When I first rededicated my life to Christ, I really struggled with low self-esteem and insecurities. I struggled with believing God’s promises. For example, I didn’t really believe that I could cast my cares on Him because He cares for me, and I struggled with believing truths like nothing could separate me from the love of God (Romans 8:38).

I was my own worst enemy. The enemy didn’t have to do much. All he had to do was plant seeds of lies, and I took them, and made them grow into weeds that choked out anything that God was trying to feed me through His Word.

That might sound a bit dramatic, but I allowed my fears and doubts to overcome me to the point that I rejected Christ’s love. I didn’t think I was deserving of being loved unless I earned it.

I still remember being on the phone with a mentor during my freshman year of college and she asked me what I liked about myself. Sitting on my lofted bed in my dorm room, I remember not really being able to provide her with an answer. Everything that I thought I was good at seemed to be a non-factor.

I wasn’t making the best grades anymore.
I didn’t have the popularity like I did in high school.
No one really knew me.
I wasn’t as successful like I thought I would be.
I wasn’t living up to the expectations I had for myself.

So my esteem? Yeah, it was shot.

Then I remember being on the phone with a different mentor and somehow the phone call ended with her emailing me a document with affirmations written by Joyce Meyer. The affirmations were all based on Scripture and I think Battlefield of the Mind was pretty popular at the time. At that point, I was willing to try anything because I was severely depressed and lonely.

So I looked over the list and basically wrote out anything that applied to my personal fears and doubts. I even made a craft night out of it. I painted a small canvas board and then wrote the affirmations on top. Then I hung the canvas next to my mirror and committed to saying the list of affirmations every single morning before I left my dorm room for class. I didn’t care if my roommate was sleep in her bed.

Overtime, something supernatural happened. I can’t really pinpoint a moment when I woke up and just instantly felt different. But saying those confessions every day changed me. From that simple daily practice, I learned that faith really does come by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). They were small seeds that started to make me think differently about myself and differently about God.

Examining Our Thoughts and Words

Luke 6:45 says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Think about it. Our thoughts and our words are simply a reflection of what’s going on inside our hearts. If we’re content, it’ll come out as gratitude. If we truly trust God, our words will sound like peace. If we truly believe that we are loved, our words will reflect confidence.

The opposite is true too. If we’re bitter or frustrated, it’ll come out as complaining. If we’re sad, it’ll come out as low self-esteem. If we’re fearful or anxious, it’ll come out as “what ifs.”

Don’t get me wrong. It’s easy to doubt when we’re constantly surrounded by negative messages and negative people not to mention our own fears. But Matthew 12:36 says that we will be held accountable for every word we speak.

So what does this mean? If our words do not reflect what God says about us in His Word, then it’s time for a heart check. Because the truth is the thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves aren’t always true. Whether it’s our past, generational curses, or our family upbringing, we are all battling a narrative about ourselves that may not always align with what God says about us in His Word.

That’s why the Bible says to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) and to think on thoughts that are noble, lovely, right, and true (Philippians 4:8). We have to be mindful of what our thoughts are saying to us about us and then be intentional about casting down every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (a.k.a exalts itself against what God says about us).

Believing God’s Promises

When God created us, He made us in His image. Before the fall of man, He called His creation good to include humanity. What happened is that sin entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned and that separated us from God. And it’s this same sin that makes us now have a faulty view of ourselves.

1 Corinthians 2:16 says that we have the mind of Christ, yet many of us still struggle with believing what God says. We struggle with believing that He is a Provider or a Healer. We struggle with believing that we are loved or chosen or that He’s on our side when Scripture says:

• But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:13
• But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. — Isaiah 53:5
• For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16
• You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. — John 15:16
• If God is for us, who can ever be against us? — Romans 8:31

When you read that list of Scripture, do they feel like just words to you or truth that you actually believe? If it’s the first one, seriously no judgment. The beauty of confessing the Word of God is the promise that God’s Word does not return to Him void and it must accomplish what it says (Isaiah 55:11).

If you struggle with believing what God says about you, then I encourage you to do the same thing that I did all those years ago.

Practical Steps to Apply Daily Confessions

1. Look through this list of confessions or grab a copy of The Confessions Project.
2. Choose Scripture personal to you and your circumstances and write them down.
3. Commit to speaking those Scriptures every single day for at least 30 days and make sure you say them OUT LOUD.

If step 1 feels like a lot, then feel free to use the same list I made all those years ago. I’ve included it below and I’ve also designed a print-out that you can hang on your wall. There’s even a blank page in there in case you ever do decide to write your own.

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I CONFESS..

For this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

I cast all my cares on the Lord for He cares for me.

I know God’s voice. I catch the devil in all of his deceitful lies. I cast them down and choose rather to believe the Word of God. No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I prosper in everything that I do.

I don’t have a spirit of fear, but of power, and love and a sound mind.

I take every thought captive unto the obedience of Jesus Christ. All of my thoughts are positive. I don’t speak negative things.

I have compassion and understanding for all people. I do not judge. I do not hate.

I will study the Word of God. I will pray. I will believe. I will not doubt.

The law of kindness is in my tongue. Gentleness is in my touch. Mercy and compassion is in my hearing.

I have been set free.

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It’s amazing how our words will change the way we think and feel about ourselves. Daily confessions was truly life-changing for me and I can honestly say I went from doubting God’s Word to believing it with confidence.

Remember, life and death lies in the power of our tongues (Proverbs 18:21). If you’re someone struggling in this area, just know that I am praying for you. God desires a relationship with you where you can take Him at His Word. Continue to commit speaking His Word over your life and I promise that your life will never be the same.

“Greater is He that is in You than he that is in the world.” — 1 John 4:4