How Do You See Yourself?
by Olga Hermans
Can you answer this question: “How do you see yourself”? It is very important how you see yourself, because it has everything to do with your destiny. First, you have to absolutely know that God loves you; you have to be convinced that He loves you. When you get a revelation of how much God cares about you, you’re going to get a greater respect for yourself.
In the eyes of God, your success is NOT dependent upon your circumstances. In the eyes of God, your success is dependent upon how you see yourself.
If you think you’re a failure, you will fail. If you think you can win through the power of God that dwells within you, then you will win. It’s up to you. It’s your choice.
Satan has been able to paint a picture on the inside of you of the way you see yourself. He has been doing this already for many years and I must say he has done a good job, isn’t it? However, if you want to live in victory, then you must begin to discover who you are in Christ; God’s image.I ask you again: “How do you see yourself”?
Most people don’t like themselves. Some don’t like themselves for various reasons. I didn’t like myself growing up. I had two older sisters who got all the attention; I was always the little one running behind them trying to catch some of leftovers so to speak. They got all the extras.
It was until I gave my life to the Lord May 15, 1989; the day of my natural birth and my spiritual birth. Since then I started to like myself; that season of my life had brought a huge change in my life. Before that time I was searching and searching but in the wrong direction. I was in self-help groups and New Age thinking. God showed Himself to me and let me know how much I needed Him while I was in that group. It was a beautiful thing and a few months later I came out of new age and was born again on May 15th. My life has never been the same.
Anyway, back to not liking ourselves. It is a terrible way to live when you go through life not liking yourself much less loving yourself. Yeah, you should fall in love with you. You have qualities that nobody else has. You are unique. No one else can be exactly like you. Every person has something unique about him or her. Let me ask you again: “How do you see yourself”?
The bible says ….you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 19:19
How can you do that if you don’t even love yourself? When you love yourself, then what you are saying is, I accept me as who I am. God made me. I am not a mistake. Don’t put yourself down and condemn yourself when you love yourself. When you love yourself, you are saying, I am worth something. You are saying, I have something to offer.
We have all made mistakes in our lives and we should take full responsibility for them, but hanging on to them will not make our lives better. At some point, you have to make the choice to forgive yourself whether anyone else does or not.
Maybe you are somebody who is always down on yourself and feeling as if you’re worthless. Or you constantly tell yourself that you cannot be trusted with anything important because you might “mess things up”. Or you’ll become so mentally paralyzed that you won’t allow yourself to even think about taking a risk or stepping out in faith because you’re afraid that you’ll “blow it” again.
That way your self-esteem is almost nonexistent. Let’s be honest here, do you truly think that you will ever enjoy any high degree of success when your life is in that condition? No, you won’t! You have put yourself in a box. You have already determined your future. You’ve limited yourself to just existing – not living.
The abundant life that Jesus says is yours will never materialize if you refuse to let go of the mistakes. Let them go now and learn from them. Be wiser in the future; don’t make the same mistake twice. You have more information now than perhaps you had when you made the mistakes.
Apply the knowledge that you gained from experiences and get on with your life. Don’t let what happened in the past hold you back any longer. It can absolutely paralyze your life.
Look at your mistakes and wrong choices as new information about what works and what doesn’t work. Learn from it and move on. The main thing is this: DON’T LET THEM HOLD YOU BACK. In order for you to enjoy a bright future, it is absolutely necessary that you forget the past.
You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which brings an encouraging message 5 days a week to your inbox by clicking here
Olga, Your articles are always so encouraging and uplifting. This one in particular resonated with me because the issue of self-esteem and loving yourself is greatly impacted by our parents. Raising children to understand their value, celebrating their individuality and respecting their thoughts and opinions goes a long way toward empowering children with a positive self-image. Thanks for all you do for so many!
denny hagel recently posted..Children Are Not “One Size Fits All”!
Olga, I always wonder why we are so critical about ourselves? You explained some very good points. I appreciated your article very much.
Elvie Look recently posted..Welcome to FeedBurner
Bring on the abundant life!
Wow, Olga, I appreciated your article, I have several projects I need to get done today, and getting over my own self, will get them done, thanks!!!
Thank You! Such great encouragement!
I really do like this comment that you wrote: “When you get a revelation of how much God cares about you, you’re going to get a greater respect for yourself”. Actually I have never thought about it that way. I take it with me, that’s how much I like it. Thank you for that revelation! Bless you
Love, Love, LOVE this article!! <3
Tami Gomez recently posted..Words Can’t Bring Us Down!
Olga, I stopped at the question, answered it before reading on. Thanks for the great post.