When I’m working with a leader and teaching them how to coach an employee, I tell them that the last step is the most important. After creating a collaborative action plan for future behaviors, they must end with an affirmation of belief in the employee. It’s critical for the leader to say, “I know you can make this change and it will change your results.” When we haven’t met expectations or have fallen short in an area repeatedly, our negative self talk can keep us in a cycle of failure. Affirmations of belief from a superior resonate in a person and can replace that self talk. There’s something to having someone believe in you that encourages you and gives you the will to face a battle you’ve lost before.
In Judges 6, israel was being bullied by the Midianites. The Israelites would often hide from them in caves and other places where they wouldn’t be seen. The Midianites would destroy their crops, take their livestock and make life unbearable for the Israelites. That’s when we’re introduced to Gideon. He had managed to grow some grain without them destroying it and was hiding while threshing it. Suddenly God visited him in the form of an angel and spoke to him. He said, “The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man!” (GNT) Gideon didn’t see himself that way in the moment and asked why God hadn’t delivered them. That’s when God told him to go in the strength he had to deliver Israel. God believed in Gideon and affirmed something in him that he didn’t see in himself. He went on to defeat the Midianite army and become the leader of Israel.
Galatians 1:21-22 says, “God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete” (MSG). God has put His Spirit in you as a believer affirming your calling and giving you strength to accomplish His will for your life. He sees you as a mighty warrior who is able to defeat the thing standing in your way. He’s given you strength to complete what you haven’t been able to do on your own. He calls out of us abilities and strengths we didn’t know we had. We access those by stepping onto the battlefield in faith the way Gideon did. When God calls you to something, He equips you and strengthens you when you step out in faith. Gideon had to step onto the battlefield with 300 men to face 130,000. He didn’t feel qualified and he didn’t feel prepared, but when he stepped out in faith, God showed up. The same is true for us. God affirms who we are in Christ and gives us strength in our weaknesses.
Photo by Jordan Donaldson | @jordi.d on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 