Every person on the planet needs significance, acceptance and approval. You have the power to give it to them. Today!
You and I are surrounded by people who are struggling with feelings of self-doubt, insignificance and rejection. We can change that if we take a few minutes to affirm them with healing words. “The tongue has the power of life…” Proverbs 18:21 NIV
0:00 How God Called Gideon into His Identity and Destiny
3:40 God calls us to affirm the value of others
4:04 Activation: how to affirm others
God Calls Us Out of Our Circumstances and Up to Our Identity
The Israelites were worshiping Baal and Asherah (false gods). So God withdrew his protection and Israel was invaded by the Midianites who every year took their harvest. Gideon was hiding from these invaders, threshing wheat inside the concealing walls of a wine press, when the angel of the Lord talked to Him. Most scholars believe the “angel of the Lord” was Jesus.
When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6:12 NIV
Then Jesus told Gideon He chose him to save Israel. Gideon was skeptical, to put it mildly.
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Judges 6:15-16 (NIV)
God affirmed Gideon as a mighty man. Gideon became a mighty warrior. He went from obscurity to a man of great boldness. First, he destroyed his village’s altar to Baal and the Asherah pole and built an altar to God. Then he rallied the army of Israel and led them against the Midianites. The Gideon who hid while threshing grain in a wine press didn’t do that. The Gideon affirmed by the Angel of the Lord to be a “ mighty warrior” did that.
God affirmed Abraham’s destiny by changing His name.
God changed Abram’s (exalted father) name to Abraham (father of many nations) ten years before Abraham became a father. Every time someone called Abraham, it was an affirmation of who he was. “Father of Many Nations, how are you today?” “Father of Many Nations, we need to move the sheep to a new pasture.”
God calls you and I to this same ministry of affirming the value of others. People need to hear how God see them.
Ephesians 4:29 (NLT)
Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)
Activation: Choose to Affirm 1 Person Today.
Today, I am going to give someone significance.
I’m going to give someone acceptance.
I’m going to endorse someone, approve of them – validate them.
Words Can Hurt. Words can Heal.
You know how words can hurt. You’ve been cut to the bone by words. Words have bruised and battered you. The power of death is in the tongue. Now, the good news. Your tongue can bring life and healing.
The tongue has the power of life…. Proverbs 18:21
Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing. Proverbs 12:18 (NLT)
What do you see?
Anyone can look at someone and see what’s wrong with them. To affirm people, we need to see beyond what’s wrong with a person, their obvious flaws.. And that’s not always easy.
Christian Life Coach, Tony Stoltzfus, observes that there are three basic types of affirmation:
1. what someone did in the past,
2. someone’s potential for the future, and
3. someone’s identity (now).
Affirming past actions is the least powerful because you are simply talking about actions – what they did, not who they are.
Affirming someone’s future potential can be powerful, but it is in the future.
To greatly impact someone, affirm who you see they are – their identity.
Practical Steps to Affirm Someone
1. Find someone who needs the healing, life-giving power of your affirmation. It’s not hard; look around you.
2. What do you see that would affirm how awesome they are?
Better yet, ask Jesus: “Jesus, how do you see (person’s name)? How do you want me to affirm them?” (Get quiet. Listen. You will have an impression, think of a scripture, hear or see something. Jesus will answer that prayer!!)
3. Find that person. Open your mouth and give them significance, acceptance, and approval. I’ve done this with groups and individually and it is amazingly powerful. Sometimes people cry. Other times, they stand taller, their sense of worth, significance, acceptance or approval restored.
4. Share what you did and how it impacted the person you affirmed in a comment below. (Change names and details to protect their privacy.)
Today, the world just became a better place because YOU were in it. My prayer is that you will make this a lifestyle.