Confidence

I love Washington DC. It is a beautiful place. After my exam, I am going to start carrying my camera around with me wherever I go. Because my "work" is mobile, I like to walk all over the city and plant myself and study in novel situations all the time. You would think that I would meet a lot of people this way, but it's not true. Maybe I need to be less consumed with my studying and pay more attention to those around me.

I also think that beside living in my self-inclusive world of studying where I am dead to everything around me, I need to practice and work on being more confident and assured as I engage with others. I don't mean "self-confident" necessarily, although that certainly helps; rather, I am talking about a deep, soulful confidence that makes other people feel comfortable with themselves, and also affords me power and boldness and the ability to call things to order. This is a spiritual and Christian principle as well, as the Bible talks about walking in the authority of the Scripture and power of the Holy Spirit. After the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost, the Acts of the Apostles happened. Peter, Paul, Stephen-- all walked in bold confidence, not in themselves, but in their Lord.

This confidence comes from trust, and a belief that God will come through for them, and God is for them.

I long to have this confidence, to call things that are not as though they are, to speak prophetically, to minister deeply, to lead people to Jesus Christ and help them follow him afterwards, to bind the work of the enemy, to loose forgiveness on those around me, and to be beholden to nothing but the Gospel of Christ and Him Crucified.