Learning to Love Self

Today, we're talking about something that sounds simple, but can be incredibly HARD!  Self-Love! :)

Transcript

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Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome back to our care let's pray ministries. I'm so grateful that you tune back in today. Wherever you are, whether you're driving, resting, working, or just needing a moment. I want this to be a safe space for you, amen. Where you can breathe, reflect, and feel grounded by the word of God today, amen. Today we're going to talk about something that sounds simple, so simple, but can be incredibly hard, and that is self-love. Learning to love ourselves, learning to value ourselves a little bit more, right? And before we get into anything, I want to start off with prayer. Honey Father, we thank you this morning. We thank you, oh God, for last night laying down and this morning waking up. Honey Father, I thank you for the person listening right now. You know their heart, you know their struggles, you know their doubts, you know their fears, honey father. You know their worries and you know their desires, oh God. Honey Father, I pray that you teach us right now how to see ourselves the way that you see us, oh God. Help us to release the harsh thoughts that we think about ourselves sometimes. Help us to quit criticizing ourselves over and over in our heads, Honey Father. God, I pray we quit beating ourselves up when we make mistakes or when we fall. Honey Father, I pray that the weight that we're carrying, that we understand that it was never meant for us to carry, Honey Father. So, God, I pray that we will cast our cares on you today. I pray that we will take that burden off our shoulders and put it in your hand, oh God, so we can breathe, so we can rest, Honey Father. God, I pray that you fill this space right now in this podcast with peace, clarity, and truth, oh God. God, fill this space with your love and with your presence. Let these words land where they're needed the most, oh God. I pray. Amen. Amen. Praise be to God. Today I'm gonna read a scripture before we get into anything, and that is Psalms 139 and 14. It says, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. Amen. May the Lord have a blessing to the hearing and the reading and the doing of his word. I want you to take a moment on that scripture. And I believe I done said that scripture in one of these podcasts back in one of the ones I done did. But I want you to let this sink in. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, not rushed, not accidental, not flawed beyond repair. You were created with intention, you were created with purpose, you were created by the love of God. You were created to be here in this very moment. And I want you to know that self-love is one of those things people talk about all the time. But when it comes to actually living it out, it can feel very uncomfortable, even unnatural sometimes. Because many of us were taught how to love others, but never really taught how to love ourselves. And I'm a testimony to that. I was never taught how to love myself, but I was truly taught how to love other people and put people before myself. But I'm telling you, God put me in a space so I had no choice but to love myself and embrace myself and value myself, and I got to a place where I quit just existing, but I started living. Amen. And the thing about it is when we criticize ourselves and compare ourselves to other people, or push ourselves beyond healthy limits, or tire our work to performance, we are minimizing what God has called us. He said we were fearfully and wonderfully made. And this is why we have to love ourselves, and we have to know, even when it feels impossible, you better love yourself, you better take care of yourself, you better value yourself, you better spend time with yourself, you better take yourself out to dinner, buy yourself if you have to. You need to treat yourself from time to time and truly know your worth. You are very beautiful, you are made from God's hands. He forms you in your mother's womb. He picked out your eye colors, he picked out your hair, he picked out your skin color. God made your soul, he made your flesh. You have to start loving yourself, and I want you to know self-love isn't pride, it's alignment with how God sees you. If God says you are wonderfully made, then guess what? You better walk like it. Why do we argue with that? I know that He made us wonderful. We are wonderful people. Think about that. Fearfully and wonderfully made. He made us to be beautiful, he made us in his image. We don't usually question negative thoughts, we accept them real quick, right? It's not we're not good enough sometimes. We could have gone further. We just, woe is me, woe is me. And I'm on the ground just crying out, kicking my feet like a little two-year-old on the tension tantrum because I'm beating myself up. But this is the thing. We have to transform our thoughts till we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And give ourselves grace, give ourselves mercy, give ourselves forgiveness, and trust in the Lord. You know what I'm saying? But when trust shows up, when we trust, when scripture tells us we are valuable, we are chosen and loved, we gotta quit hesitating and focus on God's love. Self-love starts with awareness. I want you to be aware of who you are. You are beautiful. Oh my god, you're gorgeous, handsome, y'all just amazing. Start noticing how you speak over yourself. You know what I'm saying? Like I said before, I always say my kids, my family members, oh my God, I got something to tell you. Oh my God. I don't know how you're gonna take this, but you have a beautiful mother, you have a beautiful sister, you have a beautiful cousin, and that's because I know I'm beautiful because God made me. I'm not arrogant, I'm not proudful. I'm looking in the mirror and I see God. I see that He made me, He values me, and He keeps me. So why not tell the world that God made something beautiful, God made something amazing, God made something extraordinary, right? You we need to focus on valuing ourselves. It's about learning how to unlearn what was never true about us in the first place, right? We have to start learning how to choose grace over judgment, patience over pressure, and truth over lies. And let's be clear: self-love doesn't mean you ignore growth, it doesn't mean you stay comfortable or avoid responsibilities, it means you grow without hating yourself in the process. It means you can say, I'm still learning, I'm still growing, and I am still worthy. I might fall, but my father picked me back up. I might cry, but my father wipes my tears. I might be frowning sometimes, but guess what? That frown is gonna turn to a smile. Why? Because I am made by God and I love myself, and I'm not gonna do harm to myself because I am God's temple, I am a child of God, and I love me. This is why we shouldn't be resting with guilt. We should be resting without guilt, saying no, when we know we are beautiful. Quit telling yourself no, I can't have. I mean, you know, outside of, you know, don't be like me eating a whole lot of junk food. But it's okay to say no so you can love on yourself even more. And learning how to forgive yourself is the ultimate thing we have to learn along this journey. When we forgive ourselves, we can sleep with peace and we can rest. I want you to know throughout the day, do not be tearful, don't beat yourself down, but count on the moments that you can sit down and say, You are great. It's okay if you fail, it's gonna be alright. Encourage yourself because self-love is built in choices, not declarations. Amen. You don't wake up one day and suddenly feel feel it fully. We got to practice it, we got to believe in it, and we have to understand what self-love is. It is slow to anger, it is our inner voice changes to tell us that we can keep on going, that you are loved, you are valued. We have to be compassionate with ourselves, we have to walk in peace and not pressure. And here's something very important that we need to understand. You don't have to earn your worth at all. You ain't got to sell your soul, you ain't got to give your body to nobody, you ain't got to enter your bank accounts. You don't have to earn your worth. You already got it. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Not because of what you've done, but because God created you that way. We all are made differently, we all look different because God made us in his image. Amen. Pay attention to one thought that you have about yourself and gently question and ask yourself: Is this actually true? Or is this something I've been believing for a long time? You are not a bad person, you are not a hateful person, you are not an envious person, you are a humble person, you are filled with the love of God, you are aligned to God's truth. So anytime something tries to creep into your mind to tell you what you are, and it's not what God has said you are, you better tell that word to get up out of your head and trust in God to reveal you to you. Look yourself in the mirror and say, what do we need to do to start loving on ourselves a little bit better? Self-love is a journey, it's not a destination, like I said before. Some days we'll feel easier than others. It's gonna be a pain sometimes to get out of the bed, it's gonna be a pain sometime to do your hair, it's gonna be a pain sometime to go get a haircut, but you have to muster through it and say, I am loved, and I'm going to love myself today. Every time you choose kindness towards yourself, you are moving in the right direction, and that's more precious than anything. And I want you to know before we pray out that you are special. I'm always telling you you are special, I'ma always tell you that you are valued, I'ma always tell you that you are loved beyond measures, I'ma always tell you that God loves you and so do I. I'm always going to encourage you to love yourself. Amen. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Holy Spirit, help me to pray in this very moment. I pray. Our God, our God, our God, how excellent is your name. Thank you, oh God, for this morning's rising. Thank you, oh God, for the activity of our limbs. Thank you, oh God, that we can hear you bright and early this morning. Thank you, oh God, for reminding us that our worth comes from you. You made us, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for thinking about us to make us, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for loving us unconditionally. Thank you, oh God, for trusting us with this life, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for trusting us with this body, with this temple, oh God. Thank you, thank you, thank you, oh God. God, we ask you this morning to create us a clean heart and renew the right spirit within us, oh God. I pray. God, I pray that we are transformed through your word, that we are transformed through your love, that we are transformed in our worship and in our praise, Holy Father. Help us to release the negative thoughts that keeps us stuck sometimes, Holy Father. Give us the strength to see ourselves with honesty and with purity, Holy Father. Because also we need to see ourselves with grace. God, help us to give ourselves grace a little bit more. Help us, oh God, to give ourselves mercy a little bit more. Help us, oh God, to love ourselves like you love us, oh God. I pray. Holy Father, teach us how to love ourselves in a way that reflects your word, that reflects your truth, and reflects you, oh God. I don't want it to be based on our feelings and our emotions, but we want our love and our awareness of ourselves to be rooted in you always, Henry Father. And God help us to study to show ourselves approved a little bit more, Heavenly Father. Honey Father, for the person listening right now that's struggling with anything, I don't care what it is, whatever you're struggling through right now, learn how to say, I will wait on you, Lord. I will trust you, oh God, and I'm going to say thank you, Lord. And you're going to get up and take care of yourself. I'm praying that God, you will meet us in the middle of our storm, meet us in the middle of our battles, meet us wherever we are, whoever is listening right now, and bring peace to their mind, peace to their situations, peace to their relationships, peace throughout their homes, on their jobs, in their communion, oh God. I pray, comfort their hearts right now in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, oh God. Remind them that they are not forgotten, remind them that they are not overlooked, remind them that they are beyond repair, they're not beyond repair. Sorry about that. God, I pray that you heal them right now, restore them right now, oh God. Build them up right now, God, to wait on you, to love you, and to love themselves a little bit deeper, Holy Father. Help them to trust the process, oh God. Help them to trust the process, oh God. Help them to wait on you, oh God. I pray. God, show them what self-love is. Show them how to love themselves every single day of a week, every second, every hour, every minute, oh God. I pray. God, I pray that their love for themselves, as it grows within them, that it will overflow into their brothers and their sisters, oh God, that they love them like you love us, Heavenly Father. That you said in your word for us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But how can I love my neighbor if I don't know how to love myself? So, God, teach each and every one of us, oh God, how to love ourselves right so we can love our neighbor right, so we can love you right, oh God, so we can love our family right, our friends right, our enemies right, Henry Father. Teach us how to love the right way and show us what true love is, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for being our true love. Thank you, oh God, for being the apple of our eye, Henry Father. Thank you, oh God, that you are the creator of all things. Thank you, oh God, for loving us unconditionally. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, oh God. Thank you, oh God. Amen. Thank you all for spending this time here with us. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Wherever life may find you today, keep on going, keep on trusting, and keep on waiting on the Lord. There is purpose in your path. There is purpose in learning how to love yourself the right way. We might not know how what true love was back in the day, but right now in 2026, we got started saying, teach me what true love is, oh God. Show me what true self love is, oh God. Because we want to walk in love, we want to give love the right way, and we want to accept the right love. Amen. Until next time, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. Amen. This is our cur. Let's pray, ministries.