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25. Confused About Who You Are? Discern Your True Identity in Christ · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Today we're talking about identity in Christ. Why is it so important that we learn to discern God's voice in this area? Why does it feel so hard to discern the Lord when it comes to who you are? We're answering those questions today and giving you some practical tips to discern your true identity and silence the voice of the accuser. God has so much good for you. Let's jump in.
• 0:23
  Speaker B: If you're tired of leading others while secretly battling doubt, discouragement and mental warfare.
• 0:28
  Speaker A: And you want practical tools to renew your mind and walk boldly in your.
• 0:32
  Speaker B: Calling as a leader, you're in the right place. Welcome to Believe and Become.
• 0:36
  Speaker A: We're Josh and Karina, your spirit filled coaches, here to help you overcome those limiting beliefs and lead others confidently.
• 0:43
  Speaker B: If you're ready to hear God's voice more clearly, to step into your purpose and find joy and strength in the.
• 0:49
  Speaker A: Everyday, silence those Bible app reminders judging you from your lock screen and let's jump in. Hey friend, before we get started, we've got a quick invite for you. If you're a spirit filled Christian in leadership who's been caring a lot lately, maybe you're tired, overthinking or just wondering how to find your next breakthrough, we would love to help. Sign up for a free 25 minute transformation session where we'll help you get clarity and create a practical plan to move forward in peace. You'll also learn about our one on one coaching program designed to help you renew your mind and lead from presence instead of pressure. Just head to joshandkarina.com coaching that's J-O-S H-A-N-C-O-R-I-N A.com coaching to book your session now, let's dive in.
• 1:40
  Speaker B: Well, welcome to the podcast. We are so glad that you've joined us. Today we're talking about discerning our identity in Christ and silencing the accuser. This is so important. This is just critical to be able to move into what God has for us. And so we're going to talk about our beliefs, why those are important, identifying lies that we're believing and then renewing our minds with the truth. That's our process for getting our identity inside of us. So the most important beliefs that we have are about God. But then the second most important beliefs are about ourselves. Because if we believe something weird or wrong about God, that's going to obviously affect our relationship with him, our ability to trust him so the enemy will whisper little lies to us. About God. Like, you can't trust him. He doesn't care about you, or he's gonna punish you for that. He doesn't speak anymore, those kind of things. So obviously we need to get rid of those. But then some of the most destructive lies that we believe are about ourselves. And some of those go really, really deep and come from when we were little kids. Somebody taught you something or said something to you or you were made fun of. And so we have these things that we believe about ourselves that just aren't true, that we've formed our identity around. Sometimes something bad happens, we feel like we have to protect ourselves. Or I can't trust other people, or I'm just a sinner. I always mess up. I'm stupid, you know, Just goes on and on and on. And so that affects every single part of our lives. We can't really walk into what God has for us because we can't consistently do what we don't believe we are.
• 3:18
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's so important that we see ourselves the way God sees us. But I think that's huge that you said we have to know who God is first to really know that God is a good God, that He's a loving father who wants to encourage you and lift you up and bring you into the fullness of who he made you to be, that he has a plan and a purpose for your life. There's so much about God that we can just misconstrue, even in the slightest way that will lead us to think we have to do things on our own. And even for me, as long as I can remember, my heart has been to love God. And I've trusted him. He's always been really faithful to provide for me. But I've had some health struggles. And yesterday we did this beliefs training session that Josh led us through, and it was beautiful, and he did a wonderful job. And I realized in that session, the picture that I got when I was asking the Lord what lies I was believing, I got this picture of myself drowning, and I couldn't get my head above water. And I felt like I was just struggling and flailing and trying to get myself out of the water. And when I was like, okay, what's the lie I'm believing, He said, you think you have to do this on your own and you're not strong enough. Like, I believe that I'm not strong enough, and I believe that I have to do it on my own. But then when he showed me the truth, I was floating on an inner tube with My sunglasses and my little umbrella drink. And I was resting on top of the water. And then I saw him pulling me up out of the water, just like Peter. And we walked on the water together. And so it was this place in my life where I really wasn't trusting him to do the thing that he said he would do, because he's my healer and he's the one who's gonna heal me. But in my. My belief system somewhere, I got confused and thought, I have to do this on my own. I have to pull myself out of this. And so it's just these little. It's like, can just be the slightest difference between I fully trust God in this area, or I'm gonna do this on my own. And that changes my identity in that place because I'm no longer the recipient of healing. I'm now trying to become the healer. And so we have to recognize, like, if I want to be healed, I have to be consistently in the. In my doctor's office. I have to be consistently with the great physician who is going to heal me. I have to consistently be a good patient. Right. There's a lot of things that says about me, and I can't become what I don't believe I am. And if I'm not a good patient with the Lord and I'm trying to be the doctor instead, you know, I'm not going to find the healing that I need. And so it was just interesting to me that we. I. I have to really see myself the way he sees me. You know, he doesn't see me struggling and flailing. He sees me resting and at peace in his presence. And so I just thought that was connected.
• 5:54
  Speaker B: Yeah. That's so good. We really just need to spend time with the Lord and allowing him to tell us who we are.
• 6:00
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 6:01
  Speaker B: And that. The first time I ever heard that, I thought that was so weird. That's. Why would I do that? That's strange. But then the more that I tried it, the more it makes such a huge difference. One of the biggest breakthroughs I ever got in my life was when I heard the Lord say, you're my son, in whom I'm well pleased. And just the voice of the Lord saying that over me changed the course of my life. And I experienced so much freedom knowing that he loved me, that I didn't have to strive anymore. I didn't have to earn his love. I didn't have to earn his favor. All the things that I was doing to just try to get back to God. Will you love Me, I didn't have to do anymore. I was just his son and he liked me, and it changed my life. And so if you're struggling and you're not getting the breakthrough that you really desire, the change in your life that you need, maybe the problem is with your beliefs. You know, there's a song we used to sing, I'm just a Sinner saved by Grace. Well, that's actually not true. I mean, we were sinners, but once you become a believer, you're a new creation in Christ. Your sin nature is dead. And so understanding that about yourself, it's like, I don't have to sin anymore because I've been set free from that. If I do. That's a weird anomaly. That's not me, that's something else. That part of me is dead. I'm the righteousness of Christ. And so the more that we understand that, that just changes how we operate in our everyday lives.
• 7:25
  Speaker A: Yeah, and I think that recognizing who you are in any given area, you might have great confidence in who God says you are in a specific area. Maybe you're really confident in your calling and in your ministry and your vocation, but then in your home, you feel like a failure. Right? So we need to get his word over us in each area of our lives. And we need to say, God, who am I? Who do you see me in this situation? Because you might find it really easy to be an encourager when you're around people that you like, but then he's calling you to some people that are maybe a little harder to love, you know, and so you need to begin to see yourself the way he sees you in that area. And that's how we find breakthrough. That's how we get over those things. That can feel really hard. But we have to start by identifying the lies that we're believing. I shared that story about feeling like I was drowning and feeling like I had to do it on my own. It's okay. I'm not going to sit and beat myself up because I believed a lie. No, that's silly. The enemy is the father of lies. That's his only real weapon that he has is lies. And so he's going to come after you with lies in each area of your life, maybe lies that were planted a long time ago. He is going to remind you of them. And that's how he basically defeats you. And that's why we say the battle is in your mind. The greatest spiritual warfare battle that you can fight is in your thought life, because we have to Believe and think the way that God thinks about us.
• 8:51
  Speaker B: Yeah. And so this is a process that we use with all of our coaching clients, is to sit down. First thing is, where are areas of my life where I don't have hope or I need more hope? Maybe you're hopeful. I think we can always have more hope in every area. So we identify an area where we're lacking hope, and then we ask the Lord, lord, what's the lie I'm believing. Yeah, because if there's not hope, it means there's. There's some stronghold of thought, there's a lie that we're believing more than the truth of what God has said about us or to us, or in his word, what he's telling us about that area of our lives. So we identify the lie, and then we're going to break agreement with the lie. And that can be as simple as, I break agreement. You just say it. I break agreement with this lie. I nail it to the cross. I've given it to Jesus, and I refuse to believe it anymore. And I repent. I'm sorry, Lord, that I believe. This repent is just changing the way that you think. So I'm not gonna think that way anymore. I'm not gonna believe that way anymore. And I'm choosing to believe the truth. And so we just break agreement with that. And that's how we kick the enemy out. And we say, you can't lie to me anymore. You don't know you're believing a lie until you know the truth. These lies, a lot of times, like Karina was saying, come from when we're real little, and you might have believed it for your whole life, but then once you get the truth, you go, oh, I don't have to. I don't have to believe that lie anymore. I get to choose to believe the truth, to renew my mind with the truth.
• 10:12
  Speaker A: Yeah. The best way to silence the voice of the accuser is to break agreement with the lie. And so you can renounce the lie, you can break off the lie, you can wad up the lie and stomp it into the ground. You can do whatever you need to do. But our agreement gives the enemy access or that right to continue lying to us. So when I agree with the lie, then I'm empowering the liar. And so we want to make sure that we're breaking. Breaking off that empowerment. Right. So we're saying, you no longer have authority here. I am taking back my authority. So we're kicking them out. We're closing the door. And we're saying, no more access. We've got to tear down those strongholds that have been built around those lies as well. Sometimes those lies are rooted really deeply in childhood trauma, in something that was repeated to you over and over again. Maybe somebody called you stupid or called you names. And so those things have been repeated. They've been ingrained in you. And you might even think of it this way. This is just how I've always been. This is just the way that I've always been. I've always been grumpy. I just am. It's just my way. People get over it, right? No, actually, God didn't create you to be that way. And there's a lie that's rooted deep down inside of there. The strongholds that we build around. The lies often manifest in that way, in anger and frustration and impatience, irritation. Because we have these fortresses that we don't want anybody to come into. We have these belief systems, these ways of doing things that we have created to protect ourselves. But God's way is so much higher. And he wants to come in and take down those fortresses. And that might sound scary, but he wants to take down those strongholds of thought one piece at a time, and replace them with the truth. Strongholds of truth we get to build up in our minds when we start to believe the truth and we start to agree with the truth.
• 12:02
  Speaker B: And.
• 12:03
  Speaker A: And then we're empowering the Lord to do and to have his way in our lives. And so when we silence the voice of the accuser often, then we can hear God more clearly. We can discern his voice above the noise because we're no longer listening to those lies.
• 12:17
  Speaker B: That's so good. A lot of times these lies that we believe might even seem to be not that consequential. It's like, well, I'm just a shy person, or I'm kind of introverted. I don't really like to talk to other people. I don't need friends or I don't need friends. Those are lies that we just believe. Well, that's the way I am.
• 12:36
  Speaker A: Right?
• 12:36
  Speaker B: But that's not the truth. Actually, God made you shine to be a light in the darkness. Our relationship with other people is so important. He didn't create you to be shy. He said, actually, I've given you a voice. You have important things to say to other people. I'm going to work through you to bring life and light to other people. And so sometimes when it just. It just feels like it's so true, though, because I'VE experienced it my entire life. So there's this cognitive dissonance in your mind where you're like. But everything in my experience says something totally different. And so sometimes it takes a lot of effort, conscious effort, to move out of that. But, friend, there is grace for you. God has done it for so many people, and he will do it for you. If you just partner with this process to renew your mind with the truth, he will break down those strongholds. That's how you know you have a stronghold, because it feels so, so true. But, you know, you start looking in God's word, you know what he's spoken to you. You know, the truth is something different. And then that's when I get excited because that's when the process of change starts to happen.
• 13:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. And we know Romans 12:2 says, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then we get to essay God, what do you think, God? What do you say? What does your word say about who I am? And we can ask him to show us the truth. And Josh mentioned this process that we take our clients through where we identify areas of hopelessness and we dig deep to find the lies. But we don't leave people there. We get to lead them to the Father, to Jesus, to Holy Spirit, and say, God, what do you think about me? What is the truth in this area? And then we get to destroy those lies and we get to empower them with the truth. And really, it's one thing for me to say, this is what I see about you. If you run into somebody like, oh, my gosh, you look so cute today, or, oh, I love the way you did your hair. You're so beautiful, you know, and. And that's sweet and that's nice. And they might go, oh, thanks. But when you hear God say that over you, when you get to experience his presence and to feel his presence around you and to hear, I love you so much, you are my beloved son, I am so pleased with you. When you encounter him in that where you're maybe seeing a picture in your mind of his love and you're hearing his voice tell you that he loves you, that's totally different. That's life changing. And that is the beginning of transformation. When we get to hear, well done, we just encourage you. Ask God what he says and then look to the Word. What does the Bible say about who I am in Christ? What does the Bible say about my identity in him? Ask him. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, and he leads us into all truth. John 16 tells us that. That he leads us into all trut. So just invite him, Holy Spirit, show me the truth. What do you say I am? Who am I in you? Who am I in this area of my life? And just begin to allow him to speak the truth over you, because that will shift the way you see yourself.
• 15:38
  Speaker B: Yeah. So once you've discovered the truth with the Lord, allowed him to speak that over you, how do you renew your mind with that truth? And one of the most powerful ways that you can do that is through declarations. So we love to take that truth and we transform it into a positive statement about who you are and what God has said about you. And then you can just repeat that to yourself every day. And that is the process that will change the way that you think. And we have both experienced that. As we do these declarations, it feels like, why am I doing this? But then a couple weeks into it, that truth starts coming out of your mouth, and you react to a situation totally differently than how you used to. All of a sudden you're saying this truth that you're like, where did that come from? Oh, that was a declaration that I've been doing for a while. And then it becomes automatic. It becomes the way that you think. And so these declarations are just so powerful to actually change the way that we think. And if we change the way that we think, it will change the way that we believe. The way that we behave. It changes our actions. So much of the Christian walk before I came across, this idea of using declarations to change my beliefs was all about trying to change my behavior. Oh, I'm always messing up. I'm always doing something I'm not supposed to do. How come I can't change? It's so frustrating. And really it's because I was operating, operating out of bad beliefs. I was operating out of lies that I believed for forever. It's almost too simple, right, to believe that it works. But it does work, because if we change our words, we have the power of life and death in our tongue. And James says that we can steer our life like the rudder of a ship with our words. Once we harness that power that God's given us, it will change your beliefs, it will change your thoughts, and then your actions follow. That's how we are transformed, by the renewing of our mind.
• 17:22
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's beautiful. We get to decide really what our brain is going to look like by the way that we choose to think and the words that we choose to say. And so that's. That's really beautiful. And also just taking those declarations, I like to take them morning, noon and night, right? It's like a prescription, right? Take this three times a day, at the very least in the morning when I wake up, because it's going to steer the direction of my day before I go to bed, because it's going to bring peace as I go to sleep. And so we're going to work out those beliefs in the morning and the evening. And if you can get an extra one and they're on your lunch break. But then anytime those old lies start to resurface, to say them again. Because what you're doing is you're re rerouting your mind, but you're also reinforcing to the enemy that I've broken agreement with those old lies. I will not think them anymore. I'm going to speak the truth. I'm going to think the truth. And if you can also engage your imagination with that, if you can feel the feelings that you felt when the Lord spoke those things over you, if you can remember what that looked like or where you were and you can put yourself back in that place, those declarations will quickly because you are engaging all of your senses to reinforce the truth that the Lord spoke over you. And so we want to jump into our declarations with all of ourselves, with your mouth, with your mind, with your emotions and body and with your body, if you can, and just allow your your mind to change. It's so cool the way God made us that way. I just love that.
• 18:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, I love that God has given us a prescription for how to change our lives and how to live in the freedom and in his truth that he's given us. And we just don't get tired about talking about mind renewal because it's been so powerful in our lives. And we don't want to stop until every believer on the planet has experienced the power of mind renewal, the power of transformation through mind renewal. It is incredible. So please give it a try. In fact, God is giving you grace right now to sit down with him, identify lies in your life that you've been believing, and to discover the truth with Him. He is so faithful to show up when we say God, is there a lie? I'm believing he loves to tear down lies. That's how we defeat the enemy. He's like, yep, let's do battle. And so here's the truth. And then he'll help you write it into declaration that you can repeat over yourself on a daily basis, three times a day is what Dr. Karina has recommended. And as you do that, you will see the fruit of that in your life. It's incredible. So thanks for spending some time with us. We talked about how important our beliefs are, how to start identifying lies that you're believing, how to break agreement with those, and how to renew your mind with the truth. If you follow this process, God will do something incredible in your life. You're not. You're going to ask yourself, where did this come from? Wow. It's starting to work. So we just love you so much. We just encourage you give this a try and let us know how how it's going. Drop us an email, message us on social media, let us know how it's going. And if you need any help with that, we would love to help you. You can find more information about our coaching program at Josh and karina.com coaching j-o s h-a n d c o R-I-N a.com coaching we'd love to hear from you.
• 20:47
  Speaker A: Hey friend. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds to share this podcast with someone who may need encouragement or practical tools for fighting their battle?
• 20:57
  Speaker B: Then rate and review this podcast. Help us spread the message of transformation far and wide.
• 21:03
  Speaker A: All right, time to walk back into the noise with peace, purpose, and maybe a tiny bit of guessing.
• 21:08
  Speaker B: We'll meet you back next Thursday for another episode. Bye, Sam.