Let’s look at what God’s Word, The Bible, says about these two affirmations:
I HAVE A PURPOSE. I AM SPECIAL.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10, esv
God in His glorious omniscience knew our purpose long before we were born.
In this affirming scripture, as born-again Christians, we are reminded of His purpose for our “good works” in our lives.
This is not saying good works are the foundation of our salvation because we are only saved by grace through faith, as verses 8 and 9 of chapter 2 of Ephesians reminds us.
Verse 10 is affirming us to walk in our unique, intended purpose, which was and is designed by God. Good works for HIS glory.
You, dear friend, never have to question how special you are or how much you are needed. God has always had a purpose for you. Through Christ, for the glory of the Lord, YOU ARE SPECIAL. YOU HAVE A PURPOSE.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
1 Timothy 6:6-7
We have all been there.
I have been there, you have been there.
We see someone’s life, status, material possessions and then look over at what we have…somehow it just does not measure up to THEIR nice life, nice job, nice car.
We have all been there, in the battle of comparison, and it is not a place where we want to stay. When we let selfish, jealous, prideful, comparative thoughts swirl then we are letting ourselves get robbed. Yes, ROBBED!
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt – 26th U.S.A. president
The choice to experience joy is stolen and replaced with discontentment. Comparison robs us, discontentment robs us. It leaves us looking at ourselves as lacking instead of to GOD as having and being everything we need and feeling loved and whole in His assurance.
Today, make the decision to daily choose the joy of contentment in Christ!
But as for you, O man of God…Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”
Have you ever asked God this about a situation in your life that really hurts? I know I have.
The natural human inclination is to avoid trials and evade any type of suffering.
No one enjoys suffering.
Yet, there are times when God allows pain, sometimes long seasons of pain, or hurt, in the lives of His children.
We all want the easy life, but sometimes we experience hurt in relationships, jobs, financial crises, and emotional brokenness. But why?
In His Word, God says something counterintuitive to our own thinking about approaching trials:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.
James 1:2 ESV
Wait, huh?
God calls us to something beyond running away from all discomfort. He even calls us to do something greater than going through our trials with an optimistic mindset.
God says that we should view our disappointments, broken relationships, missed opportunities, grief, and all the other hurts we experience as opportunities for joy. To “count it all joy” literally means to see your trials as opportunities for sincere joy. The trial itself is not the reason for joy, but God’s purpose for the trial is.
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing
James 1:3-4 ESV
Instead of an exasperated “God, why?” go deeper. There is a reason for your trial. Ask God, even through tears and uncertainty, “Father, what are You trying to do in me?”.
Seen as God’s tool for perfecting and completing your spiritual maturity, even the deepest hurts in your life can be reasons for joy. God often uses these seasons to turn our dependence away from others and deepen our trust in Him.
The weather was absolutely perfect, one Saturday afternoon and we had nothing planned. The ultimate combination at our house! So, Herm took this opportunity to take the kids outside and give me a much needed midday rest.
Well, my rest lasted about 30 minutes once two of the little ones had enough and came back inside. One of our daughters decided to stay outside and play. She told her daddy to look at her chalk picture that she drew on the ground and “see how beautiful it is”. She was so pleased with the fish and sun she drew, she was smiling so big! My husband took that time to affirm her and say, “yes, your picture is beautiful and YOU are so beautiful”.
Photo by Emma Bauso
Our daughter responded, “I know.
I’m beautiful.
And I’m smart.
And my dress is pretty.”
I was so happy that as a father, he got to witness this.
You see, as I said before, our children constantly receive affirming words from us, along with “you are such a hard worker”, we tell them that God loves them and He made them so special.
Since birth, our daughter has been soaking up those words and now knows these as true facts about herself. Our uniqueness, our beauty, the beauty of nature, everything pleasing, lovely, are all from our Heavenly Father.
The beauty of mighty waves rolling far out and then gently meeting golden sand is stunning to me. The complement of colors and texture in home design excites me. The bright eyes, sweet smiles and beautiful, smooth brown of my children’s faces absolutely bring tears to my eyes.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
philippians 4:8, ESV
The Bible tells us to keep our thoughts on pure and lovely things. It is beautiful to affirm beauty in a way that affirms the intentions of our heart and ultimately points us back to Jesus; recognizing God as the sovereign creator of everything.
We’ve all been there. In the rewind of the conversation I just came from, I realized that I may have spaced out. Hope I didn’t look weird.
Or you google the definition of the word to make sure you used it correctly in that casual chat. Was I speaking clearly? Ugh, I can’t believe I said that.
The informal trip down or up (me, again) the stairs. Thinking you know someone’s name and turns out you’ve been calling them by the wrong name for awhile now.
Insecurities occur. We are daily, sometimes constantly aware of where we think we may fall short. But take hope in the knowledge of the scripture:
“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,”
2 Corinthians 3:4-5, ESV
Confidence is trusting that the Lord alone is sufficient, that He is able. Confidence in Christ directly aligns with God’s faithful character and His will.
Friends, confidence in Christ starts when we live for Him and experience a renewing love like no other that crushes insecurities and floods your spirit with His true confidence.
You are confident.
Trust God. Seek Him. And be Affirmed in Christ.
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
Last night I just could not sleep. I was in my bed about 10:30pm – hey, no judgements here; early to rise, early to sleep – I know I saw 11:49, 12:21, and then 1:40. As 2am was quickly approaching, I started thinking what is it that’s keeping me up? And it was just that, all of these thoughts were just swirling.
If you are in my personal, family, or friend circle you know that I am transparent. So I’ll give the same honesty here and say, my life is not perfect. I wear many hats; wife, mom, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend to name a few and with the roles or titles come responsibility, time-commitment, exhaustion, frustration and yep, worry.
So here I was minutes from 2am looking like this pup (ha), my mind reeling with thoughts of the day, thoughts of my many hats, thoughts of the world today; a restless night charged by worry.
I knew I needed to get my thoughts out of my head so I started to journal. As I’m writing “why are these thoughts keeping me up at night, tomorrow will be exhausting”… the Holy Spirit brought God’s word to mind:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:34, ESV
I literally stopped in my tracks!! I was so convicted.
I couldn’t sleep, from the day, the week/WEEKS that I’d been having and here I am piling it on with thoughts of tomorrow. I am so grateful for God’s Word because it is just so true. I often say: God’s words need no help. Meaning read it, He said it, it is true and that is it.
I started praying: Lord, you are so faithful, constant and always present. I’m so grateful for your Holy Spirit reminding me of the truth of your Word. God I thank you for reminding me to not be anxious but bring everything to you. So, Heavenly Father, right now I give you this worry that is disrupting my peace and ask for your peace Lord. I thank you that you hear my prayers, I praise your name Father…
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
…and the next thing I remember was waking up to my morning alarm. God had quieted my mind, He so sweetly answered my prayer as I was asking Him.
Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
The mission of Affirmed in Christ is to display the truth of God’s word, The Holy Bible. With the word ‘affirmation’ on the rise as trendy, the goal of Affirmed in Christ is to put affirmations back in the proper hands. It is not me affirming myself but God’s word fueling my affirmation. “Ok, Kimberli (as my oldest child said to me the other day – that’s another story), what’s the difference?”
A temporary statement that I tell myself to make it through a moment…
“You can do this!” “You’ve got this!” “You are capable”
Photo by Prateek Katyal
versus me saying the same exact statement but with an understanding of what is said in the Holy Word of God, The Bible.
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made
PSALM 139:14, ESV
“You are fearfully and wonderfully made” “You were made for such a time as this”
Now don’t misquote me here. I am by no means saying that affirmations are wrong in any way. They are healthy and they are good. I too state them and tell them to my husband and children daily. Again, they are healthy and they are good. Those are two affirming statements right there!
I am only highlighting the difference of me saying my own words, that are temporal, versus God’s eternal words. The affirming words that I say are loved by my husband and my children. And I love that I can give them that reassurance. Most people enjoy being encouraging to others. But, why not give them even more, give them the foundation of assurance that comes from knowing God. Give more in the words you love to hear as you speak to yourself and speak the words of the One who loved first, the One who is love.
Affirmed in Christ 