A Photo Album in Your Heart: From Self-Image to Faith Image

Sermon outline

What you create on the outside flows from the image you carry on the inside, so deal with a poor self-image, fill your heart with God's pictures of who you are, and you will speak and live from a faith image like Jesus did.

1. A poor self-image mars everything you create

   God knew in His mind's eye what He would create before He spoke, so His words carried power and life. We are made in His image, and once you are born again and filled with the Spirit, with faith growing by hearing the Word, your faith-filled words become God's words on the earth and cause changes. But if you have a poor self-image, everything you create on the outside will be marred: some of what you are dealing with was created not by God but by your own thinking.

   “Some of the stuff that you are dealing with has been created by you.”

   • Genesis 1:1-3
   • Genesis 1:26
   • Romans 12:3
   • Romans 10:17

2. They prayed, but could not see Peter at the door

   The church prayed for Peter's release, but when the answer knocked they said 'it's his angel', while the maid Rhoda was the one who believed. They were praying, but in their hearts they still saw him in prison. When you pray for the sick you should already see them healed, and when you speak to chaos you must see the finished order. Build a photo album of God's pictures in your heart and page through it.

   Illustration: As grandparents page through the family album, 'this was his first walk', page through God's pictures of you: 'This is me born again. This is me, I'm rich. This is me full of the Holy Ghost. This is me casting out devils.'

   “Their faith image had not been developed.”

   • Acts 12:12-16

3. Jesus had a faith image

   The disciples were seized with alarm and wrenched Jesus awake in the storm, but He was calm inside because He had meditated on His Father, the Word and the angels around Him, and knew that wind, water, fish, sickness and demons had to obey Him. When He said 'Peace, be still', the image on the inside created order on the outside. Most of us try to change the outside world first, which is not divine order.

   “It was an image on the inside that created order on the outside.”

   • Mark 4:37-39

4. First, improve your self-image

   You cannot reach the other levels without a good self-image. Most people cannot love others because they do not love themselves, and they put up their defences and fight because they have not realised who they are. Many preachers deal with the symptoms instead of uprooting the root, and the root problem is a poor self-image.

   “The root problem is a poor self-image.”

5. Revelation knowledge, not head knowledge

   The natural man cannot understand spiritual things, so the Word cannot be grasped through philosophy, psychology or book knowledge, which puffs up. What believers receive is revelation knowledge: God breathing on His Word as you digest it until you comprehend and take hold of it. Paul was learned at the feet of Gamaliel and still persecuted Christians until he received revelation on the Damascus road, and Ananias, once he had the revelation, greeted him as 'Brother Saul'.

   “We are not dealing with philosophy or psychology. We are dealing with the living word of God.”

   • 1 Corinthians 2:14
   • 1 Corinthians 8:1
   • Acts 22:3
   • Acts 9:10-18

6. There is no fear in love

   Perfect love casts out fear, because fear brings torment. People who live at the level of fear are always wondering whether others are for or against them, trying to prove themselves and stressing to be acceptable. You do not need to: you are accepted in the Beloved.

   “There's no fear. You're accepted.”

   • 1 John 4:18
   • Ephesians 1:6

7. As your soul prospers

   John prays that you prosper, which he explains means being helped along the road of life, and be in good health, even as your soul, your mind, prospers. If your mind carries a marred image of God, of people and of your calling, you create disorder around you: you create your own world. God is not trying to make you rich or well; you are already rich and well, though success comes in levels.

   “You create your own world.”

   • 3 John 2

8. Life is not a struggle: fight the good fight

   Do not describe your years of ministry or life as a struggle full of wounds; you fought the good fight of faith and came through with stripes and stars. Forget what is behind, remember Lot's wife and press forward. The fight has already been won and we enforce the victory: to wrestle is to stand, so when the devil pushes with condemnation, lack or a diagnosis, keep your mark with the Word and sow more. Do not waste energy on fights you were not called to fight.

   Illustration: He calls up a pastor to push against him and shows that he simply holds his ground: 'I keep my mark.'

   “How can I be poor when my father's loaded?”

   • 1 Timothy 6:12
   • 2 Timothy 4:7
   • 1 Thessalonians 5:18
   • Philippians 3:13-14
   • Luke 17:32
   • Ephesians 6:12-13

9. Trust the provider, not the provision

   A poverty mindset watches the fuel needle more than the road and resents giving someone a lift to church. God gave him a revelation of 3 John 2 and 'as a man thinketh': to change the outside, change the way you think. He used to give God the smallest note in his wallet until God told him to reverse it; when he agreed to give more than he kept, God said He would make sure he had more than he gave. Seed takes time to grow, so keep sowing.

   Illustration: Years back he would coast his car down hills in neutral to save petrol: 'All you coasters, you're set free now.' He once kept R100 for McDonald's, Nando's or KFC and gave God R10, until God told him to give the R100 instead.

   “God wants you to transcend to trust the provider more than the provision.”

   • Proverbs 23:7

10. Think big: create another image

    See your business growing from three employees to thirty, a hundred and three hundred; one God idea can catapult you, and the person selling peanuts can own the peanut factory. Walk through life saying your church, your home, your children and your finances are great, even in chaos, because the blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. Jesus said He was from above, and so are you, so no one born of a woman can intimidate you.

    Illustration: If someone beats you to the car you wanted, congratulate them and walk away happy: God has a better one for you at a better price.

    “One God idea will catapult you to victory.”

    • Proverbs 10:22
    • John 8:23