Zeal
Well-Known Member
This is a great article by Joyce Meyer. I am wishing everyone God's blessings and a wonderful new year.
by Joyce Meyer
I believe that we all regularly need to find places to begin again in different areas of our lives. It's in these places that we need to draw a line separating us from all that we've known in the past and move forward with a new outlook based upon the truth of God's Word.
In order to make a fresh start, we need to be willing to let go of what lies behind and take hold of what lies ahead. I believe this includes making a fresh start at how we see ourselves, the way we think God sees us, and what we see before us in our future. As we begin to see ourselves the way God sees us and get a good picture of the things that He desires to bring about in and through our lives, our outlook on life can take on a whole new perspective.
How Do You See Yourself?
Our self-image—how we see ourself—is very important. It is the portrait we carry around in our heart and in our head. It is just as real as the pictures of our children that many of us carry around in our wallets, but it has a much stronger effect on us. Many years ago, I had a very poor self-image. I often felt like I was a failure, unlovable, and not as good as other people. Many times I went around thinking that God was not pleased with me and that I would never overcome my past. Because I saw myself in the wrong way, I never asked for what was rightfully mine through the blood of Jesus. I wasn’t bold enough, and I didn’t feel like I deserved it.
Well, God brought me to 2 Samuel 9, the story of David and his quest to bless anyone who remained from the house of King Saul. Jonathan, Saul’s son, loved David and was probably one of his closest companions. After Jonathan and Saul were killed in battle, God promoted David to be king. Deeply moved with sorrow at the loss of Saul and Jonathan, David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake? (2 Samuel 9:1).
David soon discovered that Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who had become crippled as a child but was still alive. When he sent for Mephibosheth and had him brought before him, David said to him, Fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father [grandfather], and you shall eat at my table always. And [the cripple] bowed himself and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am? (2 Samuel 9:7,8). In other words, Mephibosheth was saying, “Why do you want to help me? All I deserve is to crawl around on the floor and lick up the crumbs that fall to the ground.â€
I believe that one of the reasons Mephibosheth had a poor self-image was because he was crippled. As a result, he didn’t feel worthy of King David’s kindness. You and I may not be physically crippled, but because of our failures, inabilities and weaknesses, we see ourselves as crippled. And since we see ourselves as less than perfect, it’s difficult for us to imagine how or why God would want to bless and care for us as He has blessed and cared for others. But just as David was good to Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake, God is good to us for Jesus’ sake.
God doesn’t want us looking at everything that is wrong with us or the sins of our past; He wants us to look at everything that is right with Him. Hebrews 12:2 says, Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]…. The more we focus on our failures, the more likely we are to repeat them. Whatever we continually think about and talk about becomes magnified. That’s why you and I need to get our eyes off of what is wrong with us and onto what is right with God. God is at work every day, changing us to be more and more like Jesus.1 Once we begin to magnify His power and minimize our problems, we will discover a new realm of victory and get a fresh view of how we see ourselves.
How Do You Think God Sees You?
The way God sees us and the way we think God sees us can often be two different things. Thankfully, God does not withhold His love, acceptance and assistance from us because we fail. He is not looking for a perfect performance—just a willing heart that is surrendered to Him.
God gave me a good example of this years ago. When our son Danny was a little boy, he wasn’t very tidy. So in order to motivate him to keep his room clean and do his chores, we created a chart with a system of checkmarks and stars. Every time he did what was required, we gave him a check. After he had a certain number of checks, we gave him a star. And after he had a certain number of stars, we bought him a present. Sometimes he had plenty of checks and stars, and other times he had very few.
Well, there was a bully in our neighborhood who was always taking Danny’s ball away from him and throwing it down the sewer. Every time this bully would aggravate Danny, he would come running into the garage screaming, “Daddy!†My husband, Dave, would nearly tear the door off its hinges to get outside and protect him.
One day God said to me, “What kind of parents would you be if every time Danny came screaming because the neighborhood bully was after him, you went to his room to see how many checkmarks and stars he had? You would be pitiful parents if you only protected him when he did everything right. Joyce, if you and Dave wouldn’t do that, then why do you think I would?â€
This really opened my eyes—it gave me a whole new perspective of how God sees us. When the bully of our soul is aggravating us, God doesn’t look first to see if we’ve done everything right before He answers our cry for help. He steps in and helps us just because we are His children. This doesn’t mean He closes His eyes to sin. When we do something wrong, He will correct us. For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves… (Hebrews 12:6). However, He will also not refuse to help us when we are in trouble.
You and I need a fresh revelation of God’s salvation. Once we are saved, God sees us as a brand-new creation. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, …if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! The same fresh and clean feeling that we experience when we are born again is available to us every day. Lamentations 3:22,23 says that the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness never fail and that they are new every morning.
For a long time, I hated myself because I couldn’t be what I thought God wanted me to be. But one day I finally came to this realization: I am no surprise or shock to God. He knew what He was getting when He called me. All I can do is cooperate with God when He shows me what to do. There is no way I can change myself.
That is all God expects of us—cooperation. By submitting to the power of His Holy Spirit within us, we can die to the wrong ways of thinking, speaking and acting and live the right ways. God will show us how to avoid sin, but when we do sin, all we need to do is repent, receive God’s forgiveness and go on.
by Joyce Meyer
I believe that we all regularly need to find places to begin again in different areas of our lives. It's in these places that we need to draw a line separating us from all that we've known in the past and move forward with a new outlook based upon the truth of God's Word.
In order to make a fresh start, we need to be willing to let go of what lies behind and take hold of what lies ahead. I believe this includes making a fresh start at how we see ourselves, the way we think God sees us, and what we see before us in our future. As we begin to see ourselves the way God sees us and get a good picture of the things that He desires to bring about in and through our lives, our outlook on life can take on a whole new perspective.
How Do You See Yourself?
Our self-image—how we see ourself—is very important. It is the portrait we carry around in our heart and in our head. It is just as real as the pictures of our children that many of us carry around in our wallets, but it has a much stronger effect on us. Many years ago, I had a very poor self-image. I often felt like I was a failure, unlovable, and not as good as other people. Many times I went around thinking that God was not pleased with me and that I would never overcome my past. Because I saw myself in the wrong way, I never asked for what was rightfully mine through the blood of Jesus. I wasn’t bold enough, and I didn’t feel like I deserved it.
Well, God brought me to 2 Samuel 9, the story of David and his quest to bless anyone who remained from the house of King Saul. Jonathan, Saul’s son, loved David and was probably one of his closest companions. After Jonathan and Saul were killed in battle, God promoted David to be king. Deeply moved with sorrow at the loss of Saul and Jonathan, David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake? (2 Samuel 9:1).
David soon discovered that Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth, who had become crippled as a child but was still alive. When he sent for Mephibosheth and had him brought before him, David said to him, Fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father [grandfather], and you shall eat at my table always. And [the cripple] bowed himself and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am? (2 Samuel 9:7,8). In other words, Mephibosheth was saying, “Why do you want to help me? All I deserve is to crawl around on the floor and lick up the crumbs that fall to the ground.â€
I believe that one of the reasons Mephibosheth had a poor self-image was because he was crippled. As a result, he didn’t feel worthy of King David’s kindness. You and I may not be physically crippled, but because of our failures, inabilities and weaknesses, we see ourselves as crippled. And since we see ourselves as less than perfect, it’s difficult for us to imagine how or why God would want to bless and care for us as He has blessed and cared for others. But just as David was good to Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake, God is good to us for Jesus’ sake.
God doesn’t want us looking at everything that is wrong with us or the sins of our past; He wants us to look at everything that is right with Him. Hebrews 12:2 says, Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]…. The more we focus on our failures, the more likely we are to repeat them. Whatever we continually think about and talk about becomes magnified. That’s why you and I need to get our eyes off of what is wrong with us and onto what is right with God. God is at work every day, changing us to be more and more like Jesus.1 Once we begin to magnify His power and minimize our problems, we will discover a new realm of victory and get a fresh view of how we see ourselves.
How Do You Think God Sees You?
The way God sees us and the way we think God sees us can often be two different things. Thankfully, God does not withhold His love, acceptance and assistance from us because we fail. He is not looking for a perfect performance—just a willing heart that is surrendered to Him.
God gave me a good example of this years ago. When our son Danny was a little boy, he wasn’t very tidy. So in order to motivate him to keep his room clean and do his chores, we created a chart with a system of checkmarks and stars. Every time he did what was required, we gave him a check. After he had a certain number of checks, we gave him a star. And after he had a certain number of stars, we bought him a present. Sometimes he had plenty of checks and stars, and other times he had very few.
Well, there was a bully in our neighborhood who was always taking Danny’s ball away from him and throwing it down the sewer. Every time this bully would aggravate Danny, he would come running into the garage screaming, “Daddy!†My husband, Dave, would nearly tear the door off its hinges to get outside and protect him.
One day God said to me, “What kind of parents would you be if every time Danny came screaming because the neighborhood bully was after him, you went to his room to see how many checkmarks and stars he had? You would be pitiful parents if you only protected him when he did everything right. Joyce, if you and Dave wouldn’t do that, then why do you think I would?â€
This really opened my eyes—it gave me a whole new perspective of how God sees us. When the bully of our soul is aggravating us, God doesn’t look first to see if we’ve done everything right before He answers our cry for help. He steps in and helps us just because we are His children. This doesn’t mean He closes His eyes to sin. When we do something wrong, He will correct us. For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves… (Hebrews 12:6). However, He will also not refuse to help us when we are in trouble.
You and I need a fresh revelation of God’s salvation. Once we are saved, God sees us as a brand-new creation. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, …if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! The same fresh and clean feeling that we experience when we are born again is available to us every day. Lamentations 3:22,23 says that the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness never fail and that they are new every morning.
For a long time, I hated myself because I couldn’t be what I thought God wanted me to be. But one day I finally came to this realization: I am no surprise or shock to God. He knew what He was getting when He called me. All I can do is cooperate with God when He shows me what to do. There is no way I can change myself.
That is all God expects of us—cooperation. By submitting to the power of His Holy Spirit within us, we can die to the wrong ways of thinking, speaking and acting and live the right ways. God will show us how to avoid sin, but when we do sin, all we need to do is repent, receive God’s forgiveness and go on.
