1) ROOT OUT INSECURITY
Honestly, if we can start here then a lot of the hard work is behind us. I cannot tell you the root of your insecurities anymore than I can identify my own at times. However, the reality is that it's there and we have to deal with it.
The longer we allow ourselves to be wrapped up in our own insecurities, the more warped our perception becomes of the things around us. NOTHING IS SAFE! Relationships, self-care, faith, and whatever else that may come our way are all susceptible. See insecurity for what it is. It's not a good defense mechanism. It's not the true self. It's a hindrance to the abundant life of Christ flowing through you.
2) KILL FEAR
Insecurity has a partner in crime and it is fear. Fear is the soil that when cultivated allows our insecurities to grow beyond our imagination. The antidote for fear is love. Read the Scriptures. "There is no fear in love..." The reality is that the more we are able to define ourselves as one who is radically loved by God, part of the beloved, the more we will be able to snuff out fear completely. The Bible also says in 1 John that the "one who fears has not been made perfect in love." Why would we ever allow fear to live and roam freely in our lives. Let's kill it.
3) CHANGE YOUR LENS
It may go without saying, but this is important. Scripture reminds us that WE ARE TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING OF OUR MIND. The more we allow our thought life to be dominated by the false self (the self that is created outside of relationship with the Father) the more difficult it becomes to live from the true self in Christ.
Take the time to equip yourself with verses and phrases from the Bible that speak to your identity as a son/daughter of God. Confess (say the same thing) about yourself that the Father has spoken through the men who penned the words of Scripture. See yourself through this lens.
4) LIVE FROM INSTEAD
I hear people often describe themselves from these feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, fear, and the like. Always negative about themselves. Always choosing to see and feel the worst. What if you lived from the instead? You know...Instead of that you are really this? In other words, rather than live from the negative you choose INSTEAD to live from the positive? That you allow yourself the freedom to let go of the negativity that tends to dominate the way we see life. Choosing, instead, to use the proper lens along with the proper vocabulary to describe yourself. So many have quotes Romans 3 "we are all sinners" INSTEAD of quoting "we are all justified" which follows. See the difference? You have a choice.
5) ENJOY THE JOURNEY
I know you were waiting for it. This has become my hashtag, my own way of seeing things, my choice to find the joy in life.
To enjoy something means to "take delight or pleasure in..." It also means to "possess and benefit from."
Can you imagine that? Imagine possessing and benefiting from life. Allowing every turn in the road, every mountain we cross, every struggle we go through to sow something good in us.
While everything we experience isn't joyful, what we get from these experiences can be. Discipline isn't enjoyable (Scripture teaches this), but what it creates in us is something valuable.
Do yourself a favor in 2018:
Be wrapped up in the love of God.
Allow the peace of God to surpass all understanding.
Never give insecurity authority in the way you think and/or speak.
#enjoythejourney
