The Power of I Am: Two Words That Will Change Your Life Today (10 page)

I heard a story about an eagle that was born in a chicken coop and raised with a brood of chickens. For years he pecked like a chicken, bawked like a chicken, and ate like a chicken. That’s all he had ever seen. But one day he looked up and saw an eagle soaring in the sky. Something deep inside said, “That’s what you were created to do.” His DNA was calling out to him. But when he looked around, all of his circumstances said, “You’re just a chicken.”

He got his courage up. He told his chicken buddies that he was going to soar like that eagle. They laughed at him and said, “Are you kidding? You can’t soar. You’re just a chicken.”

All he had ever heard was
chicken
.
Chicken
had become ingrained in his thinking, but deep down something said, “This is not who I am. I wasn’t made to be average, to live in this limited environment. I may be in a chicken coop, but I don’t feel like a chicken. I don’t think like a chicken. I don’t look like a chicken. This is not my destiny. I have the DNA of an eagle.”

He started noticing that his wings were not like the chickens’. His were bigger, stronger, and wider. He decided to try to fly. Flapping his wings back and forth as fast as he could, the eagle barely lifted off the ground and crashed into the side of the chicken coop. His
chicken friends laughed and said, “We told you. You’re no different from us. You’re wasting your time. You’re a chicken.” He didn’t let that failure, nor what the others said, nor the disappointment talk him out of it. Every day he kept trying, being his best. One day he lifted up out of that chicken coop and began to soar up and up in the sky. With every breath he declared, “This is what I was created for. This is who I really am. I knew I was an eagle!”

Perhaps you’ve been in a chicken coop way too long. Let me tell you what you already know. You’re not a chicken. You’re an eagle. Don’t let that limited environment rub off on you. Don’t let how you were raised or what somebody said keep you from knowing who you really are. Check your spiritual birth certificate. You’ll find you’ve been made in the image of Almighty God. He has crowned you with favor. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. You were never created to be average or mediocre. You were created to soar. Abundance, opportunity, and good breaks are in your DNA. Now, get rid of a chicken mentality and start having an eagle mentality.

I know a young lady who was raised in a single-parent home in public housing. Her mother wasn’t around much when she was growing up. They were very poor. At sixteen years old, this young lady got pregnant and had to drop out of school. At one time she’d had a big dream for her life. She knew she was going to be something great, but now it looked as though the cycle of lack and defeat would be
passed to the next generation. She moved into a tiny apartment to try to raise her son, but she couldn’t make ends meet. She had to go on welfare and found a job at a school cafeteria punching the meal tickets. She was earning minimum wage, barely making it through, but something deep down inside her said, “You were made for more. You’re not a chicken. You’re an eagle.”

She decided to go back to school. In two years, she got her GED. That was good, but she wasn’t satisfied. She enrolled in college, working during the day and going to class at night. In four years, she graduated from college with honors. She still wasn’t satisfied. She went back and got her master’s degree. Today, she is the assistant principal at the same school where she used to punch meal tickets. She said, “I used to be on welfare, but now I’m doing fair and well.” That’s what happens when you know who you are.

Now, you may work with a bunch of chickens. You may live in a neighborhood with chickens. You may have relatives who still think they’re chickens. You must do what she did. Draw that line in the sand and say, “I may be in a limited environment, but I am not settling here. I know who I am. I am an eagle. I am a king’s son. I am a mighty hero. I am a thoroughbred. I have winning in my DNA.”

Friend, you come from a bloodline of champions. Get up every morning and check your spiritual birth certificate. Remind yourself of who you are. If you do this, I believe and declare, you’re going to soar to new heights. You’re going to rise above every obstacle. You’re going to set new levels for your family and become everything God has created you to be.

T
oo many people go around feeling wrong on the inside. They don’t really like who they are. They think,
If I were just a little taller, if I had a better personality, if my metabolism were a little faster…
Or,
If I just looked like her, I would feel good about myself
.

But when God created you, He went to great lengths to make you exactly as He wanted. You didn’t accidentally get your personality. You didn’t just happen to get your height, your looks, your skin color, or your gifts. God designed you on purpose to be the way you are. You have what you need to fulfill your destiny. If you needed to be taller, God would have made you taller. If you needed to be a different nationality, God would have made you that way. If you needed to look like her instead of you, you would have looked like her. You have to be confident in who God made you to be.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s masterpiece.” That means you are not ordinary. You didn’t come off an assembly line. You weren’t mass-produced. You are one of a kind. Nobody in this world has your fingerprints. There will never be another you. If you’re going to reach your highest potential, you have to see yourself as unique, as an original, as God’s very own masterpiece.

When I was in my early twenties, I was sitting by myself on the beach in India watching the sunset. It was a magnificent scene. The water was so blue. As far as I could see from the right to the left, there were miles and miles of beach and palm trees. The sun was huge on the horizon, just about to set. As I sat there reflecting, thinking about my life, I heard God ask me something—not out loud but just an impression down inside. He said, “Joel, you think this is a beautiful picture, do you?”

I replied, “Yes, God. I think this is a magnificent picture.”

“Well,” He asked, “what do you think would be My most prized painting, My most incredible creation?”

I thought about it a moment and answered, “God, it must be this sunset. This is breathtaking.”

“No, it’s not this.”

Earlier that year I had been in the Rocky Mountains. They were spectacular. I continued, “God, I bet it’s the Rocky Mountains.”

“No, not that.”

I wondered out loud, “What could it be? The solar system? The Milky Way?”

He responded, “No, Joel. My most prized possession, the painting that I’m the most proud of, is you.”

I thought,
Me? It couldn’t be me. I’m ordinary. I’m just like everybody else.

He said, “You don’t understand. When I made the solar system, the waters, and the mountains, I was proud of that. That was great. But Joel, when I made you, I breathed My very life into you. I created you in My own image.”

Friend, you are God’s most prized possession. Don’t go around feeling wrong about yourself. Quit wishing you were taller, or had a better personality, or looked like somebody else. You’ve been painted by the most incredible painter there could ever be. When God created you, He stepped back and looked and said, “That was good. Another masterpiece!” He stamped His approval on you.

On the inside of our shirts there’s usually a tag that reads, “Made in America” or some other country. Well, somewhere on you, there’s a tag that states, “Made by Almighty God.” So put your shoulders back and hold your head up high. You are extremely valuable. When those thoughts come telling you everything that you’re not, remind yourself, “I have the fingerprints of God all over me—the way I look, the way I smile, my gifts, my personality. I know I am not average. I am a masterpiece.” Those are the thoughts that should be playing in your mind all day long. Not
I am slow. I am unattractive. I am just one of the seven billion people on Earth
. No, God did not make anything average. If you have breath to breathe, you are a masterpiece.

Now, people may try to make you feel average. Your own thoughts may try to convince you that you are ordinary. Life will try to push you down and steal your sense of value. That’s why all through the day you have to remind yourself of who your Painter is. When you dwell on the fact that Almighty God breathed His life into you and approved you, equipped you, and empowered you, then any thoughts of low self-esteem and inferiority don’t have a chance.

A few years ago I was in somebody’s home. They had many paintings on the walls, which weren’t very impressive to me. In fact, some of them looked as if they had been painted by a child—very abstract, modern, paint thrown here and there. But later that evening, they
mentioned how they had paid more than a million dollars for just one of those paintings. I looked at it again and thought,
Wow! That is beautiful, isn’t it?

Come to find out, it was an original Pablo Picasso. What dawned on me that night was that it’s not so much what the painting looks like. It’s who the painter is. The painting gets its value from its creator. In the same way, our value doesn’t come from how we look or what we do or who we know. Our value comes from the fact that Almighty God is our Painter. So don’t criticize what God has painted. Accept yourself. Approve yourself. You are not an accident. You have been fearfully and wonderfully made.

I wonder what would happen if all through the day, instead of putting ourselves down, instead of dwelling on the negative, we would go around thinking,
I am a masterpiece. I am wonderfully made. I am talented. I am an original. I have everything that I need
. The enemy doesn’t want you to feel good about yourself. He would love for you to go through life listening to the nagging voices that remind you of everything that you are not. I dare you to get up each day and say, “Good morning, you wonderful thing!” You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

How many of us are bold enough to say as David did in Psalm 139, “I am amazing. I am a masterpiece.” Those thoughts never enter into most people’s minds. They’re too busy putting themselves down, focusing on their flaws, comparing themselves to others whom they think are better. Your Painter, your Creator, says, “You’re amazing. You’re wonderful. You’re a masterpiece.” Now it’s up to you to get in agreement with God. If you go around focused on your flaws, listening to what other people are saying, you can miss your destiny. The recording that should be playing in our mind all day long is, “I am
valuable. I am a masterpiece. I am a child of the Most High God.” Could it be this is what’s holding you back? Your recording is negative. There are enough people in life already against you. Don’t be against yourself. Change your recording. Start seeing yourself as the masterpiece God created you to be.

I read a story about a man who died in extreme poverty. At one point, he was homeless, living on the streets, and barely getting by in life. After the funeral, some of his relatives went to his run-down apartment and gathered up his belongings. He had a painting on the wall, which they sold at a garage sale. The person who bought the painting took it to the local art gallery to learn more about it. They discovered it had been painted back in the 1800s by a famous artist and was extremely valuable. It ended up selling at an auction for more than three million dollars. That man lived his whole life in poverty because he didn’t realize what he had.

In the same way, every one of us has been painted by the most famous Artist there could ever be. But if you don’t understand your value, you go around thinking,
I’m just average. I’m not that talented. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in life
. If you let that negative recording play, you’re just like the man with the painting—you have everything you need and you’re full of potential, but you’ll never tap into it. That’s why every morning you need to remind yourself, “I am not average. I am not ordinary. I have the fingerprints of God all over me. I am a masterpiece.”

There was an article in a medical magazine that talked about
how researchers had scientifically calculated how much money the human body is worth. They added up the cost of all the enzymes, cells, tissues, organs, hormones; everything contained in the body. They concluded that an average-sized person is worth six million dollars. You’ve heard of the “Six Million Dollar Man.” Well, you are a Six Million Dollar Person. You can put your shoulders back. You can have a spring in your step. Your Heavenly Father has invested six million dollars in you. The good news is you didn’t even have to pay taxes on it!

Think of this: Six million dollars is the worth of an average-sized person. You may be worth nine million dollars! That’s the way to look at it. You’re not overweight. You’re just more valuable.

Jesus said to love your neighbor as you love yourself. If you don’t love yourself in a healthy way, you will never be able to love others in the way that you should. This is why some people don’t have good relationships. If you don’t get along with yourself, you’ll never get along with others. We all have weaknesses, shortcomings, things that we wish were different. But God never designed us to go through life being against our self. The opinion you have of yourself is the most important opinion that you have. If you see yourself as less than, not talented, not valuable, you will become exactly that. You are constantly conveying what you feel on the inside. Even subconsciously, you’re sending messages out. If you feel unattractive on the inside, you can be the most beautiful person in the world, but you will convey feelings of unattractiveness. That’s going to push people away. The problem is inside. You carry yourself the way you see yourself.

I’ve seen just the opposite happen. A few years ago I met a young lady who, on the surface, and I say this respectfully, wasn’t necessarily attractive. She didn’t have a lot of what today’s culture defines as natural beauty, but I can tell you that inside she had it going on! She knew she was made in the image of Almighty God. She knew she was crowned with favor. She may have looked ordinary, but she thought extraordinary. She carried herself like a queen and walked like she was royalty. She smiled like she was Miss America and dressed like she was headed for the runway. She may have bought her outfit at a secondhand store, but she wore it as though it were brand-new from Saks Fifth Avenue. All I could say was, “You go, girl!”

What was the difference? On the inside she saw herself as beautiful, strong, talented, and valuable. What’s on the inside will eventually show up on the outside. Because she saw herself as a masterpiece, she exuded strength, beauty, and confidence.

Here’s a key: People see you the way you see yourself. If you see yourself as strong, talented, and valuable, that’s the way other people will see you. That’s the messages you’re sending out. But if you see yourself as less than, not talented, and not valuable, that’s the way others will see you. Perhaps if you would change the opinion you have of yourself, if you would quit focusing on your flaws and everything you wish was different, if you would quit comparing yourself to somebody else who you think is better and start loving yourself in a healthy way, being proud of who God made you to be, then as you send out these different messages, it’s going to bring new opportunities, new relationships, and new levels of God’s favor.

This is what the Israelites did. When ten of the spies came back from the Promised Land, they saw how huge their opponents were.
They said to Moses, “We were in our own sights as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sights.”

Notice they didn’t say, “Moses, those people insulted us. They called us grasshoppers.” They went in with a grasshopper mentality. They said, “We were in our own sights as grasshoppers.” That’s what they conveyed. Here’s the principle at work: “And so we were in their sights.” In other words, “They saw us the way we saw ourselves.”

If you project feelings of inferiority, people will treat you as inferior. You may feel that you have a disadvantage similar to the Israelites. You don’t have the size, the talent, or the education. That’s all right. All that matters is Almighty God breathed His life into you. He created you as a person of destiny. He put seeds of greatness inside you. Now do your part. Start seeing yourself as the masterpiece God created you to be.