A Christ-Centered Self Image
Scripture Reading: Numbers 13
“And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight,” Numbers 13:33.
A Christ-Centered Self Image
Father, we thank you because your Word encourages us to add value to our lives. I pray Lord that you will give us the grace to see ourselves the way you see us. Give us the grace to keep your temple holy so that sin will no longer live in our mortal bodies in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Numbers 13:33 lays the foundation for how you value yourself and how other people value you. Do you see yourself as great or as a grasshopper in others’ sight? Numbers 13 tells the story of a group that God asked Moses to send to the Promised Land and then report back. “And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh: and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast to Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature,” Numbers 13:26– 32.
This report is one presented by contrary people who diminished their own value. The group reported clearly that the land flowed with milk and honey, yet immediately they magnified all the oppositions. Thank God for the positive person in Caleb who suggested they were able to overcome the opposition. But the contrary ones would not let Caleb have the last word. They said we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we.
Sadly, many children of God have that negative self-image. Today, I pray that we will get back to the place God has designed for us. Could you imagine that this response would come from the very people God had saved from the king of Egypt, delivered with a strong hand, and preserved from the many plagues of Egypt? The Lord opened the Red Sea and did so many things for them, yet even when they saw the land of milk and honey, through their negative self-image they perceived that they were not able to fight against those they saw as stronger. Do you feel that others are better or stronger than you? Have you factored God into the matter? People with a negative self-image go to battle with their weaknesses, whereas people who go to battle with God have increased confidence and a positive self-image. David was able to face Goliath because he went with God. I pray that if you face a challenge and the devil tells you that you are weak and that you do not have the power, that you will receive the Caleb spirit. Ignore, bind, and cast out in Jesus’ name the contrary spirit that says others are stronger than you.
Can you imagine people saying the land that they have searched is the “land that eateth up the inhabitants,” Numbers 13:32? How can a land destroy its people, yet its people are of great stature? If a land eats up its people, then why are the people of great stature? The reality is that this land builds up its people. This is a land of giants that God wants His children to inherit. The people with the negative self-image and contrary spirit try to discourage those who are ready to possess what God has released. I pray today that you see the contradictions in contrary people and reject their counsel. One of the characteristics of contrary people is that they contradict themselves.
After seeing the giants, Numbers 13:33 says, “…and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” The way you see yourself is how the enemy sees you.
If you see yourself as great, what you are afraid of will be afraid of you. How can a blood-bought, Bible-reading, faith-speaking person see him or herself as a grasshopper? How can you have all that and still devalue yourself? Look in the mirror and ask how you see yourself? Do you see yourself the way the Word and the Lord see you or do you see yourself the way your challenges package you?
Prayer Points:
I pray today that you understand that the way you see yourself determines the way you are seen. I pray that you begin to see yourself for who you are as a child of God who is saved, sanctified, and manifests the outright glory of God. When you begin to see yourself the way God sees you, you will add value to yourself. I pray that God will deliver you from the grasshopper mentality and bless you with a Christ-centered self image in Jesus’ name.
