We All Want Confidence and Clarity. 

Have you ever questioned what your purpose is? Have you ever doubted your worth or wondered what makes you, you? If you answered “yes”, you are not alone. You are in the company of every human. We are all searching for confidence about who we are, and clarity about what we were made for. The fact that we are all seeking for this confidence and clarity points to something pretty neat, which is the fact that we are seeking these things because we were made for these things. We were made to be confident about who we are and have clarity as to what we were made for.  

We cannot get very far in this conversation without addressing who made us. It is only through knowing our Maker that we can discover who we are and why we were made. It is God who made me and you. With purpose and delight, we were made, seen, and loved by Him. In Psalm 139:13-16, David writes,

For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.

Here we can see David writing about how God loved him, saw him, and delighted in him before he was even born. And not only this, but what catches my eye is that David writes, your works are wondrous, I know this very well. Just as David was confident that God’s work was wonderful, I believe that God desires for us to have confidence like this. I believe that God wants us to know “very well” how wonderfully and purposefully He made us. I believe that God desires for us to walk in confidence about what He has done, who He is, and who we are in Him. This confidence and clarity we are all seeking is only found through truly knowing who God is.  

God is the Everlasting Father, the Wonderful Counselor, and the Prince of Peace. He is the Maker of heaven and earth and the one who upholds the universe by the word of His power. He is the beginning and the end. He is the fullness of joy, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Great I am. He is holy and good. He is the Savior, the Redeemer, the Overcomer, and the greatest Friend. And He saw it fitting to make me and you – how cool and beautiful is that? 

What Lies Are We Calling True? 

Even though God desires for us to know very well that His works are wonderful, more often than not the only things that we know very well are the things that are not of Him at all. Would you say that the statements written below are ones that you know very well?

I am all alone. 

I am the likes and follows. 

I am what I struggle with. 

I am not influential. 

I am too far gone.

To put it plainly, we need to call a spade a spade. So many of us respond to these lies in defeat and, without even realizing it, we welcome them into our hearts. We sometimes can even be hospitable, letting the lies of the enemy make themselves at home within our mind and get comfortable. When we live this way we are making it so easy for the enemy to steal our joy, kill our confidence, and destroy our clarity. When we welcome the lies, we reject the clarity. When we welcome the insecurity, we reject the confidence. 

The word “insecure” means “not firmly fixed; liable to give way or break”, and when we are not firmly fixed on the truth of who God is, then we make ourselves liable to give way beneath the deceit. It is quite hard to identify what a lie is when we don’t know what the truth is. Scripture says that the enemy masquerades himself as the light, which means that he is a professional at making lies appear to be truthful. This is why it is crucial to know very well what is actually true. 

What Do We Do with The Lies?  

Not only do we need to call a lie for what it is, but we must replace the lie with the truth. Have you ever known what was true, but it was still so hard to believe it? Have you ever looked in the mirror and knew that you were beautiful but didn’t feel like it? Have you ever known that Scripture says God is with you, but still felt alone? Just because we know what is true, doesn’t mean it’s always easy to trust what is true. We will discover so much freedom when we choose to put truth into practice – even when our feelings contradict it and even when the lies of the enemy feel heavier and louder than ever before. Walking in the truth of who God is and what He says is a choice that we get to make each moment.  

I am reminded of the man who said to Jesus, I believe; help my unbelief. What a relatable prayer. I invite you to pray this with me the next time it is hard to believe what you know to be true as you encounter lies that appear so truthful. Call on the Holy Spirit, for He is our ever-present help in time of need. He is so faithful to remind us of what is actually true.  

I love how Paul writes about the armor of God in Ephesians 6. He writes that we must be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. He says to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. One piece of armor that Paul writes about is the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. Sister, the Word of God is truth, and it is through believing and living out His Word that we will experience the power of it in our lives. The Word of God is not just for memory to recite on a Sunday morning. It is through God’s Word that we get to grow in our relationship with Him, and it is through applying His Word to our lives that we will discover the confidence and the clarity that we were made for. It is through knowing who God is that we can spot the lies and replace them with truth because He is the truth. So, not only must we call a lie for what it is, but we must also replace it with the powerful, unchanging, and true Word of God. I encourage you to hide God’s Word in your heart. I encourage you to learn what He says and Who He is. I promise it will give you more confidence and clarity than anything the world could offer. 

Let’s go to God’s Word together and replace the lies we called out earlier with what is true. Let’s commit to building our lives on His Word that never fails.

I am not alone because never will God leave me and never will He forsake me. (Deut. 31:6) 

I am not defined by the likes and follows, but by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. (1 Cor. 15:3-4) 

I am not what I struggle with because I am not condemned in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1) 

I am influential because I am an ambassador of Christ. (2 Cor. 5:20) 

I am not too far gone because through Christ, I am brought near to God. (Eph. 2:13) 

Truth Lived Out 

Friend, this is a life changing way to live. Imagine how different your life would look if you really believed who God is and who you are in Him, and you lived that out? You not only would live confidently in your Maker, but you would be a giver a clarity to a world that is desperately confused about who they are. The whole world is craving for confidence and clarity. The whole world is craving their Maker, and through your decision to live out the truth, you can help lead them to Him. God’s love doesn’t end with you, but it continues with you. You have purpose and were made for the glory of God. You matter to Him, and you are a valuable part of His bigger plan. You are a part of His global mission to draw the hearts of people to Himself.  

Your decision to trust in Him and stand firm against the schemes of the devil doesn’t only impact you. Your choice to walk in the confidence and clarity that is found through Christ does not only change your life, but can help show others who God is, and therefore, who they are and what they were put on this earth to do.

For more reading about who you are being of who God is, you can preorder Emma Mae’s book, You Are, which releases June 28, 2022. 

Emma Mae McDaniel (formerly Jenkins) is 23 years old with a degree in Church Ministry and Women’s Leadership. Her and her husband Josh currently live in Lynchburg, VA. She has a deep joy for teaching the Word of God and seeing people come to know Him and grow in Him. She is the author of “Be Loved” and “ALL-CAPS YOU”, is a YouTuber, and hosts the “Have You Heard?” podcast. In the words of Paul, her life is worth nothing to her unless she uses it for finishing the work assigned to her by Jesus, the work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God.