Beating Self-Doubt With Faith: Seven Spiritual Steps to Build Unshakable Confidence

Self-doubt behaves like a thief: it steals your peace, shrinks your courage, and convinces you that your future is already decided. We tackle that head-on with a spiritual approach to overcoming self-doubt that’s built for real life, not just good moods. I walk through an “Pattern” you can actually follow, grounded in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the idea that doubt fades when identity is rooted in eternal truth instead of temporary feelings.

You’ll hear a seven-step pattern for spiritual confidence: remember your divine identity, take faith-driven action, pray until heaven speaks, and study the scriptures daily so your mind has light to work with. We also talk about why weakness isn’t a disqualifier, why negative thoughts need to be replaced with truth, and why focusing on Christ changes the size of your world. The goal isn’t to pretend fear isn’t there, but to learn how revelation, covenant living, and disciplined action can push you forward anyway.

Then we shift into stories that make the pattern unforgettable: Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and modern leaders admitting they felt “weak, puny, incapable” before becoming steady servants. From there we move into World War II spiritual war stories where prayer shows up in the cockpit and on the battlefield. If you’ve been searching for practical faith, personal revelation, and Christian tools for anxiety and self-doubt, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s one doubt you’re ready to challenge this week?

Transcript

elf-Doubt As A Spiritual Battle

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Overcoming self-doubt is a deeply spiritual battle. And since battles are great refiners' fires that bring out what is truth and lays it bare, I'm going to use historical spiritual stories from early leaders of the church, and truth stories from past conflicts like World War II and others in order to provide an architecture you can follow to overcome self-doubt by following the examples of these courageous leaders, soldiers, airmen, and sailors. This is Todd Talks, Spirit by Design, and my goal is always to help you build your spiritual life so you can survive and thrive in the chaos of the last days before Christ returns to earth. The restored gospel teaches that doubt about our worth, ability, or future often comes from forgetting who we are, where we came from, and why we are here. God works through imperfect people, and we need to remember that. Prophets, ancient and modern, repeatedly taught that faith, revelation, covenant living, and disciplined action are the Lord's antidotes to doubt. There is a powerful spiritual pattern for overcoming self-doubt, and this occurs throughout history. In the stories of religious leaders, we see an expanded pattern to overcome self-doubt. They are remembering your identity as a child of God, acting in faith, seeking revelation, studying scripture, accepting weakness as growth, replacing lies with truth, and trusting in Christ's power. In the stories of soldiers, we will see a similar pattern, albeit more concise. Extreme fear or self-doubt is converted by turning to prayer afraid, prayer or faith, receiving unexpected calm or clarity, acting with courage despite fear, and finding strength beyond themselves through Christ. Let's start with the pattern from leaders of the restored church, followed by their stories. Afterward, I'll cover the war stories because who doesn't love a good war story? I learned a lot from war stories growing up. In fact, I read in sixth grade, I read pretty much every single book on World War I and II, especially on the aviation, in our school library. Every single book. Probably a couple hundred. So who doesn't love a good war story? Remember, first, remember your divine identity. Self-doubt requires a distorted view of oneself. The gospel corrects that by teaching correctly that we are the literal children, spirit children of God. He is our Father, and as such we are endowed with traits that even we can't begin to comprehend. Romans 8 16 states, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. End quote. And Doctrine and Covenants 18.10 says, remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. President Russell M. Nelson taught, when you know your true identity and purpose, it gives you a supernal power to stand firm in faith. And Dieter F. Uchdorff said, God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet, he sees you as his child. From these, we learn the principle that self-doubt fades when identity becomes rooted in eternal truth instead of temporary feelings. When you know you are a child of God, you have divine potential, and your life has eternal purpose, then doubt loses its power. Second, replace doubt with faith-driven action. As I continue to reiterate in all my episodes, faith is not passive. It requires action to grow. It often requires action despite uncertainty. In Alma 32 21, we read, Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen. While in Doctrine Covenant 636 it states, look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, Be strong, live the gospel faithfully, even if others around you don't live it fully. Hold the ground you have already won. Additionally, Elder Neil A. Maxwell said, Faith in God includes faith in his timing. Faith grows after action, not before it. The Lord often requires us to take the first step, to try and to risk failure before he gives us the confirming nod from the spirit that we are on the right path. And then the confidence arrives. Faith requires action to grow. Third, pray until heaven speaks. Revelation dissolves doubt faster than intellectual reasoning can achieve. James 1.5 states, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. And in Alma 37, 37, counsel with the Lord in all thy doings. The Lord promises to answer our prayers, although in his timing. David A. Bednar stated, the spirit of revelation typically comes as thoughts to the mind and feelings to the heart, while Elder Henry B. Iring added, When we pray with faith, we invite revelation and peace. Doubt thrives in the spiritual silence of our mind, though our minds are rarely silent. Sometimes they're silent spiritually. I recently, back in February, did an episode about meditation and prayer to overcome the negative thoughts in your head. When we pray, listen, write impressions, and act on promptings, self-doubt doesn't have space to take up residence in our mind. Personal revelation builds and strengthens your your spiritual certainty. Fourth, study the scriptures daily. Now I'll admit, this is one that I've struggled with for the last 20, 30 years. When I was younger, I read them daily, all the time. I went through the Bible, the Book of Mormon, multiple times. Then I went for a long time of not reading them daily. But like many others since the Charlie Kirk assassination, I've made it a point to be reading daily. I've only missed a couple days since. The scriptures are the Lord's manuals for confidence and faith. They're part of his method for speaking with us. In 2 Nephi 32, 3, we learn, feast upon the words of Christ, for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what you should do. In Psalm 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet. These verses remind us that God wants to speak with us and teach us that which we should do. He wants to light our path. Modern prophets write, the Book of Mormon brings men nearer to God than any other book. That's Ezra Taph Benson. And let us be people of the book, President Howard W. Hunter. By studying scripture, we are able to replace lies with truth, see through the false thoughts, and grow in strength. How? Because scripture study reminds us how God works, shows us how ordinary people became his instruments, and replaces lies with truth. When you read about God utilizing Moses, who doubted himself and stuttered, or Nephi, who felt he was a wretched man, or Joseph Smith who faced constant persecution, you realize that God works through imperfect people. That's the magic of his plan. That brings us to the fifth. God uses the weak. The Lord deliberately calls people who feel inadequate. In Ether 1227 we read, If men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. Then I will make weak things become strong unto them. Feeling inadequate is or not up to the task. Doubting yourself may actually mean you are prepared for growth. God's pattern is to call someone who is unprepared, require them to show faith, and then strengthen them through experience. He whom the Lord calls, he qualifies. Replace negative thoughts with truth. Satan often attacks your mind with discouragement. Moroni 7.16 states, the spirit that testifies of evil is not of God. And in 2 Timothy 1.7, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power. Instead of saying, I'm not capable, say to yourself, God qualifies those he calls. Instead of I'm not enough, say to yourself, I can do all things through Christ. 7. When you focus on Christ and not on yourself, you grow. When we focus on our limitations, self-doubt often grows. The gospel shifts focus to Christ's power. Moroni 10.32 says, Come into Christ and be perfected in Him. And Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Focusing on Christ creates a wider view than the small, self-centric view of self-doubt. When you focus on your own limitations, you lessen your capacity to do good. Where your focus goes, that increases. So you focus on limitations and your limitations grow because they take forefront in your mind. It's the law of attraction. When you focus on Christ, you grow because he strengthens you. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, believe in yourself, believe in your capacity to do great and good things. Confidence comes from trusting Christ's power working through us, not our own perfection. An elder Jeffrey R. Holland once said, However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. Self-doubt tells us we are not enough. The gospel declares a different truth. Through Jesus Christ, you are always becoming enough. Those seven paths help you knock self-doubt out of your head. I'm not claiming any of this is easy. I struggle with self-doubt often when trying to develop this podcast or doing new things. One of the reasons I do this is because I'm learning as I go. I'm growing spiritually as I do this. And I haven't always been the most spiritual. I've always had a testimony, but haven't always been as dedicated as I've become since I started work on this project. Why? Because as I said, where your focus goes, so does your spirit. So it's not just me that struggles to feel competent or qualified. Now that I've gone through the pattern, we're gonna go through some stories. Many of the prophets and apostles have felt the same way. Here are some stories and lessons we can glean from each of them. Before the first vision, Joseph Smith faced intense spiritual opposition and doubt while praying in the woods. He said, Thick darkness gathered around me. It seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. Joseph Smith's History 115. He later explained that he felt a moment of overwhelming doubt and despair, but he pushed forward in prayer. Satan will often try to cloud your mind with doubt and despair, but we can learn from Joseph and push forward in prayer. Just at this moment of alarm, he said, I saw a pillar of light exactly above my head. This wasn't Joseph's last moment of doubt and despair. He was thrown into the Liberty Jail and experienced months of despair. Have you ever been to the jail to see it? The ceiling was such that they couldn't stand without their heads bowed down. During the brutal winter of 1838 to 1839, Joseph Smith and other leaders were imprisoned, and they were freezing, starving, and believed the fledging church might collapse. Joseph cried out in anguish, O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed in thine eye, yea, thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrong of thy people? And of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries. Remember thy suffering saints, O our God, and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever. God, in one of the most stunning revelations given, responded to their months of pleading and said, My son, peace be unto thy soul, thine adversity and thine afflictions, afflictions shall be but a small moment. And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high. Thou shalt triumph over all thy foes, thy friends shall stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands. Thou art not yet as Job, thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression as they did Job. DNC 121, 7 through 10. God basically told him to hold his head up and get out of his head that his afflictions were minor in the grand scheme of things. Parley P. Pratt also experiences years of deep experienced years of deep religious frustration and doubt. He spent years searching for truth and in his own words wrote, Darkness seemed to envelop my mind. I mourned over the errors of the world. Then he encountered the Book of Mormon. He stayed up all night reading. I read all day, eating was a burden, sleep was a burden. I preferred reading to all things. By morning, he knew it was true. He said, I knew and comprehended that the book was true. His story shows that scripture can cut through confusion, darkness, and doubt like a light shining in the dark. A couple more of these from more modern prophets in my lifetime. Before becoming president of the church, Spencer W. Kimball struggled intensely with self-doubt when he was called as an apostle. He wrote in his journal, I feel weak, puny, incapable, and unworthy. End quote. He worried that he would never measure up to the calling he'd received, yet he made a decision. Quote, I resolved that I resolved to do the best I could and trust the Lord, end quote. That trust was amply rewarded because, as we already said, those who the Lord calls, he qualifies. Through discipline and faith, he became one of the most powerful leaders in modern church history. Great leaders often begin by feeling completely inadequate. President Henry B. Iring, when called as a general authority, worried that he could never live up to the responsibility. He prayed desperately for help. He later explained that the Lord taught him a simple principle that I've quoted several times now. When the Lord calls you, he qualifies you. That promise became a cornerstone of his faith. Every one of these stories shows the pattern. Their calling, they were called or challenged. Overwhelming doubt and discouragement plague them. They pray intensely, seeking God's help. Then they act in faith. Divine help arrives and their confidence grows through their experiences. This reflects the Lord's promise to us that I will go before your face and my angels round about you. DNC 8488. Self-doubt is not a sign that you are failing. Don't let yourself believe that. If these stories haven't taught you yet that self-doubt means you are ready to grow, let me remind you about what Elder Neely Maxwell taught. God does not begin by asking us about our abilities, only about our availability. Now these are great men and great leaders of the church. Being a pilot, a former military officer, and having gone to war myself many times, I know that we often look at others, especially leaders, and grandize them. We make them bigger than they are, we make them larger than life and say things like, Yes, but he became a prophet, or yes, but he's an apostle of Jesus Christ. Who am I that the Lord would hear my prayer and fix my self-doubt? One thing I realized while in the military, especially especially after surviving boot camp, an officer training school, where they break you down to reform you and build you up. The idea is to get the self-doubt out of your head and trust your training and your teammates. That's what they teach you. I also learned that leaders, whether it's a general or apostle, a prophet, they put their pants on the same way that I do every day. We're all human and we all make mistakes. Leaders are just given added responsibility. Whom the Lord calls, he qualifies. I'm going to go over a few normal people's war stories that shed light on this principle. Most of these are from World War II. In fact, I think all of them are, and truly show how God takes care of us and answers earnest prayers. World War II produced many remarkable spiritual war stories where pilots and soldiers confronted intense fear and self-doubt. Some of them openly credited faith in God, prayer, and gospel principles for giving them the courage to act when fear nearly overwhelmed them. These accounts I'm sharing are documented from servicemen whose faith helped them overcome crippling doubt and perform extraordinary acts. The story of Desmond Das is one of legendary courage. Desmond was a devout Christian medic who refused to carry a weapon because of his religious beliefs. He essentially was a conscientious objector, but served anyways. The military tried to kick him out. The soldiers of his unit mocked him and doubted that he would survive combat. It was brutal. At the Battle of Okinawa, however, Das faced the moment of truth. American forces were ambushed and trapped on a steep ridge under relentless Japanese fire. Despite overwhelming danger and exhaustion, he repeatedly ran back into enemy fire to rescue wounded soldiers. The unit had retreated, but dozens upon dozens of men were stuck, wounded and isolated on the battlefield. He ran back and forth through fire, dragging men to the cliff and lowering them down. Each time he prayed, Lord, please help me get just one more. He went all night long. He rescued 75 soldiers that night. His faith overcame the self-doubt that surrounded him, the belittling he'd received from the very soldiers he rescued. Faith replaced fear with purpose and service. Das later said, while everybody else was taking life, I wanted to save it. His courage earned him the Medal of Honor. The whole story is freaking amazing. I've given the barest simplification of it, but Das truly leaned on his faith and prayer to rescue so many men. This story is fascinating. Did you know that elder Boyd K. Packer, before becoming an apostle, served as a B-24 bomber crewman in the Pacific Theater? He admitted that on early missions he felt overwhelming fear. In later sermons, he described the moment when fear and doubt almost paralyzed him before dangerous flights. He recalled turning to prayer and remembering. Remembering scripture promises, later teaching. I learned that faith in the Lord does not remove fear but gives you the power to face it. During bombing missions, crews face staggering casualty rates. Recently, if you've been watching the news, we lost a refueler over Iran or over Iraq, and six airmen died. People are questioning how many lives need to be lost for this battle. But the number of losses we've taken in the last 30 years have been shockingly few compared to previous millennia of warfare. They would lose thousands of money in World War II. Ten bombers might not come back from a raid. That's a hundred men gone. Poof. President Packer testified that prayer before flights gave him calm confidence. He later reflected that wartime experiences taught him spiritual discipline and reliance on God. Best known for breaking the sound barrier, Chuck Yeager was flying long before that. He flew P-51s in World War II. Before combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, Yeager often prayed for protection and courage. In his autobiography, he wrote that combat pilots constantly battled fear and self-doubt. Anybody who says he wasn't scared in combat is lying, he said. After being shot down over France, Jaeger escaped with the help of the French Resistance and returned to flying missions. His resilience came partly from a strong belief that God has purpose for his survival. Faith helped him transform fear into focused determination. So I want to finish with three more remarkable stories. First, during missions over Germany, late in World War II, LI bombers often faced devastating anti-aircraft fire in swarms of intercepting fighters, especially before we put the P-51 into service to protect the bombers. One bomber formation reported an extraordinary incident after completing a bombing run over heavily defended territory. German fighters began closing in, and the bombers had little fuel and limited defensive ammunition left. Crew members reportedly began praying over the intercom all over the fleet. Moments later, a dense, unexpected fog formed around the formation. The fog concealed the bombers long enough for them to escape the pursuing fighters. When they returned to base, weather officers reportedly told them that no fog had been forecast in that region. Several crewmen later described the experience as a direct answer to prayer. Now, pilots often said prayers before missions, and they reiterated that prayer didn't make missions safe. But sometimes prayer created unexpected openings for survival and miraculous events. There's a B-17 bomber, and the B-17 is one of my favorite of all World War II aircraft. And it became famous because it never should have made it home. It was named the Charlie Brown. You may have heard this story. One of the most famous aviation stories occurred during a bombing mission over Germany in 1943. Brown's B-17 was shredded by flak and fighter attacks. Their tail gunner was dead, their engines were damaged, control systems were barely working, and the crew was badly wounded. The plane limped toward the English Channel and home when the German fighter appeared and had the bomber in his sights. The bomber was barely flying and completely defenseless. Then something remarkable happened. The German pilot, instead of destroying the bomber, pulled up next to it and signaled the pilots. He indicated he would escort them, and he did. He escorted them out of Germany and into Allied airspace before saluting and turning away. The German pilot was later identified as Franz Stigler. He eventually met up, years and years later, with the pilot of the bomber. Stigler later explained that shooting down the helpless bomber would have been morally wrong. Brown said he believed God placed mercy in the heart of the enemy pilot. As I said, they eventually met and became friends well after the war. Sometimes divine help appears through the conscience of another human being. Finally, the last story I want to share. The North American P-51 Mustang was an amazing airplane. But like all fighter aircraft, luck and timing sometimes were the deciding factors in an aerial battle. Fighter pilots often described the moment they realized that their damaged aircraft was so far gone that they probably wouldn't make it home. One such pilot, while flying his P-51 over Europe, was hit by enemy fire that destroyed much of his cooling system. Now the P-51 was liquid-cooled and required liquid in order to not overheat and seize. The engine, obviously, began overheating rapidly. If it failed completely, he would crash deep inside enemy territory. The pilot later wrote that he began praying aloud in the cockpit for guidance. Instead of pushing the engine to full power to try and get out of the enemy territory before it seized, he felt impressed to reduce the throttle and glide intermittently. That unusual technique allowed the engine to cool just enough between bursts of power to keep running. Against all odds, he made it back across the English Channel and landed safely. Later, engineers told him the engine should have seized long before he reached England. The pilot credited a calm impression received while praying for the decision that saved his life. Many pilots reported receiving clear impressions or ideas during prayer in crisis moments. I myself have prayed many times to be guided to do the right thing when dealing with intense or emergency situations while flying, and I've had a few. These stories all share a certain pattern: sudden crisis, overwhelming fear and self-doubt, a moment of prayer, unexpected calm or clarity, and a solution or escape. Joshua 1.9 says, Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Many pilots and aviators have commented that flying and war stripped away illusions of control. They learned a powerful spiritual truth. Skill gets you into the sky, but faith often helps you come home. Boy K. Packer taught the power of the priesthood, and faith in the Lord can steady the soul even when the world is shaking around you. I hope you've listened to these stories and found some tidbits of truth that can help you in your life, increase your faith, and overcome self-doubt, and help you walk with courage regardless of the chaos that will surround you during the last days in preparation for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Self-doubt, while a challenge, if you follow these patterns and these steps, it's another way to overcome self-doubt. This has been Todd Talks, and I hope you find these stories and patterns beneficial. If you like what you hear, subscribe, share with your friends and family, leave a review so that we can break through the algorithm and reach and help strengthen more people in their faith. And as always, have a blessed day.