Defeating the Defeatist

I woke up this morning with the same line of a song playing over and over in my head. It’s a gospel song I’ve heard a handful of times over the years, and it was never really one of my favorites. It’s a good song, but some songs you just really feel, if you know what I mean. With this one, I could really take it or leave it. It just wasn’t the kind of song I was going to sit in my car to finish if I’d reached my destination. 

But God often speaks to me through songs, and especially the unexpected ones; the ones I know are only from Him, because I do not hear them or sing them regularly…or at all. This morning, one line played over and over again, the second I woke up, “Sometimes you have to encourage yourself.” It goes on to say, “Sometimes you have to speak victory over the test.” Suddenly a song I hadn’t previously given much thought, was speaking to my spirit. 

I have been conditioned to fear punishment. I believe most of my friends who were athletes might feel the same way. I was conditioned to believe that if I wasn’t good enough, I would get punished. If I didn’t make that easy shot, if I didn’t make that free throw, if I made a mistake that cost us the possession or a basket, if we lost the game, we would be punished. We knew we would be punished, but usually not right away. We would live in fearful anticipation of when we would be punished for not being perfect. 

Some of this stemmed from my own form of self-discipline. Most athletes get to where they are in their athletic careers because of a pretty decent amount of self-motivation already. Then, when they have coaches who condition them in such a way, it is easy to live out the rest of their lives in a system of reward vs punishment.

When I met my husband, I feared (and still often do) that I wasn’t good enough for him. I fear that I am not a good enough wife, daughter, sister, aunt, mother, friend. I criticize myself all the time. When I heard the lyrics of this song first thing this morning, I realized that in living this life of fear, I have created a breeding ground for negative thinking and speaking. I have made it easy to be critical of myself. I have told myself that this is who I am, and I have believed it.

And I have stopped caring for myself. Instead of living in victory, living like the loved and saved person that I am, I have been living a defeated life.

I share this with you not for sympathy, but because I believe someone else out there needs to hear this. 

You cannot speak victory over your life while playing the role of the defeatist. Jesus’ perfect love, already took the punishment for your imperfection. Amen?!

Now, because old habits are hard to change, and because I don’t want to just leave you (or myself), with a powerful message without  an applicable way to change, I want to wrap this up with a list of things you can do to change this behavior, and I’d like to join with you on this journey of self-love, self-care, and living a victorious life. 

• Journal – buy yourself a journal, or find one lying around that you haven’t found a purpose for yet. I have included an affiliate link to this one, since most of my readers are women. This journal is great, because the cover is an every day, Biblical reminder of who you are and can be. ​
• Daily Devotions – Jesus Calling is a wonderful book, full of biblical truths that are both convicting and encouraging. 
• Prayer – Having recently watched War Room, I know that most people are not praying as much or as fervently as they should, myself included. Include this in your journaling time. Write your prayers down. Back them up with scripture. 
• Scripture reading – This is a part of all of the above of course, but needs to be included. If we are filling our heads with God’s word and His love, there won’t be much room left for fear and defeat. One tool I like to use in my busy life is the YouVersion Bible app. It is completely free. You can look up scripture just with a word. This is so helpful when wanting to know what the Bible says about a specific topic. I look up love​ a lot!