I Am. . .
Seeing Yourself Through the Eyes of God
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For many, when we begin to look at ourselves, and describe what we see, it is not what God intends. We see ourselves through the lens of the way life has shaped us rather than the vison God has of us. We need the corrective lens of God's word guided by His Holy Spirit to correct our vision.
You might ask, "What would be different about the way God sees me than the way I see myself?" Quite simply, God knows all there is to know about you. He knows you better than you know yourself. When God sees you, He sees you through the filter of His plans for you. His plans for you are significant. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" (New International Version Bible, 1973, Jeremiah 29:11).
For many of us, there is a significant difference in how we see ourselves and how God sees us. If asked to finish or complete the statement "I am. . .," what would you say? By default, you might answer, "I am a teacher," "I am a soldier," "I am retired," "I am a dad," "I am a wife," or "I am a teenager." All of these statements may be true, but if you could see yourself through the eyes of God, He would enable you to finish this statement in a completely different way.
The goal of this book is to convince you to complete the phrase "I am. . ." using the same language to describe yourself God would use. I am convinced that if I can convince you to see yourself through the eyes of God, the way He sees you, as a teenager, it will completely change the trajectory of your life; as a young adult, it will set you up for success; or as an older adult, it will give you an outward focus and purposeful excitement as you wake up every morning.
This book is written to encourage the person who cannot get away from the guilt of a 20-year-old bad decision. It is written to the person whose trust has been broken, to the person who feels guilty because of a habit that cannot seem to be broken. It is written to people who have lost their reputation, have extremely low self-esteem, or are defeated by depression and are broken-hearted.
I have come to believe that, on any given Sunday, in any given church in America, behind almost every Sunday-morning face, is a person who wants to keep the skeletons in the closet. Although we don't want the skeletons to be known, we are desperate for hope, anxious for peace, and hungry for restoration.
Rather than reminding you of where you dropped the ball, the times you failed, how you sinned, or when you botched it up, God says hope is found in seeing yourself as He sees you, and he does not see you as your failure or your past.
Seeing yourself through the eyes of God moves you from living your life to accomplish a task to living a life of focused purpose. When you see yourself through the eyes of God, you live through the identity God has given you. It also changes your response to the phrase, "I am. . ." Please, join me on a journey to discover a completely new God-given self-identity.
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About the Book
A phrase we often use when describing ourselves is “I am.”
For many, when we look at ourselves and describe what we see, it is not what God intends. We see ourselves through the lens of the way life has shaped us rather than the vison God has of us. We need the corrective lens of God's word guided by His Holy Spirit to correct our vision.
You might ask, “What would be different about the way God sees me than the way I see myself?” Quite simply, God knows all there is to know about you. He knows you better than you know yourself. When God sees you, He sees you through the filter of His plans for you—and His plans are significant.
When you see yourself through the eyes of God, He enables you to finish the phrase beginning with “I am” in a different way. This book challenges you to complete the thought using the same language to describe yourself God would use.
Once you see yourself through the eyes of God, this vision will set you up for success, giving you an outward focus and purposeful excitement as you wake up every morning.
About the Author
David Mitchell, D.Min. is a husband, father, and grandfather. He is the senior pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Cabot, Arkansas. He has a passion for helping the local church clearly know and follow God’s vision. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Robert L. Haines, Jr., Ph.D. has been married to his wonderful wife, Beverley, for more than thirty years. He is a father of four and teaches in the Department of Defense Skillbridge program, helping active duty and military veterans find gainful employment after their transition to civilian life, as well as for multiple universities across the United States. He has also written for academic and trade journals in multiple fields.