For those of us in the church, Satan would love to do anything he can to discourage us from the task at hand of dedicating our lives to God's way and overcoming sin.

Some of the most powerful weapons in Satan's arsenal are psychological. Some of those include fear, doubt, discouragement, anger, worry and guilt. The one that I'd like to talk about in this article is arguably his greatest psychological weapon and the one I'm referring to is a gut-level feeling of inferiority and inadequacy known to most people as low self-esteem.

What is low self-esteem? Low self-esteem is having a low opinion of oneself whether it's a feeling of inadequacy where we don't measure up to a standard we have set for ourself or a feeling of feeling unwanted.

There are a number of scriptures that deal with how God wants us to view ourselves. In Ezekiel 36:31 we read how there will come a great time ahead when Israel will repent before God and we are told that they will LOATHE themselves. In Job 42:5-6 we read what Job said about himself after he was humbled by God. He said, "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye see you. Therefore I ABHOR MYSELF and repent in dust and ashes."

We see here in this chapter that God was pleased when Job abhorred or hated himself. Yet the Word of God also tells us that we should love ourselves. When Christ was asked which was the greatest commandment He said we are to love God with all of our being and also to love our neighbour as we love ourself.

David Seamands in his book "Healing for Damaged Emotions" writes the following:

"We do not have two commandments here, but three: to love God, to love yourself, and to love others. I put self second, because Jesus plainly made a proper self-love the basis of a proper love for neighbour..."Paul also showed that it is the basis of a solid marriage when he wrote, 'Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it' (Ephesians 5:28-29).

"Experience confirms Paul's psychological accuracy. Because some people love their partners the way they love themselves their marriages are in trouble. For self-belittling works it's way out through marriage. A proper self-nourishing and a realization of your own worth are essential if you are to be a good wife or husband"(Healing for Damaged Emotions, p.77-79).

The Bible tells us to both hate or abhor ourselves and to love ourselves also. How can this be? Is this a contradiction? Well, we all know that there is a side to us that is called our human nature. That carnal side of us that is the accumulation of all of our bad habits that have been developed through our wrong choices. Everything that is us without God's help is carnal and selfish! This side of us we have to utterly repent of.

On the other hand God wants us to love and show the right concern for the rest of who we are – the unique individual that He created in His own image who has the destiny of one day being in His family as well as the good character traits that He has already developed in each of us.

There are a couple of ways that Satan can use this deadly psychological weapon of low self-esteem to bring defeat and failure into your life.

This first is that low self-esteem can paralyse your potential. In Christ's parable about the talents the man with one talent was immobilised by fear and feelings of inadequacy. And that's exactly what Satan wants for you as a Christian—that you will be so tied up that you are tied down, frozen, paralyzed, settling into a job and a life far below your potential.

The second danger of low self-esteem is that low self-esteem can ruin your relationships. Once you become critical of the design, it isn't long until you feel resentful toward the Designer. This is how your concept of God becomes contaminated and your perception of how He feels about you gets all mixed-up, finally ruining your relationship with Him.

Low self-esteem also spoils your relationships with other people. Satan uses your nagging sense of inferiority and inadequacy to isolate you. For the commonest way to cope with feelings of inferiority is to pull within yourself, to have as little contact with other people as you possibly can, and just occasionally to peek out as the rest of the world goes by.

Christ commanded us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. This implies that it is basic to Christian ethics and to interpersonal relationships for a Christian to have a healthy self-image. You are able to give to others only when you have a proper and healthy opinion of yourself. When you devaluate yourself, you become overly absorbed in and with yourself, and you don't have anything left over to give to others.There are four sources from which we get our self-image.

The first is the outer world. How we feel about ourself is molded by how we are treated and cared for by others. How people treat us plays a very big part in molding our self-esteem. Often we do what Paul warns us not to do in 2 Corinthians 10:12 when we compare ourselves with others. Spiritually we need to compare ourselves with God and draw our self-worth from Him. We are all in the same boat when we compare ourselves to God. We should not feel inferior to anyone because EVERYONE is in the same boat when we compare ouselves with God!

The second source for our self-image is the world within us, the physical, emotional, and spiritual equipment that we bring into the world. This includes our physical appearance and our capacity to learn and do things.

Satan is a third source. Satan as the accuser of the brethren uses inferiority, inadequacy and self-belittling to defeat Christians and prevent them from realizing their full potential as God's own children.

The fourth source for our self-esteem is God. From God is where we need to get our picture of our worth and value from.

We need to develop the picture of our worth and value from God, not from the false reflections that come out from our past. The healing of low self-esteem really hinges on a choice you must make: Will you listen to Satan as he employs all the lies, the distortions, the put-downs, and the hurts of your past to keep you bound by unhealthy feelings and concepts about yourself? Or will you receive your self-esteem from God and His word?

Let's now look at a few encouraging things from the Bible that will nourish our soul and boost our self-esteem during those times that come along that wear it down.

How much does God value you? Let's turn to Romans 5:7-11 we read the following in the Phillips Version: "In human experience it is rare thing for one man to give his life for another, even if the latter be a good man...Yet the proof of God's amazing love is this: that while we were sinners that Christ died for us...We may hold our heads high in God's love". Regardless of how much or little you feel other people make you feel wanted God is interested in you very personally and wants you so much that He gave the life of His own dear Son to redeem you.

In Matthew 6:26-28 we read, "Look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?…So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lillies of the field how they grow; they neither toil nor spin and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry" Be happy as the song says!

As long as we do our part God is always there for us to provide our needs and open up solutions to those problems that pull us down from time to time. What can I do to improve the situation that's getting me down? eg. If I was struggling with shyness I could ask myself, "What am I doing to develop myself and my conversational abilities a bit at a time? Am I reaching out for the help that's available from others to help me with that kind of a problem?"

In Philippians 4:11-13, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content…I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Have we learned to be content? We can be a lot more happy when we are thankful and focus on the all the good things God has given us rather than focusing so much on what we don't have. Two things people with low self-esteem say are that they can't and that they are all alone. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:13 that we can and that we are not alone – we have Jesus Christ to strengthen us. He can make up for what we lack when we put forth the initiative to do it God's way.

The last point I'd like to offer in building our self-esteem is to focus on the big picture. In Romans 8:18 we read, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." Any problems you have now are nothing compared to the incredible future that God has planned for each and every one of us in His kingdom. It will be far beyond anything that we can possibly dream of.

In conclusion, where will you get your idea about yourself? From distortions of your childhood? From past hurts and false ideas that have been programmed into you? Or will you say, 'No, I will not listen to those lies from the past any longer. I will not listen to Satan, the liar and the accuser of the brethren. I am going to listen to God's opinion of me, and let His feelings of love and concern for me become a part of my life, right down to my innermost feelings.