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"I Hate Myself", but Why?
- 41 minutes ago
- 3 min read
"Goliath, speak to me!", Christine Caine said as she visually illustrated what we do on a constant daily basis which harms our personal opinion of ourselves. On the bed in the backdrop, Christine pretended to wake up, reach for her Bible on the nightstand, only to pick up her phone instead, and spend the first waking moments scrolling away.
Reading from the Bible book 1 Samuel, chapter 17, we learned how David and Israel had to choose between the words of God or the words of the world, specifically the enemy they faced, Goliath.
Long story short, (link to full message at the bottom), David had to choose to silence the voices that were critical of him and lacking faith in what God could do through him. We find ourselves in a similar situation as David, but are we choosing differently than him when we choose to wake up hungry to hear the words of this world on our many apps, and accept those as true?
Point being: we have to be resolute about silencing the voices that speak false things about us, and instead fill ourselves with what God says about ourselves. Now, let's further address the question we started with: Why is it possible to hate ourselves, especially when we already know God loves us? Do we forget? Do we add more negative feedback into our souls than God's kind, loving, and merciful truth about us? Probably all these reasons, but there's one more, a quieter one. One that the enemy would love us to never notice.
Christine mentioned David's older brother misjudged his heart's motive for joining them that day on the battlefield. Was David's brother insecure, jealous, and bitter because God chose David instead of him to be Israel's next king? What did David do upon hearing his own family member's discouragement? David kept his focus on God's truth and calling.
Likewise, we all have at least one person in our close circle of family and acquaintances who will be speaking lies about us into us, whether they realize it or not. Christine encouraged us to accept that we will need to take action in order for us not to be dissuaded from completing our God-given purpose.
It's very possible that someone can be overly critical and hateful of oneself because the people this person is surrounded by are critical and hateful towards them. We must fight for the truth about who God says we are on a daily basis, and whenever the enemy wants to bring us down with critical and negative comments, their body language, etc from others, let's keep our focus on God.
You truly are in a spiritual battle every moment of your life! That's why God has equipped us with spiritual armor, specifically the "belt of truth", "shield of faith", and "sword of the Spirit".
Satan wants us to hate ourselves because he hates us. God wants us to love ourselves because He loves us. Not just that, but in order for us to love others, we must know how to love ourselves. Choose this day to be renewed in your mind by the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you. Nothing is too hard for God. Silence Goliath's lies in your life through your faith in God's Word.
"And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
Matthew 22:39 NIV
"Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
1 Peter 5:8 NIV
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 NIV
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Romans 12:2
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
Psalm 139:14 "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Ephesians 6:13-17 NIV
Listen to Christine Caine's teaching here:
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