March: Perception/ Self Perception

Girl, what's your perception like?

"The way that you carry yourself is the way in which you perceive yourself. You carry yourself with the worth you perceive yourself to have."

Perception is described as the way in which you have become aware or conscious of something and are swayed in actions, emotion, feeling, and attitude based on that perception. And often times that perception is associated with things we've experienced, opinions of others, etc.

Self-perception is made up of your ideal self, current self-image, and your self-esteem. Each of these 3 things domino effect into your overall perception of the things you are faced with in life. 

For example, if you self-perceive yourself to be less than, you're going to carry yourself in that belief. If you self- perceive yourself to be not enough, you're going to carry yourself in that belief. This converts into the way you interact with others (cycle of comparing) and causes you to shun away from where God is calling you to show up. 

This is because we've shrunk ourselves so small and buried our way into the never-ending hole of "not enough" that we aren't able to see ourselves in that tremendous value, worth, goodness, power, and beauty we hold on to the inside.

In the Old Testament, Saul gave us a great example of this.  

We see in 1 Samuel, chapters 9-15, how Saul's self- perception of himself prevented him from going forth in confidence of what God had appointed, like him being King over Israel. In Chapter 9, when Saul was first anointed King by Samuel, he let us know his self-perception of himself and his perception of life immediately!

He said, "But I'm only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the tribe! Why are you talking to me like this?" (AMP vs 21)

Let's translate this,

Sound familiar?

If you continue reading, we see that Saul's misconception of himself caused him not to show up confidently as the King he was appointed to be. Even when it was time for him to be proclaimed King in front of the people of Israel, he hid in the baggage. But it says that when the people went to find him, Samuel said,

"Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people." (1 Samuel 10:24) 

aka "YOU ARE ONE OF ONE! NOBODY CAN DO WHAT YOU DO AND HOW YOU DO IT. THE LORD CHOSE YOU, HANDPICKED YOU, CAREFULLY CRAFTED YOU! THIS IS WHY IT HAS TO BE YOU! YOU ARE ENOUGH!

See, Saul struggled with coming into agreement with whom, what, and whose he was called to. This created a huge impact on his reign as king of Israel. Since he struggled with his own self-perception, he allowed people (everybody, but the voice of God) to tell him who he was, to validate him, to recognize him, etc. He became a people pleaser actually, fearing the act of man, instead of the judgement of God.

(See more of this in Chapter 11)

Ultimately this allowed him to win battles, but to lose his victory in his reign over Israel.

Aka caused him to play small in fear of man, instead BIG with God.

There is so much more we can dive into about this passage of scripture, but we'll stop there today.

As you've read this, I want you do two things this week regarding your self- perception.

1. Make a list called "I AM, I am not" | Write down everything that you perceive yourself as, both positive and negative. Be honest with yourself girl! Once you create the list, compare the two and find scriptures that support the positive and counter the negative.

2. With the scriptures you found, create a list of biblical affirmations for yourself. Speak Gods truth over yourself every day, embrace what he has said concerning you! DAILY!!

Of course, feel free to share your list below with the rest of the #SHEiscommunity!! <3