"Real Esteem is God Esteem"

Always seeing yourself as a failure, or less than those around you, being hard on oneself; always beating up on yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, always seeing yourself as worthless or undeserving, or pushing to reach irrational goals just to feel good about yourself. Ashamed of yourself; refusing to forgive yourself from something in your past is defined as low self-esteem. And we see religiously self promoters promising to cure us from all of our ills through doses of self-esteem, self-worth, self-acceptance, and self-love teachings. 

The self-esteem movement has its most recent roots in clinical psychology. Even though there has been research to make a  connection between low self-esteem and problematic behavior, a cause could not be linked.  However, more recent studies indicate a definite relationship between violent behavior and high self-esteem. Nevertheless, faith in self-esteem dies hard and yet we continue to work on building high self-esteem.   The sad thing is that many are not alert to the dangers. More and more we are subtly  being deceived into another gospel: the gospel of self. Human love is mixed with self-love and may be ultimately self-serving.  

It is knowing who you are in Christ that leads to a proper self-esteem….a God Esteem. 

What is God–Esteem?  If we are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind as Matthew 22:37 states, then all of our esteem must be turned from our selves to Him. God-esteem is self-giving. It  is free of self-delusion and self-congratulation. True humility does not involve low-self esteem, nor does it involve high self-esteem or even what we call “healthy self-esteem”, but it involves God-esteem. It is knowing that you are a divine original, that is fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14). You see the man after God's own heart, David was not boasting in who he was, but rather being thankful and rejoicing over the beautiful creation that God made in him! 

It's vital that we develop this same attitude about what God's given each of us as well. I know personally, that once I develop my relationship and fellowship with Christ and allowed Him to transform my mind, I stopped looking for others to validate or even appreciate who I was in their lives to build my esteem.  I became more confident in who He created me to be, with my imperfection and flaws and I now walk in a God-esteem that will not be shaken.  Yes, like anyone, I do have days that I doubt my ability and that's when I remind myself that in my weakness, my Heavenly father is shown mighty in my life. And in His divine way, He always send me confirmation that further builds my esteem in Him.

How is your God-esteem? What is your level of God-esteem? Think about God and His role in your life. Has the enemy tried to make you think God is against you, everyone is against and no one loves you? If there are negative attitudes the enemy has put in your mind, confess and reject them! Our God-esteem directly affects our ability to rise above the pain of trials and tribulations. And as we grow in the awareness of his love, whatever else people may think of us or say about us, we know God sees us as a beloved member of his family and anticipates the beauty of all He intends to make us through the transforming work of His Spirit.   

The enemy of our souls wants us to think that God doesn’t love us and if we buy into the lies of the enemy that we are not good enough, worthy enough or smart enough, we will think some destructive things about ourselves and God, and we will have low God-esteem. What you think about God determines your quality of life. He wants only the best for us, and He stands ready to meet every need. Pray with us today that you will develop confidence and a real esteem that is God-esteem so you can be free to be who God called you to be. 

~Yolanda D.

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Intercession Tuesday

Dear God, I have been told I am unworthy because I am flawed. I am a human being, so I make mistakes. I cannot dispute that I make mistakes. It seems, sometimes, like my entire life is trial and error. The worst part is, sometimes, I make a mistake over again, because I did not learn from it the first time. And it has become easy to judge myself and withhold love when I look at my life. After all, God, am I smart enough? Successful enough? Loving enough? Rich enough? Thin enough? Can I ever be? More importantly, have I given anything to the world that it really needed?  Or have I concentrated on what I saw as my flaws and shortcomings that so many have pointed out, including myself, instead of concentrating on my talents? I know how to criticize myself, Lord. I have been very good at it and that keeps me from contributing to the world the beauty in my soul. I humbly ask your forgiveness as well as for your renewing Spirit.

Lord, your Words says that if I ask anything according to Your will, you will hear me.  Teach me how to accept and love myself as I am the way you love and accept me as I am. Please help me to accept myself as you do, and help me to grow to become the person you want me to be so that my God-confidence will increase greatly and I will know that  I am worthy of a life I love. I am worthy of loving relationships. I am worthy of doing a wonderful work in my lifetime. I am worthy of peaceful thoughts and joy. I am worthy of a healthy body. I am worthy of happiness. I am worth of Your guidance and protection. I am entirely worthy.

I know that as I accept all this good as my divine right, then I can serve You better and at the highest level. I can serve You in joy, in gratitude and in freedom. I can serve You with no agenda other than loving You and all That Is. So I accept my worthiness now and I am made anew. 

Father, I know that I can do nothing of any true lasting value apart from You. Help me to love You  with a pure and contrite heart,  and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross. When I abide in Christ and He works through me, I can accomplish anything You have called me to do.  Help me to understand the power that is within me and to have unshakable confidence and esteem in You today.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.