Latest / UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth / Ep 21 - From Peasant to Royalty: Walking in Your True Identity

Transcript

Ep 21 - From Peasant to Royalty: Walking in Your True Identity · UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth

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  Welcome back to Unmasked, where we take off the filters and get
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  real about faith, failure, and finding freedom.
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  I'm your host, Wesley Farnsworth, a dad, veteran,
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  author, and a man who's learned that God does his best work in
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  the middle of our mess. Today, we're continuing our
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  series Changing Your Stars, and this episode is called From
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  Peasant to Royalty. Walking in Your true identity.
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  If you've ever felt unworthy, disqualified, too broken, too
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  flawed, or too ordinary for God to use this message, this
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  episode is for you. Because today we're not talking
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  about behavior. We're not even talking about
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  performance or perfection. Today we're talking about
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  identity. The kind that is given, not
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  earned, The kind that rewrites your entire future.
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  Let me ask you something. Do you believe that you're
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  forgiven but still struggled to believe that you're valuable?
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  Do you believe God loves you, but you don't really believe he
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  likes you? Do you believe that grace saved
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  you, but you're still not convinced grace can use you?
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  If so, you're not alone. Many Christians live in the
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  space between I am forgiven and I'm called.
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  We accept salvation, but we never walk in identity.
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  We know God wiped our record, but we still see ourselves as
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  spiritual peasants. People who serve but don't
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  belong. People who worship but are still
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  unworthy. People who help others but we
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  hide our own pain. People who genuinely love God
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  but silently believe that God probably tolerates me more than
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  he delights in me. I lived in that tension for
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  years. For a long time, I served God
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  from a place of quiet shame. Not outward shame, not public
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  scandal, not exposed sin. Just a constant inner whisper.
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  People don't know who you really are.
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  You're not good enough. You're barely holding it
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  together. You're not as strong as they
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  think. Don't reach too high.
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  Stay safe. Other people get to have
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  purpose. You get to have survival.
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  So I served, I helped, I created, I ministered, I
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  encouraged others. But inside, I still felt like
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  the peasant boy from A Night's Tale, watching the parade from
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  the alley, longing, admiring, believing the dream was for
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  someone else. Even after God began healing me,
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  even after honesty brought freedom, even after I started
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  seeing him rewrite my story, part of me still felt like that
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  I didn't deserve a seat at the table, like I didn't belong
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  among the Knights. Maybe you understand that
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  feeling. Maybe you love God deeply, but
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  you don't see yourself the way that He does.
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  So one day I read a passage that I had read 1000 times, But this
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  time it hit differently. The passage was first Peter 29.
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  But you are chosen people, royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's
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  special possession. Let me repeat that.
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  Zen royal special. I don't believe that's
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  accidental language. That is identity language.
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  The Bible doesn't describe you as barely accepted, tolerated, a
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  disappointment, a project God works on reluctantly, A Sinner
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  he begrudgingly forgave. No, it describes you as royalty.
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  Not metaphorically, not symbolically.
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  Identity level royalty. Meaning if you believe in Jesus,
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  you are not a peasant trying to earn a place, you've already
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  been adopted into the royal family.
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  Here's the part that most believers miss though.
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  When Jesus saved you, he didn't just forgive you, he adopted
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  you. Forgiveness says that you're not
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  guilty. Adoption says as you belong.
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  Forgiveness says that your past is erased, giveness erased.
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  Adoption says your future is secured.
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  Forgiveness says you may go. Adoption says please stay,
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  you're mine. This means your old stars, your
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  past, your background, your labels, your former identity.
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  Those things don't define who you are anymore because God
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  replaced your identity. He didn't patch it, he replaced
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  it. Your old name wasn't improved,
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  it was traded. Your old story wasn't polished,
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  it was redeemed. Your old identity wasn't edited,
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  it was buried. You didn't.
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  You don't belong to your former world anymore, you belong to a
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  Kingdom. At some point in my journey, and
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  it wasn't a single moment, but a long slow conversation between
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  me and God, I felt him saying, You're living like a forgiven
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  peasant, but I called you to live like a redeemed son.
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  And that terrified me because the moment that you accept
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  identity, you become responsible for walking in it.
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  And God began nudging me to do things that felt bigger than me.
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  To be honest about my story when other people were saying keep
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  quiet, to stop hiding, to lead from vulnerability, not image.
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  To write a book when I didn't feel worthy of being heard.
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  To share truths. That I was still learning myself
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  to trust Him more than I trusted my fear.
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  Writing my story, even in the general way that I share it,
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  felt like stepping into the spotlight of a royal parade,
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  barefoot and trembling. But the moment I obeyed, the
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  moment that I stepped out of the shadows, the moment I trusted
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  God with the parts of myself that I wanted to bury, I didn't
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  feel like royalty. But I started to live like
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  someone that God loved, not someone God merely tolerated.
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  And identity follows obedience. Royalty follows surrender.
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  Purpose follows transparency. So why do we struggle to believe
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  we're royalty? Let me give you 4 reasons #1
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  familiarity feels safer than freedom.
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  Some people stay in bondage because at least it's
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  predictable #2 shame feels deserved, identity feels
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  unearned. We trust our guilt more than
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  God's grace #3 religion tells us to behave, the gospel tells us
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  to belong. Only one of those bring freedom
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  #4 we've been conditioned to think that royalty is for better
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  Christians. It's not.
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  It's for sons and daughters, which includes you.
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  Let me speak over you what God speaks over his children.
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  You are chosen. You are beloved.
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  You are wanted. You are valued.
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  You are forgiven. You are adopted.
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  You are royalty. You are a part of a holy nation.
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  You are God's special possession.
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  You aren't supposed to watch the parade, You're supposed to be in
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  it. You are not called to admire.
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  They're not called to admire the armor.
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  You are called to wear it. You are not called to live under
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  the identity that others gave you.
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  You are called to walk in the identity that Christ purchased
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  for you. I want to slow down here and
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  give you some questions to think about wearing your life.
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  Are you still living like a peasant?
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  Is it in your confidence? Is it in your calling, your
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  relationships, yourself worth your view of God?
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  What lie has been telling you that you don't belong in God's
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  family? What parts of you feel too
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  ordinary to be used by God? What dream died because someone
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  told you you can't change your stars?
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  Sit with these questions. Write them down, give them to
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  you again #1 Where in your life are you still living like a
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  peasant? Is it in your confidence,
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  calling, relationships, self worth, or your view of God #2
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  What lie has been telling you that you don't belong in God's
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  family #3 what parts of your life feel too ordinary to be
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  used by God? And finally #4 what dream died
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  because someone told you that you can't change your stars?
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  After you've written those down, let the Holy Spirit speak into
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  them. Sit there and pray and let the
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  Holy Spirit speak into those questions for you.
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  Because here's the truth that I want you to hold on to.
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  You don't have to earn your identity.
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  You only have to accept it. You don't have to pray your way.
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  You don't pray your way into royalty.
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  You don't behave your way into royalty, and you don't serve
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  your way into royalty. You're a royalty because the
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  Father, your father is the king. And royalty doesn't walk with
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  its head down. It doesn't hide, it doesn't
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  shrink, and it doesn't apologize for existing.
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  Royalty steps forward. It carries purpose.
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  Royalty walks in confidence, not arrogance, but identity.
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  If you're wondering. OK Wes, how do I walk in this
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  truth? Then let me give you 3 practical
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  steps to answer that question. Number one, speak to yourself
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  the way that God speaks about you.
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  Stop repeating the names shame gave you at #2 surround yourself
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  with people who reinforce your identity, not your fear.
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  See, royal identity grows in royal community.
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  So surround yourself with people who will speak into you with
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  truth and reinforce your identity #3 take one step that
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  scares you. Yes, I said that.
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  Take one step that scares you. Identity becomes real when you
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  act on it. Maybe for you it's starting
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  counseling. Maybe the step is joining a
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  group or serving in a ministry. Maybe it's sharing your story
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  with somebody. Maybe it's starting a project
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  that God's been whispering or just letting someone pray for
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  you. Royal identity requires royal
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  action. Remember that peasant boy
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  watching the nights? Many of us are still standing in
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  that alley, watching others live out their calling, believing
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  that we're not worthy of the parade.
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  But God. God isn't calling you to
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  spectate. He's calling you to participate.
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  He's calling you to step into the street, to put on the armor,
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  to rise into your calling, and to walk like someone the King
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  delights in. Because he does.
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  He delights in you. Walk in that.
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  Thanks for joining me today on Unmasked.
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  If this episode helped you see yourself differently, if it
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  reminded you of who you really are, please share this with
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  somebody who needs the same reminder in the next episode.
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  We're going to wrap up this series with an episode entitled
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  You Can Change Your Stars Stepping Into God's Blueprint.
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  Until then, remember that you are not a peasant hoping to be
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  loved. You are royalty.
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  You're already chosen, you're already valued, and more
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  importantly, you're already His. Walk Like it.
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  God bless you.