Do You Have Faith In Yourself?

“Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:26-27

Do you have faith in yourself?  This is a question I have been wrestling with over the last several days, well actually the last 30 years, I just didn’t know it.   Let me explain.  I have been digging deep into my work lately with my business and life coach, Kim Dawson.  I have a fitness ministry that is geared towards men.   Doing the work and learning my voice in this space means asking myself some hard questions.  I have really had to take a hard look in the mirror and do some self-discovery. 

DO YOU HAVE FAITH IN GOD?

My coach asked me this question, “Do you have faith in God?”  Of course I answered yes without hesitation.  She next asked the question, “Do you have faith in yourself?”   I wasn’t quite as quick to answer that question.  I paused and hesitated and mumbled to her, not really. 

As I look back at my life, I have always struggled with having faith in myself.  So that begs to question, if I have faith in God, how can I not have faith in myself, after all he’s the one who created me?  I have thrown myself into understanding that over the course of the last several days.  I have dug into scripture more than I ever have before.  I also know this is a struggle with other men I have spoken to over the years. 

DO YOU HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF?

Here is what I have learned.   I have realized that my deepest pain over the course of my life was caused by my lack of faith in myself because I haven’t seen myself the way God sees me.  God loves me deeply and gives me my value and worth because he created me.   My deepest pain was caused by valuing other people’s opinion of me rather than God’s. 

In Genesis 1:26-27 it says, “Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

When we know that we are created in God’s image and that we share many of his characteristics this should provide our foundation for self-worth.   But what we do instead we seek out approval from others.   Our deepest pain comes from evaluating ourselves from worldly standards of success, achievement, possessions and physical attractiveness.  This causes us to think too much about our worth in the eyes of others.

I would like to invite you to a new possibility of knowing that your true value is God’s estimate of your worth not your peer’s estimate.  God says that you are deeply loved, adequately equipped and are worthy.   Absolutely nothing can ever change how God feels about you.  

CHOOSE TO SEE YOURSELF THE WAY GOD SEES YOU

If you always see yourself the way God sees you, how would you choose to be and what would you choose to do?  One thing I have started to do is to repeat this affirmation over and over in my mind, “I have no insecurities because I see myself the way God sees me.”  What a powerful way to show up in the world. 

If you don’t have faith in yourself it’s because you don’t see yourself the way God sees you and that is no way to live.  It causes us to have low self-esteem and to shrink back in this world.  There is no way we can be at our best to serve God if we don’t have faith in ourselves through faith in God.

I would like to invite you to create a new possibility for yourself by seeing yourself the way God sees you because of your deep faith in God.  It will change your lens of the way you see yourself and the world.

Troy Ismir, MS

Author, Speaker, Podcaster and Spiritual Warrior Coach