WONDERFULLY MADE!

The way you see yourself and how you feel about yourself will have a tremendous impact on you going forward. The truth is that you will never rise above the image you have in mind about yourself. Do you know that there is something wonderful and unique about you? The scripture says, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, And that my soul knows very well.” Psalm 139:14 

Have you ever stopped to listen to your thoughts? Especially at that point, you focus on who you are. I call it the silent voice of the mind, constantly telling us who we are. The challenge for some people is that theirs are negative. It’s been that way for so long, that they don’t realize something is always telling them, “You are not attractive, you are a failure, you are your biggest problem, you don’t have a good personality, you have made too many mistakes, you are the wrong nationality”. You have allowed that voice to lie to you over and over again.

They wonder why they don’t feel good about themselves. It’s because of the voice in their mind. Some of these voices started back in childhood. Somebody told them they weren’t smart, they would never do much in life, and they were not talented enough. Excuse me please, the scripture says that “You are fearfully and wonderfully made! Are you letting what somebody said hold you back? Have you allowed it to become a part of the silent voice in your mind? The good news is that you have power over that negative voice! 

The key is to shut it up and meditate on new words of who God say you are. Here is what you should feed your mind with, “I am talented, I am valuable, I am attractive, I am blessed, I am wonderfully made, I have a good personality, I am victorious, I have the life of God in me, people like me”. Pay attention to the wonderful things about you. Don’t go through life being against yourselves, focusing on your faults, challenges or feeling inferior like nothing good is going to happen. 

God has loaded you with success and not failure. Too many people feel wrong on the inside, there is a nagging feeling that is always reminding them of what they are not, and how they don’t measure up. If you don’t healthily love yourself, then you are not going to love others. You won’t have good relationships if you go around guilty, feeling unattractive, and defeated in your mind.

The reason some people don’t get along with other people is they don’t get along with themselves. If you don’t like yourself, you are not going to like me. You have to be at peace with yourself before you can be at peace with others. If you are hard on yourself, you will be hard on others. If you feel wrong about who you are, you will be critical and find fault with others. 

You owe it to yourself and you owe it to your spouse, to your children, to your friends to shut up the negative voices. It’s poisoning who you are. When you have the right voices, you will have healthy relationships. Take inventory of your thoughts. Any defeating thoughts, “unworthy, not good enough” – delete them, quit dwelling on them. And then take it one step further – put on the right and new ones.

You will be amazed at what happens when you go through the day, meditating on what God says about you. “You have been fearfully and wonderfully made”. Instead of that wrong voice, say, I’m a masterpiece, I’m one of a kind, I have the seed of greatness“. David said, “God you have amazingly made me. What you have done is wonderful”. One version uses the word “marvellous”. Imagine going through the day with those words in your mind, “I’m amazing. I’m marvellous. I’m wonderful”.

Most people are not that bold to think good about themselves. Never a big deal to think about your faults, what you did wrong, and how you don’t measure up. But when these new and true words about you come, the enemy will work overtime to try to keep you from keeping them in your mind. He doesn’t want you to feel good about yourselves, it’s going to take boldness to believe, that you are amazing, that you are marvellous, that you have been wonderfully made. 

I’m not saying to do it arrogantly, but if you are going to become who you were created to be, you are going to have to get an agreement with God. Start meditating on the right words, “I’m amazing. I’m marvellously made. I’m a masterpiece” (Ephesians 2:10). That’s not just to make you feel good, that’s what God says about you. The day you were born, God saw you as His masterpiece, His beautiful work of art. And yet, we fill our minds with negative thoughts, we focus on our faults, our failures, and our shortcomings. 

We compare ourselves to others, we tell ourselves “We don’t measure up”, covering the masterpiece God made us to be. That’s the enemy’s plan, he wants you to feel wrong about yourself, but God wants you to feel right about yourself if you feel it has been lost. The good news is that God can restore the wonders about you. Remember when He made you, He stepped back and said, “That was very good”. (Genesis 1:31)

So when you wake up in the morning, instead of looking in the mirror thinking, “Look how old I’m getting, look at all these wrinkles, look at how overweight I am”, why don’t you look in the mirror and say, “Good morning, you are amazing, fearfully and wonderfully made and child of the almighty God”? You are not bragging about yourself, you are bragging about what God has done. When you feel good about yourself, you will go further, you will have better relationships and you will enjoy life more. Your best life begins on the inside.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELVE?

Have you ever felt like you don’t measure up? When Moses sent 12 men to spy on the Promised Land, 10 came back with a negative report. They said, “Moses, we don’t have a chance. The people are giants, we were in our sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sights”. Notice how they saw themselves: they didn’t say, “They called themselves grasshoppers, they insulted and looked down on themselves. They said, “We were in our sight as grasshoppers”. (Numbers 13)

They went in with a grasshopper mentality, their thinking was wrong before they got there. Opposition doesn’t determine who you are, it simply reveals who you think you are. They saw all their enemies as giants. If you have a grasshopper mentality, you are not going to see your enemies properly. They are going to look all too big, “I can’t beat this cancer. Did you see the report? I can’t get out of debt. I will never accomplish this dream”. The problem is not the giants, the problem is your thinking, excuse me for saying this, it’s a grasshopper mentality.

There were two other spies – Joshua and Caleb. They had a completely different report. They saw the same giants, yet they said, “Moses, we are well able, let us go in at once and take the land”. What was the difference between them and the ten spies? They had a promised land mentality, they had the right voice, and they knew that the forces that were for them were more than the forces that were against them. 

Which group were you in Joshua and Caleb? Or are you one of the 10 spies? Do you have a grasshopper mentality or a promise-land mentality? We all have giants to face in life, how are you getting ready for them every day? We spend time getting dressed and ready for work, ready for school, taking a shower, finding what clothes to wear, ladies putting on your makeup – we put effort into getting the outside looking the best but a pretty face can’t hide low self-esteem, wearing the latest fashion won’t cover feeling unattractive or feeling defeated.

I wonder, what would happen if we took five minutes every morning to get our inner person ready for the day? What would happen if before we leave the house we would remind ourselves who we are? “I am strong. I am talented. I am attractive. I am disciplined. I am focused. I am amazing. I am fearfully and wonderfully made”.

Take time to make positive affirmations over yourself. If you do it in the morning, it will give the silent voice of the mind what to say. The more you do it, the more it will become a part of who you are. Just like the negative gets down into your subconscious and holds you back, that is how the positive will push you forward. It would be good to make a list and have it on your phone and post it on your bathroom mirror, your bedroom or at work. Several times a day read over it, get it down in your spirit. The more you dwell on the right thoughts, the less room there is for the wrong thoughts.

Some people never thought “I’m attractive. I’m amazing”. You may be thinking, “pastor, I’m ordinary, nothing attractive about me”. The problem is that the wrong voices are keeping you from shining. Shut up those voices telling you, “You are unattractive, you are a failure, you are too big, too small”, and put on this new voice – “I’m beautiful. I’m attractive. I am more than a conqueror,  I’m amazing. I’m valuable”.

Quit putting yourself down, quit letting negative thoughts take hold within you. When you criticize yourself, you are criticizing God’s creation. You have enough people and circumstances against you – don’t be against yourself. When the negative thoughts come, do yourself a favour – shut it up, and switch over to the right voice (The inner voice of God).

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’