Popular Christian speaker and author Joyce Meyer believes that God has a great plan for each person's life, but people cannot appreciate this if they live in fear and lack of confidence.
"Confidence is the belief that you're able to do what you need or want to do. God gives us confidence, but we need to know how to access it by faith," she wrote in an article for The Christian Post.
When people humble themselves before God and ask Him for help, God will bless people with His grace and confidence through faith, added Meyer. Plus, God wants to be a part of every person's life, no matter how big or small that part might be.
"Every day we need to come to God and tell Him, 'God, I can do nothing without You. Nothing in my life is going to work without You. Apart from You, there is nothing good in me. My confidence is in You. I need You all the time. I believe You and trust You, Lord,'" she said.
But in order to say that prayer in confidence, people must learn to do away with these three things that "short-circuit" their faith and access to God's power: complaining, self-pity, and pride.
Complaining is a negative attitude that keeps people from being thankful for all God has done, is doing and will do, explained Meyer. People need to repent of this sin and be reminded to thank God in all things at all times.
Self-pity, meantime, is merely a "poor me" attitude. "It is a form of idolatry because it causes you to focus on yourself and think, 'What about me?'" she warned.
As for pride, it takes away credit for what God has done in people's lives, and it steals all of His glory. "It makes us independent of God, and we can't bear good fruit apart from Christ," she said.
