His Self-Image

A man's perception of himself is so important.

If he has a low self-image he will have doubts about his value that creep into everything he does - even in his relationships. Expecting to be rejected - he will be.

It's so vital that we as wives pray for our husband's self image. Not only for their advancement in careers, but also because he's an example to our children on what it means to be formed in God's image and if they don't respect themselves, over time, our respect for them will slip away too.

Be patient. This long-held thinking pattern has to be broken. You can fight the enemy that feeds him those familiar lies and pray that he'll be able to hear God's truth. You'll find as you intercede God will reveal glimpses of the key to unlocking that particular thing in your husband. In other words, as you pray He'll show you how to pray.

Nathan doesn't struggle with this in any way that I can see. And we've talked about it. However Stormie reminds me of the infamous "Mid-life Crisis." She says that "any toxicity still in a man's soul after he reaches his fifties will eventually pour out of him like a poison." Having his identity firmly established in the Lord will make a major difference in how he gets through that time. - I know Nathan is firm in the Lord, but I do worry about how he's going to handle getting older; things not working like they used to. He takes really good care of himself, so hopefully he'll be good for a long while, but you never know what the future holds, so I want to pray for that part of his self-image.

"God says our first steps are to be toward Him: seeking His face, following His laws, putting Him first and self-centered pursuits last. When we line up with Him, He leads the way and all we have to do is follow. As we look to Him the glory of His image gets imprinted upon us. When our self image gets so wrapped up in God that we lose ourselves in the process, we're free."

"Your husband will never see how HE really is until he sees who GOD really is. Pray that he finds his true identity."

     Dear Lord, I pray that Nathan will find his identity in You. Help him to understand his worth through Your eyes and by Your standards. May he recognize the unique qualities You've placed in him and be able to appreicate them. Enable him to see himself the way You see him. Quiet the voices that tell him otherwise and give him ears to hear Your voice. Reveal to him that "he is the image and glory of God" and is complete in Jesus Christ. Give him the peace and security of knowing that he is accepted, not rejected, by You. Free him from the self-focus and self-consciousness that can imprison his soul. Help him to see how You really are so that he'll know who he really is. May his true self-image be the image of Christ staped upon his soul.

Psalm 8:4-6 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
   the son of man that you care for him?
⁵ You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings^[a]
   and crowned him with glory and honor.

 ⁶ You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
   you put everything under his feet:

Romans 8:29 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son

2 Corinthians 3:18 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

¹⁸ And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect^[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Colossians 3:9-10 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

James 1:23-25 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Isaiah 60:1 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

Isaiah 60

The Glory of Zion

 ¹ “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
   and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.