We are continuing our 30-day challenge on loving yourself. Alejandra is our guest blogger for the month of January and she is going to share with us the next level to loving ourselves.

Loving Myself Enough to Obey Today for Tomorrow’s Blessings

I am back! I pray that this blog finds you all well! I’ve been going through some roller coaster issues myself. Nonetheless, I am ecstatic to share with you this week’s blog on “Loving Yourself”. Having you guys accompany me on this journey is a blessing in itself. Last week’s challenge on looking into the spiritual mirror was to help us admit our spiritual ugliness.   We need to be willing to confront it in order to change it.

Now that we’ve embarked on this new journey we should probably look at the fruitful Word of God in order to actually reach this Promised Land. I pray that these words penetrate your hearts so you can receive all that God has promised you. This week we need to go into the wilderness, in order to continue with our “Love Yourself” journey. Wilderness defined means a desolate place, an uninhabited and deserted area.  So what can we learn in our wilderness experience while we learn to love ourselves? In order to learn how to love me, I needed to spend time alone with God; in that desolate and uninhabited place is where we often are comforted with His love. God’s love transcends throughout eternity, but I would love to focus on the New Testament. After all, Jesus is love.

God wanted us to experience the deepest form of His love. Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice so we can receive this kind of love. This love allowed us to not just love others but also to love ourselves.  But how do I apply this love to myself?  Jesus died for me but he wants me to die for me too.   But how do “I” die for me? It’s simple or maybe not so simple. Luke 9:23 says

“If anyone wishes to come after Me he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

It means you love yourself enough to die to that sin that entangles you.  This also means you chose death to that sin than life in your flesh. For years, I struggled with pornography and yes I said it! I knew I needed to kill that part of me. I NEEDED TO STOP! And in Jesus name I did. This sin entangled me — it called me out, knew my name, crept into my thoughts and my dreams. I was addicted. I came to realize that true love for myself helped me to make that choice to stop, I was better than that. I had to love myself enough to stop! Many of you may be dealing with this same sin or addictions in another form.  The only thing stopping YOU from receiving God’s blessings is YOU! Will you give up your sins for the blessings? Will you obey God’s words today for tomorrow’s blessing? Will you die… for you?

Sometimes You Need To Put People In Their Place

Something else you must think about is that Jesus is very determined. I remember reading John 18:10, Jesus was being arrested and Peter, one of His disciples and a close friend, drew his sword and attacked one of the Roman soldiers by cutting off his ear. Jesus rebuked Peter and ordered him to put away his sword.  Are you willing to put the sword away, and fight the real battle? Jesus was! He knew, that letting Peter fight that battle for Him physically, or better yet He knew that fighting a senseless fight was only going to distract Jesus from the true fight, the battle for our souls.

Jesus, in some cases, was known to rebuke His own friends if He needed to. This was not the first time Peter wanted Jesus to something different.  When Peter didn’t like Jesus’ talk of going to the cross, Peter tried to put Jesus in his place but look at what his response was in Mark 8:33. He said to Peter,  “Get behind me, Satan!” What?! Talk about being intentional… Jesus wasn’t worried about Peter’s feelings. Have you had friends or loved ones like Peter that have a vision for your life that’s not God-centered but self-centered? The question is, would you love you enough to say to them, “Get behind me Satan”?

I remember I had friends who loved the idea of my ex-boyfriend and I being together but little did they know what was going on.  Had I not let go of this guy I would probably be dead by now. This guy took pleasure in abusing me physically, and emotionally. He cheated on me and beat me till he saw blood. Is that love? Forget if he loved me, did I love me? Do you think that putting up with that kind of life is self-love? I remember when I stood in front of a mirror, looking at the deformity his fist made on my face. That was not love, that was insecurity. I was a very insecure young woman who permitted this type of treatment to go too far.

Loving me is setting boundaries and being willing to push unwholesome people who do not respect these boundaries out of my life. They should not have been in my life in the first place anyway. Sometimes we ask God to remove people from our lives, but we should first question if we could be the problem, not someone else. I didn’t deserve the abuse I received from my boyfriend and, if you are in that situation, neither do you. I needed to take a closer look at how I got to that point. That question was not just for that relationship, but it applied to my friendships as well. I had many so-called friends who just served as a distraction like Peter was. We need to love ourselves so much that we are protective, proactive and intentional about being God-centered in all we do.

#LoveMeLikeHeLovedMe

This is all part of loving yourself! Did you think that this blog would be about joining a gym, and creating a better outer image of you? No, no, no! Can you love you like Jesus loved you? And sacrifice for you, be determined for you, be focused for you, and seek to die to yourself each day in order to benefit you? This week I prompt you to walk behind him with your own cross. When you are committed to doing that, all He has promised you will come to fruition.

I would love to pray for you…

“Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth and unbreakable word that whatever you say will come to pass. Lord, we thank you for giving us this week where we refocus our love in order to refocus our lives. Thank you that we have another week, by faith, to uncover the things you have in store for us. We ask today that as you have mended us and continue to mend us, that you also help us love ourselves as you loved us… Lord, that we may die to sin, die to ourselves each day in order for us to love and live for you! Guard our minds and purge us from people, things, and sins that may hinder us from bringing your word to pass. Lord, we break, in Your Name, all entanglement we may have to people or things that cannot come with us into our next level. May this next week be filled with a newfound love for you. In Jesus’ Name, we ask all of this. Amen!”

This week’s challenge:  Take the time to read Romans 8:12-13.  One of the things it says is that we are not to walk after the flesh.  Continue your journaling by taking these next few days and write down the things that you are doing because you are walking after the flesh.  How are you walking after the flesh — is it through movies, relationships, gossip, bad-mouthing others, selfish decisions?  These are just a few examples.  Be honest about what you think God wants you to do with each area.  I need you to be intentional about you, be sacrificial towards you, and die to you.  I would like you to use the hashtag #LoveMeLikeHeLovedMe on your social media pages for this week and the picture that in your heart best suits it!  Till next week.
-Alejandra

Thank you, Alejandra, I was blessed by your blog. I I never thought that dying to my flesh was an example of showing myself love.  I always looked at walking after the flesh was sinning against God, which is true, but I forgot how I’m sinning against myself as well.  I also understood from the blog that those in your life reflect how you feel about yourself.  Please share any questions or comments below or you can email me.  Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @throughthewinters, and on Twitter @thruthewinters.