Good morning Friend,
What a privilege to come into your space this Monday morning as we share God’s Word. I trust you had an exciting weekend.
I will be sharing briefly on what I have titled “Identity Reminders, Attitude Reinforcements”.
Listen to this friends, people will live up or down to the expectation you have of them. Self-fulfilling prophecy is the explanation of a situation whereby a consistently projected perception of a person, however inaccurate it may seem, eventually produces actions in the other person that are consistent with such perceptions, thereby reinforcing its hold in the person who initiates such perceptions. In other words, when you believe something about someone and say ever so often that which you believe perhaps based on past behaviour, you will begin to see more evidences of that perceived behaviour in that person and that reinforces your belief about that person and the vicious cycle continues.
For example, once a parent (mother for example) decides to label or tag a child as “stubborn”, perhaps because the child exhibited a few times, attitudes consistent with stubbornness as she understands it, her mind is no longer interested in referencing or recognising attitudes that may prove her belief wrong, she will continue to hold the few examples she has of that child exhibiting stubbornness as basis for her continued belief. This sometimes causes children to think that they cannot break out of the mental mould their parent has put them in, no matter how hard they try to create newer mental pathways by generating opposing examples for the parent to pick from.
This is a just a reminder about how powerful our thoughts, words and actions are, and how grossly impactful they are on predicting behaviours and in fact reinforcing them.
It is imperative where and how you choose your identity reminders. Where do you seek affirmation for your identity? Is it from places where your opinions are subject to change? Or from somewhere, where your identity, never changes, your behaviour nonetheless.
In the world we live in, your perception is always in direct proportion to your continued behaviour. This is what is known as reputation. However, there is somewhere I know where your identity is not fleeting and dependent on vogue, trends and behavioural patterns, where it is solidly founded on the OPINION of the Only Person that matters; GOD. God’s Word provides a repertoire, filled with Reminders of Your Identity, these reminders will not change, no matter what you ever go through. These are the reminders you must anchor your heart on and the beautiful thing is this, just as the vicious cycles caused by negative rhetorics, this reminders begin to cause positive energy vibes to begin to flow in your direction, thereby causing attitudinal reinforcements and transformation.
This is why we listen to God’s Word, to remind us of who we are and then as we are reminded, our attitudes and behaviours begin to align to that projected perception of ourselves and eventually, transformation becomes inevitable.
Modecai constantly reminded Esther of her identity and her purpose in the palace until her attitude changed for the good of the Jewish nation. Jesus didn’t reinforce Simon on Peter, he reinforced Peter on Simon. There is a Simon in every Peter as well as a Peter in every Simon, what you eventually see is a function which one you are reinforcing. Simon is a reed, unstable and ungrounded, Peter is a rock whose conviction led the pioneering Jerusalem Church with Grace. Don’t ever undermine the power of reminders. Where do you get your identity reminders from? Friends, School, Parents or God’s Word?
There is something the Word of God does to you! Here are a few identity reminders you can begin to reinforce in your life;
I AM BLESSED Ephesians 1:3
I AM STRONG Psalms 27:1-3
I AM FEARLESS 2 Timothy 1:7
I AM BEAUTIFUL Psalms 139:14
I AM BOLD Proverbs 28:1
I AM SAVED Ephesians 2:8
I AM WISE I Corinthians 1:30
I WIN 2 Corinthians 2:14
I LOVE Romans 5:5
I BUILD Proverbs 24:3
Psalms 107:2a “Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so…”
Have a beautiful week ahead. God bless your heart.