In our study of Spiritual Self Esteem we left off last time with the principle that the believer must cast all of their anxieties on the Lord through the function of the faith rest drill and the doctrinal rationales.

This means that if you do not cast all your anxieties on God in the testing, you will become emotional. The emotional complex of sins leads to the arrogance of subjectivity and the arrogance complex of sins and as a result you begin to go backwards in the spiritual life.

In 1Pet 5:8; we have the aorist active imperative of the verb "nepho" that as we have seen previously is translated "be sober" in the NASB and means to attain the stability of spiritual self-esteem that becomes the platform for resisting the devil and his cosmic system with faith (Bible Doctrine).

The focus of spiritual self-esteem is described in Phil 4:11-13; "Not that I speak from want. For I have learned to be content (self- sufficient) in whatever circumstances I am.

v12 In fact, I have come to know how to be in need (suffering for blessing), also I have come to know how to live in prosperity. In every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled (in prosperity) and of being hungry (in adversity).

v13 I have the endowed power (from election and predestination in the divine decree) to attain all things ( the escrow blessings for time and eternity) through Him who keeps on making me strong (from the recall of the Word in every circumstance of life)."


Spiritual self-esteem functions under the true motivation of personal love for God.

The word translated "contentment" is the Greek noun " autarkes" that means to be self- sufficient is a reference to spiritual self-esteem.

The mental attitude of spiritual self-esteem is mentioned in 1Tim 6:7-8; "For we have brought nothing into this world with the result that we cannot take anything out of it either.

v8 Therefore, if we have food and clothing, with these, we shall be content."

Spiritual self esteem is content in all situations because of personal love for God and confidence that he has already completely finished the work in us it just hasn't been revealed to us yet.

Spiritual self esteem also understands that Christians are "in the world but not of it" John 17:14-17; so they refuse to get snagged by the world's agenda that promotes self actualization in the world's system and a lifestyle of greed.

Heb 13:5, "Let your lifestyle be free from the love for money and be content with what you have; for He Himself has said, `I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you."

Eph 6:23, "Harmony among believers and virtue-love with doctrine from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ."

Harmony is the relaxed mental attitude related to the doctrinal thinking of the spiritual life. Harmony among believers demands humility and virtue-love.

Believers with spiritual self-esteem do not feel threatened by enmity, antagonism, vilification, ostracism, rejection, or any other form of hostility. Therefore, believers with spiritual self-esteem are in a position to fulfill the mandate for harmony among believers.

We have seen in 1Cor 13:13; that virtue-love is the result of metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness to the point that it has established confidence in God. This is same virtue-love that is the basis for the attainment of spiritual self-esteem

The secret to spiritual self-esteem is respect for and confidence in God alone, it is never a system of self-improvement based on advice, counseling, or dependence on others.

The only dependence for the attainment of spiritual self-esteem is dependence on the divinely provided communication of the Word in the local assembly.

Under spiritual self-esteem, you are free from anthropocentric thinking, legalistic bullying, people dependence distractions, flattery, and counseling. This means that spiritual self-esteem is the declaration of independence of your very own royal priesthood.

Spiritual self-esteem solves the problems of inadequacy, peer pressure, role model arrogance, and fear and is the basis for stability in the Christian way of life. Eph 4:12-15;

Spiritual self-esteem eliminates emotion as a criterion for life because emotion cannot think, reason, apply doctrine, or properly evaluate a situation from doctrinal viewpoint.

Under the protocol plan of God, our emotions are never to be a reference for our motives, thoughts, decisions, or actions.

Cognition for the Christian life does not come from the emotions. No believer can attain spiritual self-esteem until he distinguishes between doctrinal understanding that is revealed in the Word of God and emotional experience.

Spiritual self-esteem subordinates emotion to the intellect so that objectivity and doctrinal perspective rule the believer's soul. This means that thinking is a cause and emotion is an effect in spiritual self-esteem.

Spiritual self-esteem never feels threatened by slander, maligning, judging, gossip, the public lie, or just or unjust criticism because it has established the standard of thinking from doctrine. Eph 4:13;

Spiritual self-esteem avoids denial and dissociation that results in stuffing problems and failures into the subconscious mind where they remain as garbage.

Spiritual self-esteem addresses one's problems and failures and avoids the arrogance of always having to be "right".

Spiritual self-esteem uses problem solving devices to make corrections and to keep moving with the function of virtue-love.

Spiritual self-esteem is the status of resolving the "unsolvable" problems and dealing effectively with the pressures and adversities of your own life.

Spiritual self-esteem functions inside the integrity envelope with self-confidence, self-realization, self-direction, self-identity, and self-motivation all based on metabolized doctrine.

Spiritual self-esteem has humility along with poise in dealing with life because in spiritual self-esteem eyes on self is replaced with occupation with Christ, eyes on people is replaced with impersonal love and grace orientation, and eyes on things is replaced with tranquility and contentment.

Spiritual self-esteem is the believer's dependence on God's grace provision for the stabilization of self and the integration of self into the protocol plan of God. Spiritual self-esteem becomes the beachhead of operation for effective application of Bible doctrine to your experience.