Precious in His Sight - Born to Be a Winner, Part 1

Let me ask you kind of a funny couple questions. Can you take a genuine compliment, or do you downplay your skills and your gifts? Do you often minimize your effort or even your accomplishments?

Are you generally a more self-conscious person? Well, today we're going to talk about what's behind that, that self-doubt that we all struggle with, and how we can begin to see ourselves the way God sees us. Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Now, many of you know Chip's our regular Bible teacher, but over the past few programs, he's passed the mic to his wife, Teresa, as she's taught her series, Precious in His Sight. In just a minute, she'll address the lies that men and women believe about themselves, which keep them from experiencing all God has for them. Now, this is such a relevant topic, so let me encourage you, after today's message, to share it with someone in your life.

You can easily do that through the Chip Ingram app or by downloading and sharing the free MP3s that you'll find at livingontheedge.org. Here now is our guest teacher, Teresa Ingram, with her message, Born to Be a Winner. Who we believe we are will influence how we live our lives. It will influence how we live our lives. In Proverbs 23, 7, it says, For as a man thinks within himself, so he is. And what we believe in our hearts, what we say to ourself, our self-talk about who we are, will program our spirit to either success or defeat. And we need to think about, well, what do I believe about me? You know, do you believe that you were born to be a loser or born to be a winner? And I want you to know tonight that God says that you were born to win.

Well, throughout my growing up years and my early adult years, I learned to talk to myself in very negative ways. And I had learned to base my worth on faulty foundations. And as I told you this morning a little bit about my life, that at age 25, I accepted Christ into my life and was born again. And at that moment, I became a part of a new family, and I was given a new nature and a new identity.

And now I had the righteousness of Christ in me. And the only problem was is that after I made that decision, after I accepted Christ, and after I received all of those wonderful things, I still saw myself as a Cinderella, and I still lived and acted like a Cinderella. And I was like that crooked little man that I had learned to think in a crooked way all my life up to that point. I had learned to look at life through a faulty belief system, and I wasn't even aware at that time that my thinking was crooked. And I continued to think about myself and live out my life the way that I always had. And I wasn't aware of the negative self-image, and those negative beliefs continued to influence me. And they influenced the decisions that I made, how I acted around others.

They influenced my ability to trust the Lord and believe that He loved me. And I could not believe that God wanted to give me good things and that I didn't have to work real hard to try to receive good things from God. And I just could not believe that God was going to use my life.

I could not believe that. When my little boys were four and a half years old, Chip and I were married. And six months after we were married, we moved away from everything that I had ever known up to that point in my life, and we moved from West Virginia to Dallas, Texas.

And we moved there for Chip to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. And at this point in my life, not only had God given me a husband, but He gave me something even greater. Because for the first time in my life, I began to experience unconditional love from someone, even in his imperfect way. It was a wonderful thing, and I had not experienced that before. Chip began to pour into my life words of encouragement about me as a person that I had never heard before. And our first few years of marriage were rough because we had so many adjustments to make in our lives.

But I sensed a lot of love and a commitment from Chip that helped me to feel secure in our relationship. And as a part of his schooling at Dallas Seminary, he had to take counseling courses. And he was in this one particular class, and he was learning about how our negative beliefs, how we think about ourselves, affect our behavior. And as he was listening to his professor one day, he saw his wife in an illustration. He thought, that sounded just like me.

And so Chip is the kind of person that if he sees there's a problem with anything, he wants to fix it right now. And so he comes home and he drags me in to see his professor. And so we went in there, and his professor was a psychologist.

He was very well trained in this area. And so then I took a couple personality tests, and I went back in and talked with him. And so Chip and I went back in together, and his professor looked at Chip and he said, you know, he said, you have a wife who is a Cadillac, but she thinks she's a Volkswagen. And so he began to describe to me the impact that my background had had on the way that I learned to view myself. And that moment was one of those defining moments in my life.

You know, we all have those from time to time. But it was a time in my life when I realized that my thinking was wrong for the first time. And I realized that I had never fully embraced what God had done in my life, and that my negative thinking was actually a hindrance to allowing God to work in my life, and to use me the way he wanted to.

And at this time, of course, we were preparing to go into full-time ministry. And so this was something that I felt like, you know, I really need to get this worked out. And so I began to take steps towards learning how to find my identity in Christ, and to learn how to embrace who I really was. And I found it to be a long journey, and I found it to be a lot of hard work at times, and I'm still working at it some. I still, you know, till the day I die, I'll still be working on some of these things.

But you know what? God changed me. He changed me, and now I experience a freedom in my life, a freedom to enjoy the way God has made me, imperfections and all, and the freedom to learn from and appreciate my past.

And I have a freedom to be used of God, and to use the gifts and abilities that God has given me. And you know, I believe God wants this for all of His children. It's not just for those of us that have come from difficult past, and it's not just for those of us who are going into full-time ministry.

He wants this for all of His children. He wants all of us to have the freedom to live and to embrace the identity of who we truly are. Well, some of you were raised in really wonderful Christian homes, very loving homes, and you had very positive parents, and you wouldn't have near the struggle that I did in this area, and that's wonderful.

It's a wonderful thing. Yet there's others of you who were raised in very neglectful homes with abusive parents, or came from broken homes, and you have real deep struggles in this area of your life, and struggles with your self-image, and they just seem impossible to overcome. Sometimes they do, and because all of us are imperfect people, and we're living in a very sinful world, and because we have an enemy, the devil, who is always trying to plant those negative thoughts in our minds, we each, all of us, need to really learn to embrace and grasp who we are in Christ. It's important for all of us so that when those negative thoughts come, and they will, we know they will for all of us, and those doubts come into our minds, that we have a way to be reminded, to combat those thoughts, and reminded of who we really are in Christ, and to respond to life situations out of that truth, not out of the negative thoughts that may be there. And God desires for us to see ourselves as He sees us, and He wants us to be free to think, and to be all that He created each of us to be. And it's not so we're focused on ourselves all the time, that's not what we're to do, but that we are to be fully satisfied with who we are, and so we can enjoy God, and that He can use our lives. And God says that you're beautiful in His eyes, that you are of great value to Him, and that you are a good person, and that you're clean, and that you're fully forgiven, and that you're righteous because of your relationship with Him. And we need to learn to embrace that truth, and just think about, do your thoughts and your actions really reflect that you believe it?

You know, we need to think about that, and think about what do we believe? So tonight, I'd like to give you six ingredients that are very important to have in our lives for each of us to truly embrace God's truth. And these are all very biblical, right out of the Bible I found that they work.

And whatever God says, I know that it works. And these are six essential ingredients for learning to think correctly about who we are, and for changing our negative self-talk into self-talk that reflects God's truth about us. And tonight's session is kind of our tool time session, because we're going to learn some things that we can actually do to change the way we think. Well, the first thing that we need to recognize, number one, is that the battle is in our mind.

That's where the battle is. Our mind plays a very, very important role in our relationship to Christ, and how successfully we live our lives. In Romans 12, 2 and 3, it says, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. You see, it's in the renewing of the mind that we know how to do the will of God.

It's in the mind. And the only way that we will not be conformed to this world, which is what we don't want to do with the negative thoughts and the negative beliefs, is to renew our mind with God's truth. And it's in the renewing of our minds that we're able to make wise, sound decisions, you see, that will reflect the will of God. In 1 Corinthians 2, 16, it says, For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him? But we have been given the mind of Christ.

Think about that. Think about what you have, the mind of Christ. We have been given the ability to think as Christ would think.

That's a wonderful, wonderful treasure. Ephesians 4, 23 to 24, That you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Here again, that we be renewed in our minds. That's where the battle is. And we've been given this wonderful, wonderful treasure of our minds to make decisions and to think in a way that we can live out our lives according to God's will, to make choices with our minds, to live righteously, and to be all that God planned for each of us to be. And so doesn't it make sense that that's where Satan would attack?

You know, it makes a lot of sense. This is where our battle lies. And if he can keep us doubting God's goodness, if Satan can keep us doubting God's goodness and his love, if he can keep us believing that we're bad people and that we're failures and he can keep us covered with guilt and condemnation and he can keep us out of God's word and he can keep us so busy trying to earn God's favor so we don't spend any time with the Lord, then, you see, he's won his battle and we're under his control. And we are fulfilling the prophecy or the tattoo, Born to Lose. And Satan does not want us to know and believe who we truly are.

And so he's going to attack that area with a vengeance, especially if you start working on it. He's going to attack because if we could really grasp who we are, you see, then God is really going to use our lives. And Satan wants to keep us believing that we're victims. But God says we're not.

He says we're victorious in him. In 2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5, it says, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. Those are thoughts. Those are thoughts in our minds that are against God. And we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. There again, where is the battle? It's in our minds.

That's where we need to fight. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And if you are having condemning thoughts, it's not from God. If you're having feelings of guilt over things that you have already asked the Lord's forgiveness for, that guilt is not from God. Or if you even have vague feelings of guilt that you don't even know why you feel guilty or anything that you've done wrong, it's not from God.

It's from the pit of hell. And we need to recognize where those negative thoughts come from. And we don't have to accept them.

We don't have to listen to it. But the key to our success in this area is to first recognize where the battle is. And it's fought in our minds. Satan is out to destroy God's people. And to render all of us ineffective in God's service and his major area of attack will be to bring negative, doubting thoughts about God. And God says to renew your mind.

He says to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And it's something that we do. You see, it's something that we act upon.

It's not something that we just sit around and hope God zaps us and it happens. It's something that we have to take an active part in. And so we're going to learn tonight, how do we fight this battle and win?

How do we do that? Well, the second thing here, number two, is first of all, to win the battle, we must have regular and specific times of mind renewal. We have to have this or we will not change. First, there is we must spend time in God's Word on a regular basis. We must spend time reading the Bible, being in the Bible. And that's something that we have to choose to do. It's something that we have to discipline ourselves to do and to read God's word and to learn from him. Hebrews four twelve says, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and is able to judge.

Listen, the thoughts and intentions of the heart. That's where the change comes. It's able to show us what our thinking is, whether it's true or false. It's able to transform our thinking.

It's living and active. It's taking God's word into our mind. It's like taking an arrow and shooting it through those speculations, through those false beliefs, because now we have the truth. We know what God says to us. And how, how in the world could we take every thought captive to the obedience of God if we don't know what his truth is? And there's we can't know his truth unless we're in his word on a regular basis, not just every couple of weeks.

That won't work. That won't transform our minds. But it's on a regular basis that we need to do that and needs to become a habit of our lives, just like brushing our teeth every day or eating dinner. You know, we think those things are so important and most of us wouldn't miss those things ever. And being in the word of God needs to be that important to us because it's doing more for us than brushing our teeth and eating a meal. His word, his word is the bread of life. His word sustains us. His word is the bread from heaven that gives us what we need and transforms our minds. And it helps us to live successfully. The second thing here is meditation on God's word and memorization of God's word will instill God's truth deep in our hearts. And memorizing God's word is one of the most effective tools that I've experienced because you have instant recall of what you've learned.

In Joshua one eight, it says, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. And then there's a promise. Like if you do this, if you meditate on it, there's a promise for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.

And I don't think that means that you're going to be rich or you're going to be happy all the time. What it means is God's Spirit is going to be at work in your life and guiding you and helping you because you know his truth. And then you'll make decisions according to the will of God. And where's the most successful place to be?

It's in the will of God. That's the safest place to be. It's the most secure place to be. It's the place where we have peace. And so we need to meditate on it, to mull over it in our minds, to think about it, chew over it. And, you know, when you read to think about a passage and what it means and what does that mean to me and how would that apply to my life today and write it down and think about it as you go through your day.

That's what it means to meditate and think upon it. Psalm 119 9 to 11 says, How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to thy word. With all my heart I have sought thee. Do not let me wander from thy commandments. Thy word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

We need to hide his word in our hearts because when we have his word in our hearts it'll keep us from sinning, he says, and it'll be there to remind us of what's true when those negative thoughts come and it'll be there to help us fight temptation. This past Tuesday, I think I was getting a lot of spiritual opposition as I was preparing for the retreat and it was coming up and I was starting to get real nervous. And Tuesday I didn't feel well at all and I thought, oh no, this is great.

Here I am getting sick right here before the retreat. And this was early in the morning and the morning did not start off good and I was starting to get discouraged already and immediately God brought a passage to my mind that I had memorized a long time ago. But it was there in my mind and he said to me, for you have need of endurance, you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what is promised.

And you know, that day I thought about that all day. God spoke to me through that verse and it applied to my situation that day and I went through that day and I didn't get discouraged because I had his word in my heart and it was there to help me to fight that temptation and it works. And we'll have success as we put those words deep in our heart. This is Living on the Edge and you've been listening to the first part of our guest teacher Teresa Ingram's message, Born to Be a Winner from her series, Precious in Insight. She and Chip will join us shortly to share some additional thoughts and application to what we've heard.

Do you often feel like you don't measure up or that your past mistakes or failures disqualify you in some way from being accepted? Through this series, Teresa Ingram candidly reflects on her own painful journey with self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness. She'll share how God freed her from that mindset and opened her eyes to see her true beauty and value.

Don't miss how you can experience that freedom too and better understand God's love. For more information about Precious in His Sight or our series resources, go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or livingontheedge.org.

App listeners tap special offers. I want to take just a moment to talk directly to those of you that are seeking a way to be more connected to the ministry of Living on the Edge. We're in need of partners who will take a step of faith and make a monthly financial commitment to the ministry. You may be thinking that because we reach millions of people through radio and broadcast and online and ministry resources that we probably don't need the money or that we're supported by all these people. The fact is it's a very small percentage of all the people who listen or do small group resources that actually give to the ministry. We depend on and we deeply appreciate those partners who make the decision to walk with us, especially with a monthly commitment.

It doesn't have to be a large amount. So let me ask you, would you please pray about becoming a monthly partner? Thanks so much in advance for whatever God leads you to do.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if joining the Living on the Edge team is an idea that makes sense to you, we'd love to have you. Your support multiplies our efforts and resources in ways that only God can do.

So if you'd like to be a part of that, let me encourage you to become a monthly partner. Just go to livingontheedge.org and tap the donate button. With a few clicks, you can set up a recurring donation and help others benefit from this ministry. Or if it's easier, give us a call at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 to learn how you can become a monthly partner with Living on the Edge.

App listeners, tap donate. Here now is Chip and Teresa to share some final thoughts. Teresa, as you were teaching today, well, first of all, I would say thanks for being so honest and so vulnerable with your story. I know it hasn't been easy for you, and I've actually watched how God has really changed you over the years in amazing and incredible ways. But it's been a journey. Would you take a minute right now and kind of talk to those people who struggle?

I mean, they would describe themselves a lot how you described yourself as unworthy, unlovable, low self-esteem. How can they find the kind of freedom that you shared in today's message? Well, I've talked a lot about being in the Word and trusting in God. But another thing that we need in our lives is people. We really need each other. God has made us for relationships, and we need the body of Christ.

We can live in a world that causes us to doubt our value and our purpose in everything. When I was going through a divorce with my first husband, and he left me and my two little boys with nothing, with no income, with a car that's broken down, and I just, I needed people. I hadn't become a Christian yet by this time. And I went to visit my parents, and I was so distraught. I went up to my dad, and I said, Daddy, will you hold me?

And he did. And that was the first time I ever felt his strong arms around me. And I realized that we all need that. And that comes from people, from believers and friends and family who love us.

We all need people, especially when we're hurting and when we feel lonely. As a young believer in that time, I began to go to church for the first time. I got involved with a Bible study with some women and got to know a lot of loving people from the church who stepped in and loved me in a way that I hadn't received before. And people have spoken so much confidence into my life over the years. And the gift that we can give to other people is to speak confidence into their lives, too, because God has gifted every person, and every person's unique, and we have a specific purpose in his kingdom. And so I just want to say to everybody, step up and love others and make a difference in their lives. That's a great reminder, Teresa. Thanks. Well, as we close, if you're looking for a way to get more out of the teaching, let me encourage you to download our message notes. Now, this helpful tool is available for every program. They include a clear outline, all of the scripture references, and lots of fill-ins to help you remember what you're learning. You can get them at livingontheedge.org under the Broadcasts tab. App listeners, just tap Fill-In Notes. We'll be with us again next time as we continue Teresa Ingram's series, Precious, in his site. Until then, this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.