and how they like
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  play sport. Yeah. I think that having confidence in that you are, that you're made for more,
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  that you are more than what you have, having confidence that you're made in the image of
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  God and having that as your, as your backbone, because you have to have confidence in knowing
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  who, who made you. Right. So can I ask you some questions about confidence? Yeah. Okay.
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  My first question is how have you used confidence in your life? Like it doesn't have to be in
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  faith, but like how have you used it in? I think that confidence is important in your
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  profession, in friendships, in relationships, uh, because you have to know what the, what
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  confidence does. I mean, if you walk into a room and your head is like down low, what,
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  what is that bringing? But I think that you have to know what confidence is. And so, you
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  know, like you have like worldly competence, you have godly competence. And so society
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  often teaches us that confidence comes from like your talents and achievements and external
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  validation. People strive to build competence by accumulating success and relying on their
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  own abilities. And then you have the godly competence that you know, our God has never
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  failed. You know that God has said, you know, 7,000 promises in scripture. And so you, you
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  have confidence not in what you can do, but because we are believers, we have confidence
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  in our God. And so I think that he is, he has written this love letter that we get to
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  call a Bible and that we get to read every day. And so we're reassured and we know in
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  our personal lives because we've seen him work miracles for people that we know. And
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  with that confidence going into your day, your sport, I think that that having that
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  confidence and not on our own ability, but God's ability is really key. Why do we need
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  confidence? Like just random people, why did they need confidence? Because if you don't
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  have confidence, then how are you going to get anything done? Um, confidence is not the
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  absence of fear. Confidence. Sometimes we mistakenly believe that confidence means never
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  being afraid, but confidence isn't about being, um, or never feeling fear. It's about trusting
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  God enough to move forward whenever fear is present. And so you can be, you know, scared
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  and still be competent as well. You know, so I think that if you walk into a room and
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  you're like, Oh, you just feel very kind of, you're not competent in yourself. You're going
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  to lack that enthusiasm. You're going to lack that zeal. Um, like you walk into a room and
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  you own it because you're competent in what you're in, what you're doing. Um, so I think
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  that having confidence is important, but also to not being overly competent. Yeah. I think
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  that we have to know that we have limitations, but who doesn't have limitations? God. I also
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  feel like if you have too much confidence, I feel like it's like gloating. I feel like
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  I don't the right word. Like, yeah. I mean like being cocky. Yeah. Um, and I think that
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  you made a good point to what is a great scripture, um, about people needing confidence, um, because
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  of how they look. What, what is a great scripture? Um, I have this one Psalms one 39, 13 through
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  18. He made all of the delicate and inner parts of my body and knit my, me together
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  in my mother's room. Thank you for making me so wonderful and complex. Your work workmanship
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  is marvelous. How well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in the other cell
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  cell cell seclusion, seclusion, seclusion, as I was woven together in the cell.
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  In the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded
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  in your book. Every moment was let out before a single day was passed. Um, how precious
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  are the, your thoughts about, oh God, that they cannot be numbered. I can, I can't ever
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  count them. They are numbered in the grand, grand to Sam. And when I wake up, you are
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  still with me. And so that's one of the most famous Psalms is it was written by David.
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  And so David had so many, you know, problems and issues and was he a center? Yeah. Everyone
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  was a center. Yeah. And so David got to write a large part of scripture and in that book
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  of Psalms and that's what I'm studying right now. It's, it's such a good book. If you guys
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  need something to read, I would so encourage you to go and pick up Psalms. Um, it's a book
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  of songs and it's a book of this being mad at God and just asking and worshiping and
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  praising God. And so it's really just kind of encompassing all in one. And it's just,
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  it's such a good book, but you know, David, he had fought Goliath. And so do you think
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  that he came in there all like, Oh man, like, I don't even know what I'm doing. Or do you
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  think that he walked into that battle with Goliath, you know, knowing that he was going
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  to be able to do it? Yeah. I feel like he thought he would be able to do it because
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  he took off all of his armor cause like it was so heavy and he just knew it was whose
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  armor was he trying to wear? Oh, I don't know. And so that is such a beautiful message in
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  itself is that if you're trying to wear someone else's clothes and they're so big, cause Saul
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  was a big man. And so he tried to put that armor on David that was not meant for David.
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  And so whenever you try to put on clothes that you're not meant to wear, you can't act
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  like God made you. And I think that we can unpack that. That's, that's so good right
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  there. I think that whenever you are trying to be somebody that you're not, you're not
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  as effective as what you could be. So I think that it's important to remember that you're
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  that you are beautifully and wonderfully made that God made you. Do you remember whenever
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  we went to Mexico and we were sitting on the beach kind of that morning before we left
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  and we just look, I said, just look at all the sand. Oh yeah. You told me that. And so
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  just planning and so moms and dads, if you're, whenever you're listening to this, you know,
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  just having those moments when you're just outside in nature and just kind of re, you
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  know, re-energizing what scripture says. And so just kind of making those practical, like
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  little suggestions whenever you're on a beach, does it have to be in Mexico? And you know,
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  it could be at your local beach, you know, here in, you know, Southern Illinois, you
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  could just go to that lake and just look at how many grains of sand and that's how many
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  times God has thought about you just to put it into a visual picture. So my third question
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  is how can you use confidence with God? Like how to like spread and everything. How can
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  you use confidence with that? I think that you have to be rooted in, in your confidence
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  in God. And so with having confidence in God, I think that you've seen his past promises,
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  you've seen what he's done and daily dependence on him and knowing him in your walk in faith
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  that your daily dependence and your confidence in Christ grows daily as we place our trust
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  in him. It's not going to be a one time event, but a continual soul process of like just
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  surrendering our lives and our choices to him. And just, you know, having those daily
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  habits like we've talked about in our previous messages about praying, being in the word,
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  relying on it and knowing what his promises says, you know, you have Proverbs three, five
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  and six. It says trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean into your own understanding
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  and always submit to him and he will make your path straight. When we put our trust
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  in the Lord with all of our heart, we don't rely on our own understanding or strength.
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  It creates a foundation of confidence at last because he's never lost a battle and we know
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  that this because we have scripture and is there any lies in scripture? And so if we
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  believe before cover to cover girls and women and men, we know that the truth is in scripture.
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  So we know that he's never lost a battle. We know that he's not going to start with
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  us. And so whenever we're spreading the gospel, whenever we're telling people about our faith
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  and we're not trying to win people over, but we're allowing them to know that there is
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  a better option. The only way to heaven is through Jesus is through Christ. And whenever
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  we're talking about that, we can be competent knowing that this is what scripture says and
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  that's what we're going off of knowing who we are in Christ is where our foundation and
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  confidence and understanding our identity in Christ. And we don't, we're not defined
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  by failures or insecurities or what others say about us. We're defined by what God says
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  about us. What does God say about us in Ephesians? Ephesians 2.10 I have right now, for we are
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  God's masterpiece. He was created as us a new and Christ do this so we can do the good
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  things he planned for us long ago. And so whenever we lack our confidence, we have that
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  scripture to go back on and we're a masterpiece. And so for the listeners, what can you tell
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  them if they're having lack of confidence in how they look? It really doesn't matter
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  how you look really because it's only like the inside. I feel like that counts because
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  the inside can be and I think will most likely be the most beautiful thing about people.
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  And we were made in God's image and so you're beautiful. You're beautifully and wonderfully
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  made. You are a masterpiece. You are creation. And so I think it's really important whenever
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  we're having insecurities about if we have a zit on our face or we don't have the right
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  makeup, you have to realize that you are beautiful, that you are amazing, that you were literally
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  made for a reason, for a plan. And that if you are feeling that low and just kind of
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  mopey one day, just knowing that the God of the heavens that made that beautiful flower,
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  that made that amazing bird made you too. Yeah. Okay. My fourth question is what can
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  we, what can like, or where could we use confidence at like in our day to day lives? Knowing who
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  we are in Christ, knowing that we have a heavenly father that has never lost a battle, that
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  we have confidence in knowing that God has a great plan for us. We can be competent in
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  knowing that God is for us and not against us. We can be competent knowing that he will
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  never leave us. We can be competent in knowing that we are going to go to heaven, that there
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  is a heaven, there is a hell. We are competent that we know the devil is a liar. We can be
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  competent in knowing that we are beautifully and wonderfully made. We can be competent
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  in knowing that we are doing the right thing. Competence in the world is fleeting, but confidence
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  in God is unshakable. Our confidence comes from trusting in God's strength and not our
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  own. We're confident in knowing that we are weak and he is strong. We are confident that
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  we can overcome fear and find courage when we keep our eyes on Jesus. And so I think
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  that's also too a great point to bring up whenever Peter walks on water in Matthew 14.
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  And so again, if you've not read that scripture, I would encourage you to go back and read
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  Matthew 14 22 through 33 and we won't read it here, but when Peter saw Jesus walking
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  on the water, he had confidence to step out on the boat and his confidence came from the
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  command that whenever Jesus had come and whenever Jesus, whenever Peter took his eyes off of
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  Jesus and focused on the wind and the waves and he began to sink, but God was so close.
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  Jesus was so close. He reached out his hand and saved him and he said, why did you doubt
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  and our confidence falters when we take our eyes off of Jesus and we focus it on our fears
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  and our circumstances and so we can be confident that we will fail if we if we not if we don't
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  focus on Jesus, you know, and I think that in the midst in Psalm 23 is another good one.
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  I've set the table in the mystery of your enemies. And so if we focus in on Jesus, I
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  think that we just we can't lose and focusing on him instead of our fears and worries and
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  doubts we can be confident knowing that we can do extraordinary things with him. What
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  is second Timothy say about?
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  I have second Timothy one seven for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power
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  of love and a sound of mind.
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  And that's another thing that we can be competent in is that we have the Holy Spirit to guide
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  us to nurture us to love us to grow to mature us and to reject fear and embrace the power
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  of courage and we did a podcast on courage versus what confidence is and I think that
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  it's important to realize what is inside of you what God has put inside of you and I think
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  that will help you get through the day. What are some issues that you think teens face
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  as far as confidence?
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  I feel like a lot of it is having to do with like our bodies and stuff and like if we're
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  good enough or anything like that.
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  Whenever we talk about knowing that you are good enough knowing that you have a Heavenly
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  Father that is supporting you. Does that make you more competent?
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  Yes, it does because I feel like that I can always like if I get in a fight with my friends
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  or with you or like with anyone I can just go to him because he's always by my side.
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  What else are you competent in?
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  I feel like I'm confident in basketball but not too confident. I feel like you just have
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  to be like right in the middle.
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  Well I think that you're confident that you have practiced that you have skill that you
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  have talent but always you know keeping an open heart that there's always room to grow.
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  There's always ways to get better and improve. What are some practical tips that people could
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  do to help build their their confidence in what they're lacking?
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  Just think that you're made in God's image. That's literally all you can think about that
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  you are perfectly made in God's image. There's nothing wrong with you.
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  No there's not. I mean and I think that we all know that we're all sinners. We're all
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  not perfect and so but if you're ever feeling lack or you know that you're not why am I
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  here it's because you're here for a purpose. You're here for a reason. God has intended
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  you to even just hear this podcast to encourage you to build you up and that's what we're
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  here to do. In Fostering Faith podcast we are here to motivate you and just encourage
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  you to love on you. We're going to take this time too to ask you guys to rate and review
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  and hit that subscribe button and share this around the world. I think that with the confidence
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  that we have in spreading the gospel because we are confident that our God is real that
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  we are followers of Christ that we believe competently that there is a heaven. We believe
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  competently that there is a hell that we are competent that this book is the book of truth.
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  It is the book of life and that we are loved and that we are wonderfully and beautifully
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  made and that we're all here for a reason. Would you want to close us out in scripture
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  or in prayer? Dear God thank you for your strength. Thank you for everything. I pray
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  for the people listening to us and the people in the world that they'll just have confidence
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  and just walk the world bringing confidence and spreading your word. I pray that no one
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  will get hurt this week and I pray for everyone that is sick and hurt and that they will feel
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  better and just going to pray amen. Amen and so stay tuned for us next week and don't forget
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  to leave us a review on Apple podcast and we're going to use this time to say thank
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  you to some people that have left some reviews on our we wanted to thank you for the conversation
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  that we had and the Hansen lawn care who wrote us a review is his fostering face is an incredible
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  podcast that truly inspires and uplifts each episode delves into a meaningful discussion
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  about faith personal growth and community. The hosts are engaging and through in authentic
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  making you feel like you're part of a heartfelt conversation. The story is shared with both
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  reliable and encouraging reminding us of the power of faith that we live. I always come
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  away feeling motivated and spiritually enriched highly recommend everyone looking into deepening
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  their faith journey. So thank you so much for leaving that kind review and we hope that
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  this message encouraged you have a great week. Bye.