Sometimes situations arise in life where you are reminded of the old.
And what do I mean by the old; Your life before you gave your heart to Jesus.
You may be familiar with the fact that for years I struggled with the spirit of rejection. Through situations that occurred in my youth, situations where I was actually rejected, opened the door to the spirit of rejection.
For years I accepted people making comments about me that I was not smart enough, not strong enough, not beautiful enough, not interesting enough, etc.. In many cases, a comparison was made between me and some other person, a comparison that emphasized the other’s strengths versus naming my shortcomings.
For years I listened to such comments, and for years I absorbed and to be honest … made these statements my own.
Even years after I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Shepherd, I accepted such statements people made about me and over my life. For years I accepted people making statements about me and cursing me.
Because you can make it short or long; words have power. We are “speaking spirits,” what we speak out will come to pass in our lives. Of course, this also goes the other way. If someone speaks negatively about you and says things about you and you accept these negative words, what they have spoken about you will come to pass. In other words, people curse you with their words.
I accepted as a young girl and young woman for very many years what others said about me and I actually made these words my own. I took the words of others for truth and for a very long time these words also were guiding in my life. My identity depended on what people said and thought of me.
What also did not contribute positively was the fact that for much of my early years as a baby Christian I was part of a church that was against you having your own identity in Christ. This said church was all about the pastors and about how God loved the pastors and if we loved the pastors enough, maybe God could love us too.
This thankfully changed the moment I received proper teaching and was encouraged to read the Bible myself, but not completely myself, along with the Holy Spirit.
You may be wondering why you need to read with the Holy Spirit; well that’s simple. The moment you read the Bible with the Holy Spirit and you don’t understand a certain verse, He will explain it to you, reveal to you what Papa God meant by what is written.
In the past I did read what was written in the Bible about how God sees me, but without the guidance of the Holy Spirit I could not fully grasp what Papa God is saying about me and how He thinks about me.
The moment I was familiar with the Bible and thus contained how Papa God sees me I started to have a different view of someone else’s opinion of me and I am much more alert about the words others say about me! I now know that I do NOT have to accept the words spoken by others. The moment someone makes a statement about me I immediately respond in denial, simply because these words do not match the words Papa God speaks about me.
I must honestly admit that this was quite difficult at the beginning, especially since I also very much wanted to be liked. Some of you will be aware that the Dutch people are quite sarcastic and often post sarcastic comments. (I have also been guilty of this for years).
You can imagine that stopping the load of these comments was difficult to receive in my environment at first. But I think I have set the tone now and most people around me are now aware that they can no longer swing all the words and statements at my head.
It was also a challenge regarding close family and friends. For years I accepted that they would make statements about me and from one moment to the next I stopped them in the middle of their sentence and expressed that what they say and what they think is not in line with Papa God.
As you can imagine, this created many unpleasant situations. Many of my friends and family members were surprised that I would resolutely go against them. This was not the Alicia they were used to.
And what caused even more friction is the fact that I mirrored the words I refuted to the Word. And those around me who did not yet know Jesus or were lukewarm to the Lord found me either very brutal or a ” wacko”.
I found this very difficult to be honest. Fortunately, the moment came quickly when I would rather accept Papa God’s words than words from anyone else. I fortunately quickly came to the point where I realized that it doesn’t matter at all what you think of me and/or whether you are comfortable with me not accepting your opinions and words about my life.
I do not accept the words you speak about me and my loved ones that are not in line with The Living Word!
This shift in my mindset naturally causes an uproar in the enemy’s camp. And this uproar will actually stay there!
Some time ago an acquaintance of mine made a statement about one of my children. Before this gentleman could finish his sentence, I interrupted him and explained to him the Words my Father has spoken about me and my family. To reinforce this, I explained to him that words have power and I, as a mother, cannot accept that anyone speaks negatively about my children. I kindly asked him to think a little longer in the future about what he wants to say about my son so that he can avoid trying to curse him.
At first, this confrontation created an uncomfortable situation. But when my words that I had spoken dawned on him, he apologized and indicated that he had indeed not thought carefully about what he actually said. And that it was indeed not his intention to express himself in this way.
Our conversation thankfully ended on a positive note.
Let this be an encouragement for you to study and read the Bible for yourself WITH the Holy Spirit.
For only then can you realize who you are in Papa God’s eyes.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9
