When Failure Starts Talking

I recently tallied up several failures. If you have ever had to deal with repeated failure, you know how it slowly wears on your confidence. It begins to whisper that you are punching above your pay grade.

Lie. Big fat lie.

Actually, punching above your pay grade is just a long way to spell growth. Everybody struggles in the beginning. The people who look like they are doing it effortlessly are simply those who pushed through the growth phase without surrendering to the idea that they were impostors.

The Battlefield of the Mind

I am not new to impostor syndrome. But part of the growth I have experienced is discovering a powerful way to confront those thoughts of doubt and inadequacy before they gain a foothold and become strongholds in the mind.

The key to overcoming those thoughts is bringing them into alignment with what Jesus has accomplished.

I rediscovered this truth in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Timothy was a relatively young pastor leading a church and appears to have struggled with doubts about his ability, partly because of his youth. Into that insecurity, Paul writes:

The key to overcoming doubt is bringing it into alignment with what Jesus has accomplished.

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control]” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Four powerful realities leap from this verse.

Not a Spirit of Fear

First, God has not given us a spirit of timidity, cowardice, or fear.

If fear dominates your response to a calling or challenge, you can confidently rule out the possibility that it is flowing from your spiritual identity. Fear does not originate from the Spirit of God.

This doesn’t mean we never feel fear. It means fear is not our governing authority.

Fear is not our governing authority.

Once we refuse to entertain fear as legitimate leadership in our lives, we are positioned to unlock the remaining treasures in the verse.

A Spirit of Power

Paul contrasts fear with power.

This power is divine enablement — the active working of the Spirit of God within us. And this strikes at the heart of impostor syndrome.

Impostor syndrome says, “You’re not enough.”

The Spirit says, “You’re not alone.”

Impostor syndrome says, ‘You’re not enough.’ The Spirit says, ‘You’re not alone.’

We are not attacking life in our own strength but in the might of the Almighty. That understanding immediately puts the challenge in perspective and dramatically shrinks how formidable it appears.

A Spirit of Love

Next comes love.

At first glance, you might be slightly puzzled as to what role love has in dealing with our doubts and fears. Well, love speaks to the heart of the matter – our motives.

Many believers hesitate not because they lack ability, but because they question their motives. If we are unsure whether our desires please the Lord, we subconsciously hold ourselves back.

But the Spirit produces love in us — love for God and love for people. When our pursuits are fueled by love rather than ego, insecurity loses its grip.

Pure motives bring alignment. And alignment unleashes capacity.

We reach our highest potential when we are fueled by love.

A Sound Mind

Finally, Paul speaks of a sound mind.

The Spirit sharpens our thinking. He stabilizes us. He produces clarity and self-control.

Paul says something staggering in his First Epistle to the Corinthians 2:16:

“We have the mind of Christ.”

Pause there and hold that thought for a moment.

You. Have. The. Mind. of. Christ.

Through the Spirit, we have access to the reasoning capacity of Christ. There is no problem in this world that confuses the Creator of the world.

You. Have. The. Mind. of. Christ.

When impostor syndrome tells you that you are inadequate, it forgets who resides within you.

You Are Not an Impostor

We are not frauds barely holding it together.

We are Spirit-empowered, love-driven, clear-minded sons and daughters of God.

We are, in fact, the light of the world.

Impostor syndrome says, “You don’t belong here.”

The gospel says, “You were sent.”

We are not impostors.

We are, in fact, the light of the world.

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