Week 1 Day 3
Do You Want to Be Healed?
Day ___________________________ Date ___________________________
Do you want to be healed? It’s a simple question and the one question Jesus asked almost every person He healed. So I am asking you to carefully consider this question: DO— YOU—WANT—TO—BE—HEALED? Yes or No?
If your answer is no, read through this day then I’ll ask again. If your answer is yes, you need to make the commitment right now. Not the commitment to go on another diet, but to change the way you have been thinking for years.
I want to tell you a story that may help you understand why you need to make this commitment. It is a true story about a dear friend of mine. I love my friend but at a young age, she started an unhealthy relationship with an abuser. This abuser was a bully and had no mercy; she would put her down at every turn. The bully would say, “You are stupid. You only have a seventh-grade education. You’re a loser and you will never lose weight. You have tried dieting so many times and have never been successful. You’re fine for two or three weeks, and then you run out of gas. What makes you think this time is different?”
She would make rude comments on the way my friend looked. She would say, “You have huge pores in your nose and a big white, blubbery, pasty, stomach.” She would constantly tell her she was ugly every single time she caught sight of her. She would tell her she was repulsive. It was brutal and constant. Every time my friend had a success, the bully would knock her down. Every time my friend was in a social situation, the bully would point out her faults to everybody. She would tell the other people at the party that my friend was fat.
I think the bully in her own sick way was trying to protect my friend, because she would tell my friend, “They won’t accept you if you don’t show them you know you’re not as good as they are. If I build them up by putting you down they might like you.” Then when my friend and the bully were alone, she would berate her for all the stupid things she said at the party.
People who were close to my friend would try to tell her the bully was wrong, but my friend didn’t believe anything good about herself. She had listened to the bully too long. The bully drove her to the brink of suicide. She tried to kill herself three times, but thank God, she wasn’t successful.
Do you think my friend could ever be successful as long as she continued the relationship with the bully? ________Why or why not? ____________________________________________
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No matter how much self-esteem you have, if you are constantly told you are bad, you start to believe it. What do you think happened to my friend in the end? _______________________
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If you haven’t already guessed, I am my friend and I was also the bully. The way I used to talk to myself was horrifying. You cannot succeed; let me say that again YOU ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT SUCCEED UNTIL YOU GET OUT OF THE HABIT OF VERBAL SELF ABUSE. You may as well quit now if you can’t make the commitment to break this habit. Would you talk to your child the way you talk to yourself? It’s time to stop this destructive habit. I can’t stress how important it is for you to end this!
You’re probably thinking, “I can’t stop! I have been doing it too long.” If you try, God will bless it. This is how you do it: you look at yourself in the mirror and if you’re alone say it out loud, and if not, in your mind, “God made me beautiful. I am beautifully and wonderfully made. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit and my steps are ordered by God. God only sees the good in me. I am well able to fulfill the destiny God has planned for my life. The best is yet to come. God is pleased with me. I am a good friend. I am a wonderful Christian, because if not, God would not have chosen me. I try my hardest all the time. God is perfecting me every day. He is well able to give me all I can ask or imagine because He loves me. Everything that God allows in my life is good. Look at me, you good looking thing you…” I mean, you need to go on and on.
Everyone has a conversation going on in his or her head at all times (your internal dialog). Your subconscious mind records everything people say to you and everything you say to yourself. Your subconscious mind takes everything literally, recording it for later use. If you don't get anything else from this study, take this truth. It is so important.
Your bully may not be as ruthless as mine was, but if you are a habitual dieter, most likely you have a bully. What are some of the things your bully says to you that are not productive?
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Okay, I hope you got that out of your system, because you need to make a commitment to yourself and God that this will be the last time you will ever, ever, ever, say those things to yourself.
It’s dark and sad and no place for a Christian. It’s not arrogant to talk to yourself in a nice way.
Is it a sin if you verbally abuse your child? ___________________
Is it a sin if you verbally abuse your spouse? _________________
You know it’s a sin to verbally abuse another person. What makes you think God says it’s OKAY to abuse yourself? You listen to your internal dialog more than you listen to anybody else. You take yourself everywhere you go. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
I’m not talking about being egotistical. I’m not talking to the person who thinks they are better than others are. That is a whole other issue. I’m not telling you that you are better than others. I am telling you that you are just as wonderful, special, and blessed as anyone.
Read I Corinthians 3:17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Some of the definitions of “defile” are: To profane or sully, to demean the pureness or excellence.
What are you doing to the temple God gave you when you abuse yourself? ______________
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I was demeaning the beautiful gift God made for me with His own hands. I was so ungrateful.
Finish the blanks from the bolded, underlined section of Scripture above I Corinthians 3:17 If anyone ________ the temple of God, _____________________________ For the temple of God is holy, which temple ____________________.
Underline the word “anyone” in the Scripture above. Who is anyone? __________________ __________________________________________________ ________________________
Could “anyone” include yourself? ___________
We are not immune to God’s discipline and it is no wonder my body was falling apart. I was treating it with such distain. Look through all the red text in your New Testament; did Jesus ever, ever put Himself down?
You need to be a caregiver to yourself, not a bully. You need to make the commitment to change the way you talk to yourself, and how you treat yourself. Nurture yourself. See yourself the way God sees you. Nurture yourself with God’s words of love to you.
Read Song of Solomon 2: 10-14 “ Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away. 11 For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!
14 “ O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.”
When you get a chance, read the Song of Solomon. It's a beautiful love song to us from God. It illustrates how God sees us and how much He loves us, His bride. I had been saved for thirty years before I could read this book, because I just couldn’t see myself the way God sees me.
Now I am going to ask you again the question I asked before…
DO— YOU—WANT—TO—BE—HEALED? Yes or No?
If your answer is no, don’t give up, please… just try telling yourself that you are wonderful. You may feel like you’re lying to yourself, but you’re not. You’re telling yourself the truth. Pray that God will show you the truth. I admit it was hard to look at myself in the mirror at first. It was even hard to look at myself in the eyes. I felt humiliated and weird. For so long, I believed I was inferior. It was how I fit in the world, and it was my identity. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was how I manipulated people into liking me. It was a very unhappy place to be.
Just try it! You will be so surprised at how fast this bad habit goes away. At first, it is uncomfortable, but after you are finished encouraging yourself in the mirror, you feel wonderful, happy, and light. You will be amazed. It only took two or three days for me to stop putting myself down. I had always known it was bad to put myself down. I was always going to stop the self-abuse, but I didn’t know how to do it. I always failed because I didn’t know I had the power to overcome it, and I didn’t realize how destructive it was. I believed Satan’s lies, but now I understand that you cannot succeed if you don’t stop self-abusing and start encouraging.
If your answer is yes! Hallelujah! Praise God and let’s go… Don’t be resistant to the mirror exercise and commit yourself to the healing.
Read Psalm 8
In light of today’s study, what was the Scripture or statement in today’s lesson that most spoke to your heart? __________________________________________________ _______________
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What steps of faith does God want you to take towards Him today? ____________________
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Rephrase the Scripture or statement into an expression of faith_________________________
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Isaiah 55:9 For as the _______________ are ¬¬¬¬______________ than the _____________, so are My _____________ higher than ______________ ways, And My _______________ than your thoughts.
