WHAT MATTERS IS HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF!!!

         It's so important in life to see yourself as who you want to be, and as who God says you are. When you look at yourself in the mirror do you see an anointed, a blessed, an equipped, a talented, and a successful person? You are the product of who you see yourself to be!

         Let’s have a look at this excerpt from the Bible in Judges 7:13 – 14. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed." ¹⁴His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands." After Gideon witnessed this, he possessed courage like never before, he was now so confident in himself. Gideon was a man God called to achieve a feat that seemed impossible to him by all standards. Whereas God saw him as a mighty man of valor, Gideon could only see himself as a nonentity, a person whose life was not going to be of any significance in the world. Well, it all changed when God got into the picture!!! Your life would always be of significance when you allow Jesus to direct and lead you.

         We go through life hearing various opinions about us; while some people might think of us as being talented, gifted, and unique, there are others who would say comments to discourage us, to degrade us and make us feel inferior. Adding all these negative comments to the already shaky views we might have about ourselves might just prevent us from living at our peak, from believing in ourselves enough to do what God has placed us here to do. Well, ‘opinions are like noses and everyone has one,’ but the view of yourself you hold is the most important, this is what would determine if you would stretch out and live to your God-given potential. The word of God says that ‘for as he (a person) thinks in his heart, so is he’ (Prov. 23:7). In other words, the image you hold about yourself in your heart would be portrayed in the way you carry yourself about in life. Of all the descriptions about us we would run across, the one we should place the most weight on is God’s. God created man as the crown of His creation. The Bible account mentions that after God had created everything else, He said ‘let us create man in our own image!’ This was going to be his masterpiece, and you are God’s masterpiece! In effect, God was saying, ‘I’ve created the wonderful planets, the beautiful stars, the vast sea, the amazing mountains, but I want to create something so wonderful I want it to be in my image!!!’ The psalmist places more emphasis on this in the 8^th Psalm: ‘Yet You have made him but a little lower than God, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.’

         Remember that God never makes failures; God never makes anything which is not valuable. And for a believer, saved by the blood of the Lamb and in whom God’s Spirit lives … just ponder over that thought! … A parcel is only as important as the gift it contains; no matter how fancy a product’s packaging is, what is most important is what is in the packaging. Now, just think of yourself as the package in whom God has placed his Spirit! As a believer you carry the Spirit of God in you!!! Be assured of your worth! Like Gideon, one of the keys to you fulfilling your God given purpose on earth is for you to have a healthy opinion of yourself. In His word God says you are anointed, talented, crowned with favor, blessed and a blessing. He calls you redeemed, forgiven, the child of the Living God. You are a sign and a wonder!!! Years of verbal abuse, a negative environment, maybe even one spirit-crushing remark from someone might have made you look down upon yourself and think of yourself as not valuable. Some challenges you might have encountered or problems that might seem only to be getting bigger might be pushing thoughts of self doubt in your mind. Joseph had to keep the great vision of himself God had given him in his heart. Despite the challenges, he still had to remember how God saw him and consequently draw strength from this promise of God! In the end, just as he saw himself, that was who he became.

          I want you to live for tomorrow knowing that God has a very great opinion about you! He has amazing plans for you. I want you to live for tomorrow letting the thoughts and plans and potential that God sees in you be the foundation which you use to assess and appreciate yourself!!