YOU’RE the Problem – YOU & GOD are the Solution!
By: Neil D. Gass

Last issue we discussed the CONTROLLING EFFECTS of the things you believe about yourself in two vital areas: (1) Whether or not you BELIEVE you’re LOVABLE, which determines how you relate to others (2) whether or not you BELIEVE you’re CAPABLE, which determines how you respond to the opportunities & obstacles of your life. These two areas deeply impact your ability to succeed in life!

You see, if you believe you’re LOVABLE & CAPABLE, you live in ways that INVITE success into your life. That’s because people naturally tend to ACT in KEEPING with what they really believe, even when what they believe is patently NOT TRUE at all! Remember, Prov. 23:7 “AS he (she) THINKS in his (her) HEART (the part of you that BELIEVES! Rom. 10:10) SO IS HE” (She) (NKJV) You BECOME what you THINK & BELIEVE!

As a former therapist I spent countless hours helping clients SEE how truly gifted & CAPABLE &how LOVABLE they really were, as created & empowered by God! I wanted them to adopt & enjoy GOD’Sopinion of them as a base of validation & operation! It was amazing to see how many of them, including the most obviously capable & lovable of them, simply had no idea of it.

I saw extremely capable people who believed they were totally incapable & inadequate, in spite of abundant evidence of their attested success,which they never expected to last, “because, once it becomes clear to the boss, or the customers, that it’s all luck or smoke & mirrors with me, I’ll be out of work!” I saw enormously lovable & likable people who believed nobody could ever truly like or love them, although many people sought their company & held them in affection. They usually thought these friends were “being nice,” had an “angle,” would “change their minds once they really know me!” Both were wrong, according to the facts & the testimony of others, BUT, we don’t live with the facts, we live with our perceptions & beliefs about the facts! If you believe something to be true, then however irrational & unfounded, for you it will FEEL true & you’ll live it out!

My own wonderful Northern Irish mother was a classic case of this. Although she was loved & admired by many on both sides of the Atlantic, including a multitude of those she had ministered to & helped greatly over the years, she lived much of the time in a sort of self-imposed isolation, avoiding people who really loved her & valued her company & attention, simply because she didn’t believe she was really lovable! Mom was also singularly capable & gifted in many areas. She taught piano theory & practice. The walls of our wee kitchen house in Belfast held many certificates in music she earned from highly respected institutions.

Then, one day, I came home from school & they were all gone! I asked, “Ma, where did all your certificates go?” She said, “Ach, son, sure they were nothin’ but auld bits of paper anyhow! So, I just threw them away.” That’s what she really believed, because that’s what she believed she was worth! “Nothin’ but auld bits of paper!” I argued. “Sure, didn‘t you work hard to earn those certificates, ma?” She summarily dismissed me with, “Ach away on and don’t bother my head about such nonsense.” End of conversation, beginning of insight for me! You act out & act outof what you believe, whether it’s true of false!

Some of you are being sabotaged by similar false beliefs about yourselves. Some go every day to jobs you despise doing, because you don’t believe you can get the job you’d love to have. No, your problem’s not the job market & the economy. There are people finding great, exciting jobs & prospering through them every day in this same job market & economy! No, your problem’s not the lack of good social prospects. People are finding great relationships every day all around you who have no more to offer than you do!

There’s only one true problem & there’s only one true solution! (Rom. 12:2) “...Be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING of your MIND.” When you change the way you think about your problem, you transform the problem. When you change the way you think about yourself, you changewhat is keeping you “stuck” in your problem & immediately you’re freed up to become part of THE SOLUTION!

More on this topic in next month’s Message for the Moment!