Hi dear,
How is your January running out? Super fast or super slow? It is super fast for me. And it brought a serious burden to my heart. I had to pray for me, you and so many others. I also believe God wants me to write about this burden. So, I’m writing about it.
God doesn’t quit. The devil also doesn’t quit. And guess what? God didn’t create us to quit either. No matter what you’re currently going through, you have to understand that you have all it takes to go through it and come out stronger, on the other side. Why am I saying all of these? It’s because we need to understand that one of the things the devil won’t stop doing is attacking our identity. The devil will always want us to feel inferior and not capable. The devil will always attack our self-esteem, no matter where we are, what we’ve already achieved, and who we’ve become…the devil never gets tired to keep coming and coming and coming…again and again and again…with so many lies.
So, you feel so bad about yourself…huh? But that doesn’t mean you’re not in a good place. It doesn’t mean you’ve not achieve anything. And it definitely doesn’t mean you’re worthless. What you’re feeling is just a cloud of lies that the devil is gathering above you. Forget the facts and figures…it’s still just a lie.
God wants us to keep growing and getting better with growth, but, at no point in the growth process does He want us to hate ourselves. He wants us to keep becoming more like Jesus, but He doesn’t want us to beat ourselves up…and just feel worthless and irrelevant and ashamed and…all of those negative things we feel and take in. He wants us to keep coming up higher…but He doesn’t want us to lose our peace and joy, while at it.
Are you currently in a season where you don’t love you? Are you just struggling to accept your portion? Are you sad about the things in your life? Well, there might be something you’re overlooking…and the devil might just be using that as an access into your life.
Okay, let’s use the remaining words that will complete this blog post to see some areas that we’re probably overlooking in our lives. So, here are some possible reasons why you don’t love you:
You’re probably getting your self-esteem from the outwards things that don’t matter and…not from God.
What makes you feel good about yourself, right now? It is the phone you have in your hands? It is the newly found love interest? It is the new pair of sneakers you just got? What exactly? Now, don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying it is wrong to be excited about the outward blessings and good things in life. As a matter of fact, if you’re not excited about the finer things in life God has blessed you with, then there’s something very wrong with you. LOL.
However, do you draw your sense of worth from them? If you have to part ways with them, will it take so many days of prayers and counsel for you to get back on your feet? Are you so attached to them that if you have to lose a lace of the sneakers you’ll worry so much and have sleep leave you for good because even sleep is afraid to come in-between you and your worry?
Do you always want to look good in the eyes of all and every? Do you want the life of everyone else? Do you always think something is wrong with you whenever someone says something wrong to you? Do you think you’re not enough because you can’t do and be like others? Why do you smile? What exactly is the source of your inner Joy and Peace? Yes, the source of your Peace and Joy matters. It has to be Jesus that fills every bit of you. It has to be Him you draw your strength from…Him and Him alone. Your sense of worth should come from knowing Him and Him alone. Yes, God can use a man, but you should be so attached to God that even when He’s using a man, you’ll still see and know that it’s Him, through a man.
You should get to the point where you begin to learn to love yourself as God loves you. We can never love ourselves exactly how God loves us, and that’s super awesome. Nonetheless, we can follow the trails of His Love, even though His Love lies so so so much ahead. In the eyes of God, you’re beautiful, complete and uniquely different from every other person on earth. God doesn’t want you to look at anybody else to be filled; He wants you to look at Jesus, and Him alone.
You should love and enjoy you because of who you are in Christ. You should be super excited about life because you have the privilege of always going boldly before God. Decide today…decide now that the only things that will make you love you so good are the things you are and have in Christ. Trust me, this way you’ll have an advantage over low self-esteem, whenever it comes knocking.
Psalms 62: 5-6 says, “My soul, wait only on God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him. He only is my rock and salvation; He is my defense and my fortress; I shall not be moved.” (AMPC) SEE ALSO: Philippians 3:3-5, Philippians 1:6, Jeremiah 17:7,
You’re probably not improving on yourself
All of the excellence and beautiful things we admire and love in others took effort to cultivate and still takes effort to maintain. So, before you get angry at your life for not working, try giving yourself time to put in the work that can produce the harvest you so desire. You’ll be shocked at what you might end up transforming into.
I know of people that work almost all day and still stay awake, part of their nights, to take online classes. Why? Because they want a particular result. It will be an abomination if life doesn’t deliver to them, because when we sow, naturally…we reap, more than our seeds. So, what are you sowing and how are you sowing it? You’ll most likely not feel good about yourself, if you’re not training yourself to do better, live better, and give better.
Okay, let’s try something real quick. We all have that someone we admire, right? Here is a simple question: why do you admire that person you admire? It is the way they smile? Is it their sense of humor? Is it their work ethic? Is it their sense in fashion? Is it the way they teach the Bible? What exactly? Well, they weren’t born that way. They didn’t show up in life that way. Guess what they did? They learnt and they are probably still learning…you can too. We, naturally, respect people that add value to us…and most often than none, that respect evolves into love. You can be that person that gives value, you can be that person you learn to respect, and you can be that person you fall in love with.
So, again, what good habits are you consciously forming? What are you skilled at? What are you building competence in? What value are you exuding? Truth is, when we have good habits, when we are disciplined enough, when we build competence, when we add and give value, we feel good and we have a sense of fulfillment. And you know the best part? The people around us will know and see us, because we just don’t exist in their lives but we’re very relevant to them…we’re adding value to them.
God has given us all we need for life and Godliness. It is now on us to make life and godliness work. Decide to become valuable. Keep getting better. Keep learning. Never be ashamed to make a mistake. Learn to keep moving and improving on you. Don’t stay where you are without improving on yourself, because soon you’ll feel like that house history that no one needs anymore, but yet nobody wants to throw away. You don’t want that to be your case, because if it becomes your case, you’ll open yourself to the devil to have access to make you feel useless and worthless and all of the negative things that come with them…and when you start having that negative feeling, you’ll definitely not feel good about yourself. Go ask the kerosene stove that has not been used for years, it will probably tell you that loneliness and irrelevance is the cause of its rust.
Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see a man diligent and skillful in his business? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” (AMPC)
Proverbs 3:21-22 says, “Maintain [your] competence and discretion. My son, don’t lose sight of them. They will be life for you and adornment for your neck.” (CSB)
You probably don’t have the right relationships
God right from the beginning already told us that it is not good for man to be alone. If God says it’s not good, please, don’t try to prove God wrong…you need relationships. This is way beyond blood relatives, and this is not about romantic relationships. This is about having quality human beings that can help you hold your hands up for a battle to be won. This is about having the right group of persons. The persons God has assigned to help you through life journey as you help them through their journeys too.
Who are your friends? What do they say to you? How are they building you up? Are you valuable to them? Are they just using you as a covering for rainy days? Are they serious about destiny and purpose? Are they even Spirit-filled and Spirit-led believers? YES, it matters. You need friends that can re-emphasis God’s thought towards you…friends that are ALL-IN to help you fulfill purpose. Even Jesus had real friends that helped Him fulfill His purpose on earth. If Jesus did, you should too.
Prayerfully choose your friends. Ask God to send you true friends…and when you’re done praying show yourself friendly…and God will definitely bring your own buddies your way. In the same vein, do not be afraid to let go of toxic relationships. If they’re not helping you get closer to Jesus, if they’re not motivating you to be and do more right, if they only need you for a particular season, if they don’t call back, text back, if they are not going out of their way for you…blood relatives or not…Christians or not…know and understand that they are not what you need in your life now. You don’t have to call them up and tell them how you feel…just don’t take your life to them. Don’t let them into your dreams and visions. They shouldn’t be the ones you run to for advice. By all means, still love and pray for them, but do it from afar…even if you can’t leave the tight space you share with them. Be there…yet be so far away. And it’s not about the quantity of people; it’s the quality they come with.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labour; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” (AMPC)
Proverbs 27: 17 says, “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend…” (AMPC)
Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks [as a companion] with wise men shall be wise, but he who associates with [self-confident] fools will [be a fool himself and] shall smart for it.” (AMPC)
You’re probably not showing yourself some good loving.
Simply put: be romantic to yourself. Write yourself love notes. Take yourself out. Get yourself good perfumes and scented oil. Love up on yourself. Call yourself beautiful. Admire your curves and circles. LOL.
But seriously though, if God loves us unconditionally, why shouldn’t we love ourselves unconditionally. We can’t keep talking ourselves down and think we’ll find ourselves falling in love with ourselves. Now, I can’t speak for the guys, but ladies? Come on now…we all know that even if we’re not interested, whenever a guy throws advances towards us…we feel something special, right? Yes guys, we do. LOL. We just feel a sense of worth and we most times just bask in it. Well Guys? Like I already said, I really can’t speak for you now, but I want to believe that when you have a girl love you back it makes you feel good, right?
How about doing same for ourselves, people? How about giving ourselves that attention and care, we desire and enjoy from others?
Now, you might think it wouldn’t work. Well, yes, it might not feel so magical like when it is coming from another person, but the effect is the same. Try it…and experience the effect. It’ll definitely change you.
Ephesians 5:29 says, “For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and carefully protects and cherishes it, as Christ does the church.” (AMPC)
Phew! So many words already…how words come out so fast in their numbers…
Glory to Jesus!
I could go on and on and on…but I’m looking at my word count…and it’s already way too much.
Let’s stop right here and say a prayer together.
My prayer for You and Me:
I pray you see and feel and experience beyond the words. I pray you experience the glory that this post was birthed from. I pray that your life never remind the same. I pray that this post breaks every barrier and everything that makes you see yourself less than what God created you to be.
Amen.
Do get in the gym, and do
Stay Spiritually Fit.