Give yourself permission to think highly of yourself.

"Then the word of Adonai came to Sh’mu’el: 'I regret setting up Sha’ul as king, because he has turned back from following me and hasn’t obeyed my orders'...Sh’mu’el then said [to Sha'ul], 'You may be small in your own sight, but you are head of the tribes of Isra’el — Adonai anointed you king over Isra’el!'"

- 1 Samuel 15:10-11a, 17 (Complete Jewish Bible)

I read this scripture a few weeks ago and wrote this sentence in my Bible next to it:

Disobedience comes when you're small in your own sight.

Whew. Let me just take a moment to unpack the magnitude of that statement. Seeing ourselves as small or insignificant is basically a Biblical recipe for disobedience. I never made the connection between how important our mindset is to us following God's direction until now. But the truth is:

You can never fully obey God with a low opinion of yourself.

Saul still saw himself as a mere man instead of the king God had anointed him to be and therefore stayed disobeying God. And think about some of the other people in the Bible who disobeyed orders from God:

• Adam and Eve thought they weren't wise enough so they ate the fruit God told them not to eat (Genesis 3:1-7).

• The 12 spies thought they weren't strong enough to defeat the people occupying their promised land so they brought back an evil report (Numbers 13).

• The wicked servant thought he didn't have enough talent to work with so he buried it instead of multiplying it like he was supposed to (Matthew 25:14-30).

If you think small of yourself, your purpose, your role in the Kingdom, your part that you have to play in this grand scheme God is orchestrating, it's easier to think that one little "no" to God here or a little "I'll get to it later" there is ok. But it's not.

Your piece of the puzzle God is creating matters. You not keeping up the slack matters. Saul's lack of self-esteem was bringing the whole community of Israel down (1 Samuel 14:29). And just imagine if Adam & Eve had thought higher of themselves 🥴 You are more and the part you play is bigger than you realize!

If you've been struggling with obeying God's direction in your life, your self-esteem could be part of the problem. I want to encourage you to spend some time this week thinking highly of yourself. Allow yourself to see yourself as the king God made you to be (Rev 1:6). Visualize the territory He's given you to rule. Give yourself permission to believe that your ideas, your dreams & your business WILL change the world. And above all else, remind yourself that even if you have some factual limitations evident in your life, you are still enough, still capable & still unstoppable with God.
 

Still hungry? Eat more //

Here are some scripture-based affirmations I've been using or recommending lately to help with self-esteem. Feel free to reply back and share any that have helped you in this area too and I'll be sure to pass them along to our tribe.

• Genesis 39:23 & 1 Samuel 18:14 → The Lord is with me and gives me success in all I do. Everything I do is wildly successful. 

• Psalm 112 & John 16:13 → I already have everything I need. God has already given me wealth & riches in my house  and He has given me His Holy Spirit which guides me into all truth so I have the wisdom to steward it.

• Exodus 35:30-35 → The Lord has called me by name and has filled me with His Spirit in wisdom, in understanding & in knowledge of everything I need to know as it relates to building these visions He’s given me to build.