9 Life Changing Reasons To Know And Understand Yourself

What does knowing and understanding yourself have to do with anything and why is it so important for success in life and ministry? I could talk about having a vision, or the possibilities that lay ahead, or the doors of opportunity God will open, or the need to know your purpose, or the necessity to have at least one goal for the year. All of these are totally valuable and produce faith filled anticipation.

The reality is that like any other year 2017 will be filled with fun and laughter, sadness and hurt, expectancy for the new, experiencing both the outstandingness and the absolute thoughtlessness of people, enjoyment and connectedness with family and friends. And God, well, He will continue to be His entirely amazingly awesome and exceptional self.

I remember being told when I first started out in ministry, ‘Just be yourself’. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s just great! I have had no formal training and add to this that no one has mentored, coached or advised me. Here I was asking for help from this respected pastor and looking for some answers to the million and one questions related to ministry life that I had. And I am told, ‘Just be yourself’.

At our ordination service, our senior pastor, the invited pastors and our church elders all prayed for and prophesied over my husband. Then for me the prayer was basically, ‘God bless Dianne and help her be a good wife to the man of God.’

So I was experiencing this overwhelming feeling of being ill equipped both spiritually and with practical know how as to how to do ministry and how to be a pastor’s wife.

Following my, ‘Oh, that’s just great’ response to ‘Just be yourself’, I came to the conclusion that if this was all the help I was going to get then I had better just be myself. Then the question rose from within, ‘Who am I?’

This question took me on a journey of self-discovery. I became a student of myself; to discover me, know me, be comfortable with me and enjoy me.

I pose the question to you - Do you know yourself?

I set aside some reflection time for self-analysis and then asked myself a whole bundle of questions like :

What are my strengths and weaknesses?

What are the top three things I enjoy doing?

What energizes me and what depletes me?

What are the things I am truly passionate about?

What is God saying to me today, about me?

Then I completed a variety of on-line self-analysis questionnaires. These questionnaires related to spiritual gifting, personality type, evangelism style, love language and emotional intelligence. I made the decision before doing the questionnaires that rather than allow the responses to put me in a box and contain me, they would merely be a tool to give insight into my understanding of myself.

Let’s look at these nine life changing reasons to know and understand yourself.

Knowing and understanding yourself will result in confusion and indecision about ‘who am I’ to cease.

Knowing yourself lessens comparison with others.

When an opportunity arises, as it occasionally will, where you are tempted to make a comparison between yourself and another person, the percentage for you to not put yourself down or feel intimated decreases dramatically.

In your thoughts you are able to self-talk from a basis of knowledge that you are as equally gifted, skilled and anointed as this person; only in different areas of expertise. Or you are able to recognise that you on a growth curve of achievement.

Knowing yourself promotes a confidence within.

From this place of inner confidence, and confidence in your God, you become more willing, and more likely, to be strong and courageous, enabling you to step through the doors of opportunity as they open before you.

Audrey Hepburn has said, ‘Nothing is impossible – the word itself says I’M POSSIBLE’.

Knowing yourself defeats insecurity.

Insecurity’s ability to isolate you and foster self-doubt as to your God breathed potential will be overthrown.

Karen Wilson has said, ’The picture you have of yourself, may be hindering you from being yourself’.

Knowing yourself brings a settledness with your gifting and abilities.

Train and release, as soon as is possible, someone to do all those things which you do because they need to be done. A flourishing in your soul and an increase in your joy for ministry will abound when you are working in your gifting and areas of passion.

Knowing yourself defuses living by the expectation of others.

Because knowing yourself produces the ability to say no when needed.

Knowing yourself over rides any feelings of inferiority.

Recognising and having it cemented within that you are a daughter of God. That He loves you intensely, purchased you with the blood of His Son and adopted you into His family.

Before you were born He knew you, set you apart for Himself and made you exclusively His. He has your name inscribed on His hand, He has the hairs on your head numbered, He guides you with His eye and He has planned for you to be a success.

Knowing yourself enables you to be comfortable in your own skin.

It is such a good feeling to know yourself well enough to be comfortable with you being you.

Roderick Thorp has said, ‘We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies’.

Knowing yourself initiates an increased desire to be the best you, you can possibly be.

This is your God’s desire for you also.

I trust that these nine life changing reasons to know and understand yourself will encourage and inspire you to set aside some reflection time to discover afresh the individual and unique person you are.

Repeat after me, ‘I give myself permission to be uniquely me’.