👀 See Yourself Differently 🤩

 Friends,

As much as I love reading the Bible, the following portion of it is always saddening:

But the other men replied, “Those people are much too strong for us.” Then they started spreading rumors and saying, “We won't be able to grow anything in that soil. And the people are like giants. In fact, we saw the Nephilim who are the ancestors of the Anakim. They were so big that we felt as small as grasshoppers (‭‭Numbers‬ ‭13‬:‭31‬-‭33‬, ‭CEV‬‬).

It’s sad because it shows the unfortunate results of people who don’t believe in their potential. Show me someone who sounds like this and I’ll show you someone that will be stuck at normal until different beliefs come to life.

As sad as that sounds, it’s very easy to fall into, especially when unexpected things happen while you’re growing in a specific area. If you don’t believe the best is still ahead, you’ll remain right where you are.

But I don’t want that for you. 

Neither does God.

He proved it in many ways throughout the Bible, and here’s one of them:

We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world (‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭4‬, ‭CEV‬‬).

Through Christ our Savior, God gave us a way out of being stuck. He offered a path from normal into new. It’s what I talked about in the recent episode of our podcast [Activate the New You 👌🏾], and I’m sharing a bit more here.

You have two options when viewing yourself:

1. I am comprehensively normal.
2. I am completely new.

You’re going to view yourself as the same person you’ve always been in every area of your life. Or you’ll think everything about you is brand new.

It’s the same message shared in these verses, which also include wisdom for adopting a new perspective of yourself:

Sin is a dethroned monarch; so you must no longer give it an opportunity to rule over your life, controlling how you live and compelling you to obey its desires and cravings. So then, refuse to answer its call to surrender your body as a tool for wickedness. Instead, passionately answer God’s call to keep yielding your body to him as one who has now experienced resurrection life! You live now for his pleasure, ready to be used for his noble purpose (‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬-‭13‬, ‭TPT‬‬).

Here’s how to stop seeing yourself wrongly and start seeing yourself wisely:

✅ Say Yes

To Christ’s nature being yours, that is. One of the benefits of relationship with Him is that you get all of Him. Instead of contemplating if you’re worthy, just welcome it into your life. Here’s a simple confession to get you started: Because I have a relationship with Christ, I have His nature.

✅ Simply Yield

The final piece of the puzzle is to yield to the new nature you received.  Notice Paul’s words again: “Instead, passionately answer God’s call to keep yielding your body to him as one who has now experienced resurrection life!” Yielding means aligning with your new nature in every situation, even unexpected ones. It’s ruling your normal behavior patterns out of bounds and only responding as Christ would in the same situation.

So let’s recap. Activating the new life available through relationship with Christ is a combination of saying yes and simply yielding. And when you do, you’ll see yourself as a new creation, empowered by His Spirit. That’s thow to avoid remaining stuck in normal as you grow from one milestone to another.

I’ve started the conversation; tag, now you’re it. Let me know in the comments how you see yourself differently through your relationship with God.   And if you want more inspiration about the new life available in Christ, check this out: God’s Latest Drops are All That.

I’ll be back with another post. Until then, let God take great care of you by helping you see yourself as a new person through Christ. Have an incredible day!

For the King and His Kingdom,

Reginald Hinton Jr.

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked TPT are from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com.