As I was praying in our church’s prayer chapel today I stumbled across a short devotional that spoke volumes to me. I hope God speaks to you through it as well. Evidently it comes from Emilie Barnes book, “15 Minutes Alone With God.”
I Cor. 13:4-13 It is important that we belived that we have value and that we are worthy to give of ourselves. This begins by knowing and accepting what our heavenly Father believes about us. Christian psychologist Dr. Dick Dickerson has written a paraphrase of 1 Cor. 13 which beautifully summarizes how God looks at us. Read this aloud to yourself each morning and evening for the next 30 days, then evaluate how your feelings about yourself have changed:
Because God love me, He is slow to lose patience with me.
Because God love me, He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth.
Because God loves me, He does not treat me as an object to be possessed and manipulated.
Because God loves me, He has no need to impress me with how great and powerful He is because He is God….Nor does He belittle me as His child in order to show me how important He is.
Because God loves me, He is for me. He wants me to mature and develop in His love.
Because God loves me, He does not send down His wrath on every little mistake I make, of which there are many.
Because God loves me, He does not keep score of all my sins and then beat me over the head with them whenever He gets a chance.
Because God loves me, He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the ways that please Him because he sees this as evidence that I don’t trust Him and love Him as I should.
Because God loves me, He rejoices when I experience His power and strength and stand up under the pressure of life for His name’s sake.
Because God loves me, He keeps working patiently with me even when I feel like giving up and can’t see why He doesn’t give up with me, too.
Because God loves me, He keeps on trusting me when at times I don’t even trust myself.
Because God loves me, He never says there is no hope for me, rather, He patiently works with me, loves me and disciplines me in such a way that it is hard for me to understand the depth of His concern for me.
Because God loves me, He never forsakes me even though many of my friends might.
Father God, negative inner voices would love to convince me that I am a nobody, but the Holy Spirit continually challenges me to believe that I am of value to God and will be with Jesus in Paradise. Can I believe God when He tells me that I was so important to Him that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins? Yes, I can! I am special to God. Let me believe it and live it. Amen.