Higher Confidence Poem by Octavius Johnson

Higher Confidence
“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man”
Psalm 117: 8

You wake up and get started. You shower, brush your teeth and wash your face and then do those extra things needed that makes you look presentable and out the door to begin your day.
You hope to please everyone you encounter and receive some kind words and some pats on the back that will bolster your self-esteem. It is a doubled edged sword because seeking a man’s app roval can kill your self-esteem just as much as it can uplift.
You must look to what is going on in your life and determine if the people around you are controlling your actions, moods, and decisions. If you are letting people control your actions, you are letting imperfection guide imperfection, immaturity lead immaturity; the blind is leading the blind.
You must choose a higher standard that creates growth in your life. Growth comes from being able to see that you are lacking maturity in parts of your life and in acknowledging your immaturity you can be guided through the situations and trials that will promote the character building that you seek.

Proverbs 3: 5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
When you allow God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to enter your heart and follow the righteous guidelines that are put before you, you have humbled yourself and accepted the fact that you are not who you thought you were and you aren’t as mature as you see yourself.
Often when you reach this revelation, it will bring a sadness, a regret, and some remorse; because you have lived a significant part of your life thinking and acting in a way that you now see is wrong and you now have no idea what to do. Well this is where your humility comes to bare with Jesus.
“And said, ‘Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as a little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18: 3-4

As a child grows older their physical body grows according to the ways the parents genes come together and promote physical maturity unless there are medical concerns. But the mental, emotional and spiritual growth(unless there are other medical factors involved) are shaped by the outside influences that the child encounters. A child soaks up the information that comes into their life and it shapes their future mentality.
If you understand that you need to change, you have reached a new level of maturity and you now have to put yourself in the midst of influences around you that know better than you so that you can learn from their humbled spirits. These people have accepted the wisdom of Jesus and have overcome the shortcomings of listening to the wrong sources of worldly maturity and now can offer you righteous advice with loving direction that comes from God.
John 14: 6
Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Now as you are reading this, you may not have a belief in Jesus but you have come to a time of change and maturity so you have to look to something different, something strengthening, and something edifying to help you grow in the way you are striving. And when you come to the Lord there is a transformation that will ensue.
Romans 12: 1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
When this transformation occurs, you will see a change in your sight of the world. You will notice that those people that once could control you with the negatives of life, can no longer control you. When you realize that you are feeling stronger in your own skin you know that the Love God has for you, you now realize that you are loved for who you are.