Latest / Fostering Faith / Living Fully Free in Christ: Embracing the Identity God Gave You

Transcript

Living Fully Free in Christ: Embracing the Identity God Gave You · Fostering Faith

0:00
Welcome back to Fostering Faith and we are going
0:02
to be on our last episode of July and we are
0:06
ending this summer. I had recorded the earlier
0:09
podcast in the winter whenever I had time and
0:11
we are now in the heat of summer. It is so hot
0:13
outside. I finished a run this morning and didn't
0:15
need to take water with me because I could just
0:17
open my mouth and just breathe in all the humidity
0:20
and the air. And so we are going to finish up
0:23
the series of Freedom in our month of July and
0:26
we are going to be taking off and having a little
0:28
reset for August as we are back to school, back
0:31
into a new semester and just finishing out some
0:34
birthdays and just relaxing before we hit the
0:37
ground running in September. And stay tuned for
0:40
our episodes coming up in September. And we hope
0:44
that you guys had a great Fourth of July, as
0:46
this is our last week of July that you're listening
0:49
to this. And we're glad that you're here. And
0:51
if you're joining us for the first time this
0:53
month, welcome. We are in our July series, Calling
0:56
Freedom. And if you've not listened to the past
0:59
episodes, go back and listen to them. Episode
1:01
one was overcoming fear and anxiety. And just
1:04
going back to that last one from last week, we
1:07
think that these really could help people just
1:10
break those chains and just really walk in the
1:11
freedom that God has designed. us for, but today
1:13
we're going to be doing something and going somewhere
1:16
that I believe will be important, the conversation
1:19
to have, because here's what we have to come
1:21
to understand. You cannot walk truly in freedom
1:24
if you don't know who you are. And so freedom
1:26
is not just being absent of something, it's the
1:30
present of something. And what you need to fully
1:33
be present in is your identity, the real one,
1:36
the God -given one, the blood -bought scripture
1:39
-anchored one, not the identity that your past
1:43
handed you, not the identity of your failures
1:45
that you've carved into yourself, not the identity
1:47
of your family or your acts or your mistakes,
1:50
or even worse, the moments that were assigned
1:53
to you, the identity that God gave you. And so
1:57
this is what we're going to be talking about
1:58
today, living fully free in Christ, embracing
2:01
the identity that God gave you. And so I'm telling
2:03
you right now, this episode is going to require
2:05
some work, not because the truth is complicated,
2:08
but because receiving it is. Because for most
2:11
of us who God says that we are collides head
2:14
on with who we believe that we are. And that
2:17
collision is... where the transformation actually
2:19
happens. And it's just a reminder from whenever
2:23
I first started school again, and they said,
2:26
if you don't walk out of here transformed, then
2:29
you didn't get it. And so it's not about the
2:31
grades, it's not about the assignments, it's
2:32
about the transformation that happens. And just
2:35
wrestling with this last paper that we did, just
2:37
the time. and just the amount of hours I spent
2:42
researching just a few verses, a transformation
2:46
that really can happen whenever you sit with
2:48
scripture and just really kind of wrestle with
2:50
it. And so grab your workbook if you have it.
2:52
And so that's on that fosteringfaithmedia .com.
2:55
We have put workbooks out there for you to gather
2:57
and just to work through this, even in your small
3:00
groups at home. And so I would like to open this
3:03
up by prayer. And so, Dear Heavenly Father, thank
3:05
you for today. Thank you for these listeners.
3:07
Thank you. And they weren't just asking you to
3:09
do only what you can do today. You know the person's
3:12
listening to this. You know the name that was
3:14
spoken over them, what was never meant. to be
3:16
their name. You know the identity that they've
3:19
been living with that doesn't belong with them.
3:21
So Holy Spirit, I'm asking you to reach into
3:23
those places today, speak the truth where we
3:25
have been told lies and bring to light what's
3:28
been in the dark. And so we ask this in your
3:30
name, in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. And so let's
3:33
jump into it. And so the identity crisis no one
3:35
talks about. And so let me ask you something
3:38
and I want you to sit with it. And honestly,
3:41
if someone asked you right now, who are you?
3:44
What would you say? not your job title, not your
3:47
role, not your list of accomplishments, but who
3:51
are you at the core? What would you say? Most
3:55
people, if they answered honestly, would describe
3:58
themselves like that. And so it's what they do.
4:01
I'm a nurse, I'm a mom, I'm a teacher, I'm a
4:04
leader. What I've been through, I'm someone who
4:06
survived, I'm someone who failed, I'm someone
4:08
who has been hurt. what others have told me.
4:12
I'm the strong one. I'm the difficult one. I'm
4:14
the one who can't get it all together. What they
4:18
feel, I'm a mess. I'm not enough. I'm too much.
4:23
Very few people, when asked who they are at the
4:26
core, immediately say, I'm a child of God. I
4:30
am chosen. I am holy. I am deeply loved. I am
4:34
free. And that gap between who God says you are
4:38
and who believers ourselves to be, what we believe
4:43
ourselves to be, is the source of the more spiritual
4:47
bondage than almost anything else. And this is
4:50
what I call identity crisis that no one talks
4:53
about. Not the dramatic, obsessive kind of crisis
4:56
where someone doesn't know their name. Chronic
5:01
kind where you've been living with false self
5:04
for so long that you've forgotten What the true
5:07
one feels like and so John 831 says then you
5:10
will know the truth and the truth will set you
5:12
free We love to quote the second half of that
5:16
the truth will set you free, but we skipped the
5:18
first part You will know the truth just know
5:22
it and not just know it intellectually, but no
5:26
and be able to recite it, but know it. And the
5:29
Greek word here means to know by experience,
5:33
to know personally, to know from the inside.
5:37
And it is the word of intimacy and a relational
5:42
knowledge. So you just don't need to know the
5:44
truth about your identity academically, but you
5:48
need to know it. like someone who is in deeply
5:52
in love with that from the inside, the type of
5:55
love that just grasps you from the inside with
5:57
your whole self in the way that it can really
6:00
change you. And that was what we're going to
6:03
build on today. And so if you have your workbook,
6:06
honestly, go sit with that. When someone asks
6:10
you who you are, what's your answer? What's your
6:11
default answer? And then underneath of that,
6:14
what are the identities that you're living with?
6:17
And so, how did we end up with the wrong identity?
6:20
What's our root system? And before we get into
6:22
what God says that you are, I want to spend some
6:24
time understanding how we end up living from
6:27
a false identity. Because if we don't understand
6:30
the root, we'll keep pulling up the leaves and
6:34
never get free. And so, root one, what was spoken
6:38
over us in childhood? And so, the human brain
6:41
in developmental years is extraordinarily receptive.
6:45
What was said over you about you in the formative
6:48
years by your parents, by your caregivers, by
6:50
your teachers, by your siblings, by your coaches
6:52
landed with extraordinary weight, not because
6:56
you chose to believe it, but because you did
6:59
not yet have the capability to filter it. You
7:03
were told that you were stupid, something in
7:05
you receive that truth. You were told that you
7:07
were too much. You spent years making yourself
7:10
smaller. You were told that you were not enough.
7:13
And so you built years of your child. adult life
7:16
trying to prove your self -worth to others, and
7:19
you were told that you were chosen, loved and
7:22
special, and maybe that was your soil of competence.
7:26
What was spoken over you in the early years was
7:28
powerful, not because it was true, but because
7:31
you received it by a vision, and you couldn't
7:36
judge that source. And so the good news is those
7:38
words do not have to have your final say. Those
7:41
words spoken over you by the one who made you,
7:44
who knew you before you were born, Psalm 139
7:48
.13, and then who called you by name, Isaiah
7:51
43 .1, and who has thoughts towards you outnumbered
7:55
the grains of sand, Psalm 139, and those words
8:00
are your identity. And so, root two. What you
8:04
experience have taught us. And so experience
8:08
is a powerful teacher. And with life hands us
8:10
repeated experiences of failures, rejections,
8:13
abandonment, and loss, your brain does what it
8:16
is designed to do. It draws conclusions. People
8:19
leave, you can't trust. You are not worth staying
8:23
for. If you succeed, the fall will be worse.
8:26
Don't hope too much. These are the things that
8:29
people think about. And these conclusions become
8:32
an operating system in your life. They shape
8:34
how you make decisions of who you let in and
8:36
what you attempt and what you avoid. They make
8:38
you, they feel like wisdom. They often function
8:42
as survival, but whenever they define your identity,
8:46
they become a lens in through which you see yourself.
8:50
And they're a prison. Isaiah four. Isaiah 43,
8:53
18 through 19 says, forget the former things
8:55
and do not dwell on the past. See that I am doing
8:58
a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive
9:02
it? I am making a way in the wilderness and the
9:05
streams of the wasteland. God is not bound by
9:08
your past and he is not asking you to pretend
9:11
it didn't happen. He's asking you to stop letting
9:13
it right your future. And so sit with that. And
9:17
so he is asking, hey, I'm right here. what you
9:22
did in your past before you knew me, it doesn't
9:25
define you. And so through route three, the spiritual
9:30
reality of the enemy's work, I will not make
9:32
this the primary focus, but I wanted it to mention
9:35
and spend a little bit of time on the enemy than
9:39
God, but I would be... willing to say that a
9:44
lot of people focus more on the devil than they
9:47
do God because they're always out there trying
9:50
to blame somebody else for their own mistakes.
9:51
And so I think that the devil gets a lot more
9:53
credit than what he's actually doing. But I do
9:57
think that it would be a disservice if I didn't
9:59
name it. So there is a real enemy out there and
10:02
with a specific strategy. And Jesus names him
10:05
in John 10, 10, the thief comes only to steal,
10:08
kill and destroy. And I have come that they may
10:11
have life. and have it to the full. The first
10:14
thing the enemy does is it goes after their circumstances,
10:18
which is your identity. Because if he can get
10:20
you to live in a false identity, everything else
10:22
follows. If you don't know who you are, you will
10:25
not walk in what you have. You will not stand
10:27
on what is truly and you will not exercise the
10:30
authority in which we've been given. The very
10:33
first attack and the enemy leveled at Jesus in
10:36
the wilderness in Matthew 4, 3 and 6 was the
10:40
identity attack. If you are the son of God, he
10:44
was primarily trying to get Jesus to eat bread
10:47
or jump off a temple. He was trying to get Jesus
10:51
to doubt who he was. And please know, if the
10:55
devil is willing to go after Jesus, you are a
10:58
little snack to him. He's out to here to seek
11:01
a kill and destroy. And Jesus tells us that.
11:04
Because if he could get Jesus to believe and
11:07
not believe his identity, everything else would
11:10
crumble. The enemy has been running the same
11:15
playbook. And we did a podcast on that before
11:17
about the enemy's playbook. It's the same thing.
11:19
It's the same plan on believers ever since day
11:22
one. The Whispers is always some version of,
11:27
are you really? Are you sure? Do you really belong?
11:33
Do you really qualify? And the answer, the same
11:37
answer Jesus gave is the Word of God, not a debate,
11:40
not an argument, the Word. And so the three roots
11:43
that we just covered, words spoken over you,
11:46
experiences, spiritual opposition. Which one
11:49
of those do you recognize as a source, as your
11:51
false identity in your life? Write it down. Write
11:53
it out. And so we've talked about that on the
11:55
last podcast. Write it down. Write it out and
11:58
lay it at His feet. And so who God says you are,
12:02
the non -negotiables. Now, let's get to the truth.
12:05
I want to walk with through this in a comprehensive
12:08
kind of like portrait portfolio of who you are
12:12
in Christ, not just a nice list of feel good
12:14
about it, but what it's actual, what spirit breathe,
12:19
what is the word anchored in reality in Christ
12:22
in your life. And these are not just possibilities.
12:25
These are not just suggestions. They are not
12:28
things that you have to learn. If you are in
12:31
Christ, if you have placed your faith in Him,
12:36
these are facts about who you are right now,
12:40
today, and regardless of how you feel. I want
12:44
you to write it down and maybe even get you like
12:46
a little ID card and just put on there, child
12:49
of God. And we have John 1, 12 -13 that says,
12:58
Not a servant, not a subject, not a distant relative,
13:13
a child. And the Greek word there is the word
13:17
for child who carries the natural lineage of
13:19
the parent. You have been born into the family
13:22
of God, His DNA. So to speak, it is in you by
13:29
the Spirit. You have God's DNA. The implications
13:32
of this are staggering as a child of God. You
13:35
are an heir in Romans 8, 17. You have access
13:38
to the Father, Ephesians 3, 12. And you are known
13:42
by name in John 10, 3. You are loved with the
13:46
same love of the Father that has for the Son
13:49
in John 17, 23. And you are chosen, Ephesians
13:55
1, 4, for He has chosen us. Him before the creation
13:59
of the world to be holy and blameless in his
14:01
sight Before the world was even made before you
14:04
were born before you did anything wrong or right
14:07
God chose you Before you did anything that you
14:12
were like, oh my gosh, he could never love me.
14:14
He chose you He has set his love on you and you
14:18
were on his mind before time began This matters
14:22
because rejection is one of the deepest human
14:25
wounds and the lie that often accompanies it
14:28
are, you are not chosen, you're not wanted, and
14:32
you are disposable. And the truth of Ephesians
14:34
1 -4 obliterates that lie at the root. Redemption
14:51
is a marketplace word. It means to buy back,
14:54
to release from captivity by paying a price.
14:58
And you were bought back at a cost, at the highest
15:03
cost. The results is forgiveness, not a partial
15:07
forgiveness and a conditional forgiveness. Not,
15:10
well, we'll see forgiveness, but complete. forgiveness
15:15
in accordance with the riches of God's grace
15:17
not in accordance to your performance not in
15:21
proportion to how sorry you are but in accordance
15:24
to his riches the shame that many believers carry
15:28
about their past and rooted in not receiving
15:31
this they know how theologically this They know
15:35
how theologically it is. They have not received
15:38
it personally. But people who have truly received
15:41
redemption does not walk with the weight of Christ
15:45
that has already been removed. Psalm 10312 says,
15:48
as far as the East from the West, so far it has
15:50
been removed from the transgressions from us.
15:53
East to West is infinite. They never meet. Your
15:58
sins have been removed. This is not a metaphor.
16:02
That is a covenant. promise and you are a new
16:06
creation in 2nd Corinthians 517. Therefore, if
16:09
anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come
16:12
and the old has gone and the new is here. Paul
16:16
doesn't say that you have received some upgrades.
16:18
He says that you are a new creation and the language
16:22
there says that the same word has been used from
16:24
the original act of creation in Genesis. God
16:27
has not patched up your old self. He created
16:31
something new. Now, this is important. It doesn't
16:35
mean that your old patterns, your old habits,
16:37
your old thoughts, your old systems, your old
16:39
wounds simply vanish the moment that you receive
16:41
Christ. What it means is that your nature has
16:44
been changed. You are no longer enslaved to your
16:46
old self. You have been given the capacity to
16:49
live differently, but you have to renew your
16:52
mind and walk in what has been made new. You
16:55
are holy and dearly loved. In Colossians 312,
16:59
therefore the cro - God's chosen people, holy
17:02
and dearly loved, clothe yourself in compassion,
17:05
kindness and humility, gentleness and patience,
17:08
holy, right now, before you do all the right
17:12
things, before you get your prayer life together,
17:15
before you have figured it all out, holy, set
17:18
apart, consecrated, belonging to God, is your
17:23
status in Christ, the dearly loved. The Greek
17:26
there, agapio, is the highest form of love. It
17:30
is your permanent relational reality that you
17:34
have the most highest form of love. You are someone
17:38
who is dearly loved by God. And that is not a
17:42
feeling. That is a fact. And it is the most important
17:45
fact about you. And here's another one. You are
17:49
more than a conqueror. In Romans 8 37, know in
17:53
all things that you are more than conquerors,
17:56
though him who loved us. not barely surviving,
18:00
not hanging on, not making it through by the
18:02
skin of your teeth more than conquerors. And
18:06
the word there is hyper victors. The more than
18:09
means not only do you win decisively, overwhelmingly
18:13
through the one who loved you, whatever you're
18:16
facing, this is the ground that you stand on.
18:20
And so go back and read those. Go back and listen
18:22
to that again and just have that on repeat. And
18:25
so you can really know who you are. And the great
18:29
exchange, taking off the old and putting on the
18:32
new. And so knowing your identity is step one,
18:34
but living from it requires what Paul describes
18:37
in a remarkable, like in very much clarity in
18:41
Ephesians four. So Ephesians four 22 through
18:43
24, you were taught with regard to your former
18:46
way of life. You have put off your old self,
18:49
which is being corrupted by deceitful desires.
18:52
to be made new in an attitude of your mind and
18:55
to put off a new self created to be like God
18:58
in true righteousness and holiness. Paul uses
19:00
closed language here to put off and put on. This
19:03
is intentional. Clothing is not passive. You
19:05
choose what you wear and every day in a real
19:09
sense, you choose the identity that you put on.
19:12
Your old self, the false identity, the performance
19:14
driven self, the approval hungry self, the shame
19:17
soaked self. is described and being corrupted
19:20
by this deceitful desire is decaying. It is built
19:24
on lies and the ongoing nature of what the verb
19:27
is there is being corrupted suggests that this
19:30
is not a one -time event but a process that continues
19:32
to keep you from wearing it. The new self, the
19:35
identity that is in Christ that is holy and righteous
19:38
and free put on must be put on actively, daily,
19:43
sometimes multiple times a day. I was just talking
19:45
to my friend and she's on her second shower of
19:47
the day. And so multiple times sometimes that
19:49
you have to take that off. No, I don't want to
19:50
wear that today. No, this doesn't look good on
19:52
me today. And so oftentimes it's so important.
19:54
We are so picky about what we wear and whatever
19:57
we go out. And so sometimes you change your clothes
19:58
three times before you leave your house. And
20:00
so making sure that we're putting that identity
20:02
on and oh, this is you're putting on shame today.
20:04
No, this doesn't fit. I don't have to wear this
20:06
today. No, I'm putting on doubt. No, this doesn't
20:08
fit me today. And so just putting that on actively
20:10
daily, sometimes multiple times a day, reminding
20:13
yourself. And in the in -between, you've been
20:17
made new in your attitude and your mind. Your
20:19
mind is the battleground. And we've mentioned
20:21
that so many times on the podcast. There is where
20:23
your identity is won and lost, not in grand moments,
20:27
in daily ordinary moments of where you think
20:29
about yourself, your voice that you give your
20:31
self -authority and what you believe when no
20:34
one's watching and renewing your mind. Romans
20:36
12, 2. In the mechanism by which you're transforming,
20:40
do not conform to the pattern of the world, but
20:42
be transformed by renewing your mind. The word
20:44
transform there, here in the Greek, is the same
20:47
word that Jesus used for the transfiguration
20:50
of Matthew 17, 2. It is a deep, subjective, visible
20:55
change, not behavior modification, transformation
20:58
from the inside out. And it happens through the
21:01
renewing of your mind. And so what does it look
21:03
like to renew your mind around your identity?
21:05
It means that whenever your old voices say that
21:08
you're not enough, you put it off and put on,
21:11
I am chosen. I am dearly loved by God. And when
21:15
the old voice says that you'll never change,
21:17
you take that off. I am a new creation. The old
21:20
is gone, and the new has come. And the old voice
21:24
says that God's disappointed in you, but your
21:27
new self knows that there is no condemnation
21:29
for those that are in Christ Jesus. And that
21:32
is in Romans 8 .1. Then your old voice that says
21:35
you don't deserve to be free You take that off
21:38
because Galatians 5 one says for it is freedom
21:41
that is in Christ. It has set us free And so
21:44
this is not just positive thinking this is warfare
21:47
and if you go back to the month before we did
21:48
a Warfare month and so go back and listen to
21:51
that and it is a specific intentional spirit
21:55
empowered act of refusing to live the lie and
21:58
anchoring yourself to truth again and again Until
22:00
the truth becomes the ground that you stand on
22:03
And so your identity is the most persistent old
22:06
self. And so identify that. The one thing that
22:08
keeps showing up consistently that does the most
22:11
damage, write it down. And then write down specific
22:14
scriptures that direct your intention to what
22:18
is actually true. And this is the sword. Ephesians
22:20
6, 17 calls the word of God the sword of the
22:25
spirit. And so what is it? And so we have to
22:28
know the Word because we have to fight that.
22:30
We have to be in battle. And so what freedom
22:32
actually looks like, what does it mean? And so
22:35
I want to spend a few minutes here and living
22:37
free in Christ, what it actually looks like in
22:39
real life, because the version people often imagine
22:42
is not anywhere of what the Bible says. Freedom
22:46
in Christ does not look like having it all together,
22:50
never struggling, feeling confident on certain
22:53
days, not having hard seasons. being immune to
22:56
pain or doubt or grief. But in real life, freedom
23:00
in Christ does look like knowing who you are,
23:04
even when it doesn't feel like it, standing on
23:07
truth. When circumstances say something different,
23:11
not being controlled by fear, shame or approval,
23:14
moving forward in obedience, even whenever you
23:17
don't have all the answers, living from a place
23:20
of security rather than a place of striving.
23:23
In Galatians 5 .1 is the most important verse
23:27
I think of the New Testament. It is in freedom
23:30
from Christ that has set us free. Stand firm
23:33
then and do not let yourselves be burdened against
23:36
the yoke of slavery. Notice the structure of
23:38
the verse. Christ has already done the setting
23:42
free. This happened on the cross. That is completed,
23:45
finished, accomplished. Check market. The work
23:47
of freedom has been done, but Paul's instruction
23:50
to the... to the believer is to stand firm in
23:54
that freedom and not to return to slavery. This
23:57
tells us something crucial. Freedom is not maintained
24:00
automatically. It requires standing. It requires
24:03
vigilance. It requires the ongoing refusal to
24:05
pick back up what has been removed. And many
24:09
of us look like slaves because we are returning
24:13
people, returning to people pleasing after God
24:17
has called us to be free. going back to shame
24:20
after we've been forgiven, living in a performance
24:24
after God has declared us righteous with His
24:27
grace, and letting our past define us after God
24:29
has called us new. And so, all these are yokes
24:31
that Paul warns us against. These could be familiar.
24:36
They're comfortable. They are twisted kind of
24:39
way that we can call it slavery, because it's
24:42
all you've known. Can you feel safe? the things
24:47
that you know can feel safer than freedom. And
24:50
just think of Israelites. They were like, oh,
24:52
we want to be free. We want to be free. And so
24:53
they're walking in the thing and they're like,
24:55
let me get take me back to Egypt. Take me back
24:56
to captivity. I don't want to be free. And so
24:59
freedom requires trust. And but but Paul says,
25:04
do not go back. Stand firm. The cross has accomplished
25:08
what no matter the striving could ever. And so
25:13
the yoke that you pick back up. What are you
25:18
trying to pick back up? And this is a tender
25:21
question, honestly. What slavery is feeling more
25:24
comfortable than the freedom Christ had paid
25:27
for? And bring it to God in prayer. Make a declaration,
25:31
I will not return to that yoke. And so the Father's
25:34
eyes, seeing yourself and how God sees you, I
25:36
want to take and just let you sit with this for
25:38
a second. I want you to think of a deep personal
25:40
and maybe a little bit uncomfortable and stay
25:43
with me. And one of the most Powerful identity
25:45
shaping passages in all of scripture is the parable
25:48
of the prodigal son in Luke 15 You know the story
25:51
potentially, but I want you to read through it
25:53
very With specific lenses today, the identity
25:56
of Christ, how he views his child, the son demands,
26:00
and so I'll explain the story. And so the son
26:02
demands his inheritance early. He leaves. He
26:04
wastes everything. He ends up feeding the pigs
26:07
the lowest and the most humiliating work of a
26:10
Jewish man in the area that it could. And the
26:13
text says he came to his senses. He decides to
26:16
return home and ask to be made a servant and
26:19
not a son. His identity in his own mind has been
26:22
fortified by his choices. He no longer sees himself
26:25
as a child of God. He sees himself as a hired
26:27
hand, if he's lucky. But we have Luke 15, 20
26:32
and says, but here's the most moment, it's the
26:35
moment that wrecks us. And so it says, but while
26:38
he was still long away off, his father saw him
26:42
and was filled with compassion for him. So he
26:45
ran to his son, threw his arms around him and
26:47
kissed him. The father ran. And so in culture
26:52
that day, A dignified man means that he did not
26:55
run. It was considered beneath his social standards,
26:59
but this father hiked up his robe and ran because
27:02
his child, who was lost, was coming home. And
27:06
before his son could even finish his prepared
27:08
speech, I am no longer worthy to be called your
27:11
son. The father interrupts. He calls for the
27:14
best robe, his ring, his sandals, and a celebration.
27:18
And he does not reinstate his son as a servant.
27:21
He publicly, loudly, and lavishly restores him
27:25
to the full identity of his sonship. The son's
27:29
choices had not changed who he was. They had
27:33
changed what he believed about what he was. But
27:36
the father's view never changed. And can I talk
27:40
to the person who has been living like a servant
27:42
in his father's house? You've been performing.
27:46
You've been earning. You have been working from
27:49
a place that is already yours. You've been trying
27:52
to deserve something that is freely given. And
27:56
you've been looking at yourself through the lenses
27:58
of the worst moments rather than through the
28:01
lenses of your father's eyes. And let me tell
28:03
you what your father sees. He sees someone who
28:07
has called his own. He sees someone that has
28:10
been redeemed at the highest cost. He sees someone
28:14
that he has plans for hope in a future. He sees
28:17
someone who is not defined by their past. And
28:21
he sees someone that he is for and not against.
28:24
And we have scripture to land on. We have Isaiah
28:27
40, 31. We have 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. We have
28:30
Jeremiah 29, 11. We have Isaiah 43, 25. And we
28:35
have that Romans 8, 31. And so this is not rhetorical.
28:40
throw away. This is theologically anchored. And
28:43
if Christ made you, made the universe, who holds
28:46
time in His hands, who breathe life into your
28:48
body, if He has ever done, if He is for you,
28:52
then who possibly could be against you? And so
28:55
take some minutes, spend five minutes every day
28:57
reading one of the verses of I Am that identifies
29:01
those statements and who you are in Christ. Say
29:03
them out slowly, out loud to yourself. Not to
29:07
memorize, but to land on and to let your Father's
29:10
voice complete what the other voices are not
29:14
saying. Walking it out and living with that new
29:19
identity daily. And so here are some things that
29:21
are transformative. It doesn't happen all at
29:23
once. You don't pray your prayer and wake up
29:25
the next day fully renewed and your mind is undone
29:27
and you're unshakable and all the things. Transformation
29:30
is a process. It's working out what God has already
29:34
worked in. And so let's talk about it. And so
29:37
practice one. They clear your identity daily
29:40
before you engage in the day. This is a single...
29:44
thing that has the highest leverage of spiritual
29:46
practice I know of for identity renewal. Before
29:49
you engage in your phone, your emails, and I
29:51
said this on the last episode, put him first.
29:54
The news, the opinion of others. Before your
29:56
voices get access to you, spend five minutes,
29:58
ten minutes, declaring who you are in Christ.
30:01
Put on your armor. Remind yourself of who you
30:03
are. I am chosen. I am dearly loved. I am a child
30:07
of God. I am redeemed. I'm a new creation. I
30:11
am holy. I am more than a conqueror through him
30:13
who loves me. These are not vain repetitions.
30:17
This is what Paul calls putting on your new self.
30:20
You are preloading your mind with truth before
30:22
the noises start. And over time, the practice
30:25
literally rewires your default and your identity.
30:30
Practice two. Practice the pause. When something
30:34
happens, a rejection, a failure, a criticism,
30:37
a hard moment. There is a gap between the stimulus
30:39
and your response. In the gap lies your identity
30:42
because how you respond to hard things reveals
30:45
what you believe of who you are. And whenever
30:48
you receive criticism, the firsthand instinct,
30:53
the shame, the guilt, the collapse is where we
31:01
look at and we are in Christ and so whenever
31:05
we receive that criticism we know that I know
31:09
I'm a failure. That's the old identity and the
31:11
new identity response is that was a mistake but
31:14
I'm still loved and I can learn from that. Whenever
31:17
you're rejected and your first instinct is of
31:20
course I'm not enough. That's your old identity.
31:23
The new identity in response is rejection does
31:27
not define me. My identity is secure in Christ.
31:31
the pause creates space for you. And choosing
31:34
is the practice of freedom. And so practice three,
31:39
surround yourself with people who see you rightly.
31:41
And so who you are is what you are made from.
31:46
And it is gonna be so important that whenever
31:49
we look at what we've been made from, we are...
31:53
who we say that we are. And so whenever we're
31:56
looking at who we're surrounding ourselves with,
31:58
and I have said this time and time again, multiple
32:01
times, it's who you surround yourself with is
32:04
going to be so important. Because if you are
32:06
looking at people and they are looking at you
32:09
and they do not see and they do not know Christ,
32:13
then they can't be there to back you up. They
32:15
can't be there to say, no, that's not what we
32:19
believe. That's not what we say that we are.
32:23
And so it is going to be so important that you
32:26
just allow those people to speak life into you.
32:28
And we have Hebrews 10 25 that calls spur on
32:31
one another towards love and good deeds. That
32:34
word spur means to sharpen, to stimulate. And
32:37
so community is not for comfort. It is meant
32:40
to actively push you towards who God has called
32:43
you to be. And so practice four, let scripture
32:46
be the mirror. James 1 23 through 25 says, uses
32:50
the image of a mirror. to talk about the word
32:53
of God. Anyone who listens to the word but does
32:55
not do what it says is like someone who looks
32:57
in the face of the mirror and is looking at himself,
33:00
goes away and immediately forgets what he looks
33:04
like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect
33:07
law gives freedom and continues in it. But forgetting
33:10
what they have heard and by not doing it, they
33:12
will be blessed in what they do. The Word is
33:15
a mirror that shows who you really are, not the
33:18
mirror of others' opinions, not the mirror of
33:20
your past, not the mirror of what your worst
33:23
moments are, but the Word. And instructions is
33:26
to look intently, not a glance, but a glaze,
33:30
but a gaze, to stay in, to not forget. This is
33:35
a daily intention of engaging in the time of
33:37
the Word, and it's not a duty, but it's identity
33:40
formation. And so five. Confess your identity
33:44
rather than only your failures. Most of us are
33:47
good at confessing failure to God, and we know
33:51
how to say, I'm sorry. But many of us need so
33:54
much less practice at confessing the truth, and
33:56
you're agreeing with God what God says. Hebrews
33:58
4 .14 says that, And so to hold firmly to what
34:10
we profess, The Greek word there to hold firmly
34:13
is to seize, to grasp tightly, to not let go,
34:17
to confess your identity in Christ is something
34:19
to seize and hold tightly in the moments that
34:22
it's hard to believe. And so in your workbook,
34:27
it says, design your identity declaration using
34:29
the I am truths for today and adding something
34:33
that the spirit can specifically spoke. speak
34:36
to you about, write it down, date it, and do
34:38
this every morning. And that way you can really
34:40
get rooted. And so the fullness of being who
34:43
you are on purpose. And I want to close today
34:46
by Ephesians 3, 14 through 21, and one of God's
34:50
Paul's greatest prayers, one of that I believe
34:52
is prayed by the Spirit of God over every person
34:55
listening right now. And for the reason I kneel
34:57
before the Father from those from every family
35:00
in heaven and on earth. derives its name. I pray
35:04
that out of this glorious riches He may strengthen
35:06
you with the power of thoughts and through His
35:09
Spirit on the inner being so that Christ may
35:11
dwell in our hearts and through faith. And I
35:14
pray that to you, being rooted and established
35:16
in love and may have the power together with
35:18
all of God's holy people to grasp how wide and
35:21
how long and how high and deep the love of Christ
35:24
and to know the love that surpasses knowledge
35:27
and that you will be filled to the measure of
35:29
all the fullness of God. And now to Him who is
35:33
able and immersible more than all we ask and
35:35
imagine according to His power and His work within
35:38
us, to Him the glory of the church and Jesus
35:41
Christ throughout all generations forever and
35:44
ever. Amen. And I want you to hear what Paul
35:47
is praying. He's not praying that you get better
35:50
at behaving. He's not praying that you clean
35:52
up your act. Excuse me. He is praying that you
35:57
are rooted and established in love and the love
36:00
of God would be the soil of your identity and
36:02
that it grows and that you can grasp fully, comprehensively
36:06
by seizing that moment, how long and how wide,
36:08
how high and how deep that love of Christ is.
36:11
And the goal and the destination of this prayer
36:14
is that you be filled with the measure of fullness
36:18
of God, all the fullness of God, not a fraction
36:21
of the taste, the fullness in you and through
36:24
the spirit who dwells in you. That is who you
36:26
are and that is what you've been made available
36:29
to you, not because you are impressive, but because
36:32
He is and He lives in you. And I want to ask
36:35
you to receive that today, not just to hear it,
36:37
but to receive it, to land in the deepest places
36:40
that you have and let it reach the places where
36:43
lies live and where the false name has been carved
36:46
in and the old voices, the still echoes. Let
36:49
the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge,
36:53
dwell in there. And you are not who you are,
36:56
your past says that you are. You are not who
36:59
your failures say you that you are. You are not
37:01
who your fear says that you are. You were chosen,
37:04
redeemed, forgiven, holy, loved, new and free.
37:08
And that is identity that we live from. And so
37:13
now set some intentions, not vague ones, not
37:16
specific ones, but who are you going to be different
37:20
today? And so I hope that this has really helped
37:24
you. You've done the works today. We've really
37:27
dug some deep. And now, and that's not what has
37:30
been in the light. I hope that you allow it to
37:33
be in the light. And you went somewhere with
37:36
me and I'm grateful for that. And so let me leave
37:38
you with this. You don't have to earn your identity.
37:42
You don't have to perform for it. You don't have
37:43
to clean up yourself, but for before you can
37:46
receive it. The God that made you has already
37:48
declared that who you are, He has spoken it over
37:51
to you. He's the foundation of the world. He
37:53
painted on Calvary. He sealed it with His Holy
37:55
Spirit at the moment that you place your faith
37:57
in Christ. Living free in Christ is not achieving
38:01
some new level. It is about receiving what has
38:05
already been given and standing firm in what
38:07
has already been established. And every single
38:10
day when the old voice comes back, whenever the
38:12
lies tries to put... it's closed back on you,
38:15
you have the Word of God, you have the Spirit
38:17
of God, and you have community of God to help
38:20
you take it back off and put on what is true.
38:24
And remember, you are chosen, you are loved,
38:27
and you were free. Now go live like this. And
38:31
if this episode helped you, it was meaningful,
38:33
share it with somebody who needs it. subscribe
38:35
so you don't miss another channel, another coming
38:38
up episode, hit that little subscribe button,
38:40
send it, write a comment, leave us a review,
38:42
and if you're working through the July workbook,
38:45
keep going. Every word that's written is part
38:48
of the transformation that's working for you.
38:51
We love you and we hope that you guys were inspired
38:53
and encouraged by this and that we are taking
38:55
off those old clothes and putting on the new
38:58
ones. And so we hope to see you back here in
39:00
September. We will maybe make a August tutorial
39:04
for you just so you guys have something to do.
39:06
Have a great August and we will see you back
39:09
here in September. We love you, bye.