Accept Yourself By Joyce Meyer

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Are you tired of playing games, wearing masks, and trying to be someone other than who you are? Wouldn't you like the freedom just to be accepted as you are, without pressure to be someone you really don't know how to be? Wouldn't you like to learn how to succeed at being yourself? God wants you to accept yourself and like who you are.

He doesn't want you to reject yourself because of imperfections. He wants you to learn to deal with your weaknesses. Because the truth is, we all have plenty of them.

The Bible tells us that Jesus understands our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15), the Holy Spirit bears us up in our weakness (Rom. 8:26), and God chooses weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1 Cor. 1:27).

If I look at my weaknesses and tell you what I believe my value is, it would be less than nothing. But I have learned that my worth is not based on anything I do, but in what God has already done. It's wonderful not to start the day by waking up and hating yourself before you ever get out of bed. It's wonderful to no longer hear the devil rattling in your ears a list of all the mistakes you made the day before. It's wonderful not to have him remind you of what a failure you are. Many people are beat down before they ever get their feet on the floor in the morning.

The devil's plan is to deceive us into basing our worth on our performance, then keep us focused on our faults and shortcomings. Satan wants us to have a low opinion of ourselves and be insecure so that we live ineffectively for God. This mindset makes us miserable and unreceptive to God's blessings, because we don't think we deserve them.

Once we come into peace with ourselves, we will begin to come into peace with others. If we learn to accept and like ourselves, we will accept and like others. I know this is true from personal experience. The more I am able to accept and like myself in spite of my weaknesses and flaws, the more I am able to accept and like others in spite of theirs.

Every one of us is imperfect, and God loves us just the way we are.

Source: Help Me I'm Insecure by Joyce Meyer. www JoyceMeyer org

Being Spiritual By Joyce Meyer

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God wants to make a trade with you. He wants you to give Him all his cares, your problems, your failures - your "ashes"—and He will give you beauty. He will take your cares, and for them, He will care for you. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (1 Peter 5:6-7).

God wants to take care of us, but in order to let Him, we must stop taking the care. Many people want God to take care of them while they are worrying or trying to figure out an answer instead of waiting for God's direction. They are actually wallowing around in their "ashes," but still want God to give them beauty.

In order for God to give us the beauty, we must give Him the "ashes." We give Him our cares by trusting that He can and will take care of us. Hebrews 4:3 says: "For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest."

We enter into the Lord's rest through believing. Worry is the opposite of faith. Worry steals our peace, physically wears us out, and can even make us sick. If we are worrying, we are not trusting God, and we are not entering God's rest. What a great trade! You give God ashes, and He gives you beauty.

You give Him all your worries and concerns, and He gives you protection, stability, a place of refuge, and fullness of joy—the privilege of being cared for by Him.

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