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53. Confused About Your Calling? How Identity Leads to Purpose · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Corina: Knowing who we are in Christ is so important. But it's more than just who am I as a Christian, it's who did God make me to be? And when we get that, I truly believe that it leads to our purpose, it leads to fulfillment, and it leads us to do the thing that God made us to do. So today we're gonna be talking about your personal identity in Christ. What does that look like? How do you figure it out? We're gonna talk through it all, so stay tuned. It's gonna be.
• 0:35
  Josh: If you're tired of leading others while secretly battling doubt, discouragement and mental warfare,
• 0:40
  Corina: and you want practical tools to renew your mind and walk boldly in your
• 0:44
  Josh: calling as a leader, you're in the right place. Welcome to believe and become.
• 0:48
  Corina: We're Josh and Corina your spirit filled coaches, here to help you overcome those limiting beliefs and lead others confidently.
• 0:55
  Josh: If you're ready to hear God's voice more clearly, to step into your purpose and find joy and strength in the
• 1:01
  Corina: everyday silence those Bible app reminders judging you from your lock screen and let's jump in.
• 1:12
  Josh: I actually spent about 19 years as an engineer. I went to college for that. I got my master's degree and it was a great job. It was very stable, very steady. The pay was great, the hours were reasonable and, and I had a lot of freedom with that job. It was a good job and the work was pretty interesting most of the time. But really it was never fulfilling to me. I never really had that sense of fulfillment really until I got into more of the project leadership and management where I was working with people. I was helping them achieve their goals, I was encouraging them and just pulling out all the good things that they had inside of them and helping them achieve their dreams. And that's when I really started to feel more of fulfillment in my career, in my job that I had. So fast forward to those last couple of years and I realized I need to make a change. God was calling me out of that safe engineering job into something a little more risky to actually just follow him and see where he led me. And what I realized through that process we went to ministry school, is that I really do love working with people and helping them achieve their dreams. I love teaching, I love just anything that I can do to connect people to God better. And then I started to, as I'm working with people I'm coaching, I realized, ah, this is so fulfilling to me. I get to do this every day and I'm not exhausted at the end of a session. I'm actually get filled up and feel really excited. That's how you know that you're operating out of your true identity. Things that would be work to anyone else are exciting, they're fun, they fill you up. That's how you know that you're really doing what God has created you to do. And that's what we want to talk about today is how do you figure out who God created you to be and how do you move into that in your life? So if this is something that you're struggling with, maybe you don't understand who God created you to be or you feel stuck in your current job or your current situation, you want to to take a step out, take a risk and move into something new or just really learn how to hear God for your purpose for your life. This is something that we offer as part of our Clarity coaching program. We love to help people hear God's voice and step into what God's calling them to. So if that is something that you struggle with and you want to get better at, check out our Clarity coaching program@joshandkarina.com coaching the link is in the description and the show notes. Click on that and check it out. We would love to work with you. It's one of our favorite things to do.
• 3:54
  Corina: I love how that story illustrates that you were doing something that seemed like the right thing to do. Right? Anybody who looked at our lives throughout that period would have just seen a happy, successful family. Right? We were. We had everything we needed. We were still be able to do ministry and yet we had this constant kind of turmoil where you just didn't feel fulfilled or there was just like, this isn't it. And I think that just one. Just because you're good at something mean, that's what you're supposed to do. A lot of times people are like, well what are you good at? Like do that. It's like sometimes that works, but sometimes you're just an intelligent person and you can do technical things and you're good at that and you had so much favor in that job. And so then there's another thing where people are like, well, you know, God is opening the doors and he's blessing you. It all of those things are true, but it doesn't mean that's what he made you to do. And I think that we can get stuck in places because we think we're just being faithful. Like I'm just going to be faithful. This is what God has given me. And sometimes that's absolutely what you're supposed to do. But when there's that void, when it feels like this is sucking the life out of me, or this feels like God, this can't be it. It probably isn't it. There's probably something else that he has for you to do. It's important that you seek him for who he made you to be. And so we want to make this distinction between the family identity, identity as a believer in Christ, versus your personal identity, who God made you to be. Because that is what really directs your more than that overarching idea. And if you don't know those things, we're going to talk through them. That's a good place to start. But knowing who he made you to be, that's where you will find your purpose.
• 5:41
  Josh: So let's talk about who we all are as believers, as Christ followers. We're all children of God. Over and over again, God calls us his children. And what an amazing privilege to be called children of God. He is the best father ever. And we get to be his kids. And he lavishes his love on his kids. He takes care of his kids. Imagine the best earthly father that you've ever met or could even imagine. God is way, way better than that. And so we get to be his kids. We are also priests and kings, which means that we actually get to serve in his house. We get to worship him. But also he's called us kings and queens to rule with Him. We get to bring his kingdom, the attributes of kingdom to Earth. That is our mission and our mandate on planet Earth is to rule and to bring his favor, to bring everything that God wants to do, we get to partner with him to make that happen on Earth. And that is so, so incredible. What an incredible privilege that we get to partner with Him.
• 6:49
  Corina: Yeah. And we're loved. You are so loved. We know that for God so loved the world. He gave his only son. And we know that what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. We know that we loved. And you are accepted. You are accepted by him the way that you are with all your mistakes and failures, all of your flaws. You are accepted into his family. He has chosen you and adopted you. And I think one verse to just throw in here is first Peter 2, 9. You are a royal priesthood, a chosen people, a holy nation. You belong to God. And your purpose is to declare his glory throughout the earth, to shine his marvelous light. And that I think covers all those bases. You are holy. You are priests, you are kings. Like you are royal. And all of these things are true. They're true about you, they're true about us, but they're not the end of the story. And when we get this big picture idea, then we have a better idea of what we're supposed to do, how we're supposed to walk, how we're supposed to live our lives. But who did God make you to be? That is a little bit more intentional, a little bit more focused. And I think it requires a lot of what we've talked about, that listening, prayer, spending time with the Lord, listening to what he says about you and thinks about you. And so we're going to break down Ephesians 2:10 today just to kind of lean into what does it look like to know who I am, who I was made to be? What does it look like to know my identity in Christ?
• 8:23
  Josh: Ephesians 2:10 says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we're actually going to break this down into a few pieces and just kind of go through it. This is an incredible verse that just speaks so deeply to who we are in Christ. So first, you are his workmanship. And I love that word workmanship. It talks about. This is God's. He's weaving something together. There's almost this idea of a tapestry in the original Greek, where God is weaving together all the parts of your life. And sometimes we only see the back. If you've ever looked at the backside of a tapestry, it looks like a mess, there's threads going everywhere. But then you flip it over to the other side and you see the beautiful picture of what God has done in your life. And so sometimes we don't understand all the connections. We don't understand the mess, the different struggles that we go through that God allows us to go through, until really we get to flip it over, take a step back and see, wow, God has been working my life together for my good my entire life, and he's doing that in you. You are his workmanship. He continues to weave together your life for your good and to create a beautiful, beautiful picture.
• 9:47
  Corina: And Jeremiah chapter 18 paints this beautiful picture of a potter and a clay. And that's exactly what it reminds me of, this idea. If you've ever seen somebody working with clay on a potter's wheel, there's this process that happens where it starts as a lump and they build it into something and it gets smashed down and they build it into something and then it starts to take shape and then they're shaving off pieces and they're sticking their hand in there and making the hole for this beautiful vase or whatever it might be. And it's a messy process. I think that's exactly that picture of the back of the tapestry where it's just. This is. All I see is the mess when I'm on the wheel. All I feel is the part cities taking off and the. The places where he's bringing me in close. And it feels hard. But this is a process of sanctification. This is the thing that God is doing in you, because you are a masterpiece. You are something beautiful that he is creating. And I love that word workmanship. I love that it's not just like, you went to work and you did your job and now you're going home and you have something to show for it. No, this is intentional, specific time that he spent forming and making you. And I love Psalm 139 that says, you're fearfully and wonderfully made. Because that word fearful means awesomely and reverently. It's like all of the angels gathered around and God was like, look what I'm making. I have something so beautiful to show you. It's this awesome and reverent moment. And then wonderfully, he put a difference on you. He set you apart. You were made to show how marvelous he is. And I just think that's so cool that he took such care with each person when there's so many of us. That feels impossible, but he takes such care with each one of us to make us beautiful.
• 11:36
  Josh: Jeremiah 1:5 says, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. God had a purpose and a plan. When he created you, he knew you. He knew what you were going to do. He knew what he created you for. And it was specifically on purpose. It's not an accident. And he cannot wait to reveal those things to you. He is so excited. God is so excited about telling us our identity because he had that all in mind when he formed you, when he created you. And he just loves to reveal that as any good father gives their kids identity and speaks life into them. That's what God is going to do in you.
• 12:19
  Corina: Yeah. And the next part of the verse says, you were created in Christ Jesus. I love this because there's so much in that little phrase that in Christ Jesus, you are made in his image. You look like Him. There's some little part of use. Maybe it's your nose, maybe it's your eyes or the way that you laugh. There's some part of you that looks like Jesus. You are made in him. And the Bible says that everything is made in him. And through him we have our being like every part of us comes from Him. And you reflect something beautiful about Jesus. You are called by his name. And Revelation tells us that he has a special name for you that only you and him will ever know, because he knows you. And he decided who you were going to be and what you were going to carry long before you were made. You were made in Christ Jesus on purpose, for a purpose.
• 13:14
  Josh: And it's so key that we figure out, we find out, we search out what is that purpose God that you have for me. The last part of Ephesians 2:10 says you are created for good works, prepared in advance. Before you were born, he set you apart, he appointed you. He saw the job that needed to be done and he made you specifically for it. No one can reach the people that you can reach. No one can say the truth like you can say you have a specific purpose, people that you are called to reach and to love with God's love, the love of the Father. And the best part is so sometimes we get so scared about am I going to make a mistake? Am I going to. I have to look a certain way or act a certain way. You can't be wrong by just being you. Being true to who you are, who God created you to be is exactly what's going to attract those people to you that you're called to and so just be you. Your sense of humor, the way that you put words together, the way that you think about things and see the world, it's all on purpose. It's because of what God put inside of you. And your purpose is going to flow from your identity, that identity of who he created you to be. That's a puzzle piece that fits exactly into the picture of what God is doing on the earth in his kingdom. He is just so excited for you to find that spot and push you in there and see the beautiful picture of what he's doing all throughout the earth. It's so incredible. As everybody in the body of Christ, as we figure out who we are and our true purpose, that's when the body starts to operate the way that it's supposed to be. And that's when are really effective at reaching other people, loving people. Well, serving the world, serving people, that's what we're called to do. And that's really, that's the most important thing that we can do once we give our lives to Jesus. Let's figure out who we are, what we're created to do, and go after with all our hearts. It's so incredible. I know that this can feel hard. So if you feel like you're struggling just hearing God's voice for who he created you to be or knowing your true identity in Christ, this is something that we specialize in. We love to partner with people. We have a Clarity coaching program that is designed exactly for this. Come in, hear the truth of what God speaks over you. We help you hear God's voice to discern what's true, what he's really saying over you, and to get rid of those lies that have been holding you back for too long. Check out our Clarity coaching program. It's@joshandkarina.com coaching the link is in the description and in the show notes. You will not regret it. God always shows up. And he shows up in such a powerful way to allow you to become who he truly created you to be, to know your true self and not that those lies of what people have told you for way too long. We get rid of those lies and we focus on the truth of what God is saying over you. Joshandkarina.com coaching book your session today.
• 16:25
  Corina: Do you want to laugh at some lies?
• 16:27
  Josh: Sure.
• 16:28
  Corina: Okay. Here's the light. Just as we're thinking about, as we're talking about this, I'm thinking I can hear people's responses or maybe the thoughts that you might be having. Like, well, maybe God made other people right, but he messed up when he made me right. The potter, the potter and the clay, it just got kind of messed up. And, you know, there's. There's messy pieces of me that God didn't really intend. It's a lie. It's a lie. Or what about this? I don't look like Jesus. These things are. Are so. They're real thoughts that we have. They're real objections that come up when you hear a sermon like this or when you talk to somebody or you read a Bible verse. And they're like, but, but God made you in his image. And you're like, maybe, but I don't feel like it. I feel messed up, right? And so I just want you to know that anything that we think that is contrary to the word of God is a lie. Anything that you might be thinking in response to this, it's a lie. Because all of these things that we're sharing with you today, they're straight from scripture. We can give you scripture to back up every single idea that we've shared. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You were made on purpose, for a purpose. God saw a problem. He saw a need in the world, and then he made you to fill it, to fix it, to do the thing, and says that you were created for good works, prepared in advance. He already saw the problem, and he said, she's the one. He's the one. They're gonna fix it. They are the solution. He made you just the way you're supposed to be. He didn't mess up when he made you. And when you really grab hold of that, then you begin to see how you fit. What is your purpose? What is that? And so we're gonna talk about how you can figure this out, how you can sit with the Lord, the questions that you can ask, so that you can figure out, who am I really supposed to be.
• 18:28
  Josh: And like I said, identity is one of his favorite things to talk about because it's so key. And identity is really something that we only get from other people, from somewhere external, from us. You can't just go look inside yourself and go, this is who I am. I mean, the world might try to tell you that, but really, we pick that up along the way. We pick it up from our parents, from our peers, from just random people that say something to you, and you go, oh, I think I'm going to agree with that. And that becomes who you are. It's really dangerous to listen to anybody else besides God about who you are. And that's why this is so, so important. So really, what we want to do is just sit with the Lord, get really peaceful and start asking him some questions. We're going to listen to him and just write down everything that you hear from him. Remember that God's going to speak to you with love and kindness. He's never going to condemn you. He's not going shame you. That's not how he operates. He's going to speak life. And when you hear that word, it's going to leap inside of you. You're going to go, oh, yes, I'm excited about that. It's going to resonate with your spirit. And that's how you know that it's from God. So the first thing to do is sit and ask God, what do you love about me? And this? I love to do this for other people. Whenever I meet a new person or somebody that I want to minister to while we're talking, I'll just go, God, what do you love about this person? And you can do that for yourself. God, what is it that you love about me, how did you uniquely create me? What is special in your heart about me that is not anyone else. It's just really unique to me. Write down what you hear. And I love to lead people through this process of. Let's just ask God, what do you love about me? And he always says something incredible like you're a mighty warrior, or you were created specifically to go to this people group and to love them well. Or remember that challenge in your life that you overcame. Wow. That is something that you are uniquely qualified to go in and speak life and to speak truth and to speak freedom and to release the captives. Just like Jesus. Yeah.
• 20:36
  Corina: And I think asking him, God, what do you call me? Or how do you see me? I think that also reflects kind of what you're talking about, this idea of how does God see you? Because we see ourselves, I think, in a very limited way. I only see, I see myself with all of my mess and all of the conversations happening in my head and all of the mistakes that I've made and all of the things that I'm trying to overcome. That's how I see myself. Other people see me differently, but God sees me accurately and he knows he sees me beyond the mess. He sees you beyond your crazy or your tendencies or your sins. He sees the real you that he made you to be. And so God, how do you see me? I think is the next question we should be asking, what do you love about me and how do you see me? I think that when you ask God those questions, you might be surprised by his answer. I think that God might love things about you that you don't always love or things that you thought, oh, you know, that might be something that people have made fun of me about or something that I haven't been real confident in. And God's like, oh, no, I did that on purpose. You're exactly who I made you. You laugh really loud because that's how I made you to laugh. Or, you know, one eye is bigger than the other because that's how I made. Because I love that about you. You'll find that God will just share these things with you and they'll become sweet moments with him. And every time that you see, you see that about yourself, you're going to remember, oh, God loves that about me. And so it begins to reform the way you think about yourself.
• 22:06
  Josh: Yeah. So many times, those little annoyances or the things maybe you don't like about yourself or maybe other people have pointed out, sometimes those are the things that God wants to mature in you. He wants to bring about something special through those, because those are the things that make us unique. It's not the things that make us like everybody else. Those are not as special as the things that make us unique. And sometimes we don't like those things. But when we get it in perspective from our Heavenly Father, it just changes it. It changes the way that we view ourselves. It changes our relationship with him and that allows us to just walk in the freedom that has for us.
• 22:49
  Corina: Yeah.
• 22:50
  Josh: And so the next question you want to do is just sit with the Lord and ask him, God, what makes me come alive? What am I passionate about? What are the things that really bug me about the world? What do I get upset when I see it? Those are all things that you're created uniquely to go. That's your calling. That is your purpose. When you. You go do something, you minister or you go to your job and you talk to somebody, or maybe it's cooking or, you know, imagine anything. Sometimes it's building things. It doesn't have to be something that's super holy. And like, I'm called to be a pastor, it can be, I just love to bake cookies and give it to my neighbors and love people through that. Or I love to go get in the shop and build stuff out of wood and give gifts. Or I just really love being uniquely creative, making websites or creating images or, you know, whatever it is that makes you really excited. Your purpose is in that. And sometimes we just dismiss that as well. It's just a hobby. I can never really do that, but explore with the Lord. What does it look like to use that for your glory? What does it look like to use that to reach other people? I have a client that actually wrote a book where he partnered with artists and then wrote stories that went along it with the artwork. And then he has that translated into multiple languages. And he's selling that all around the world, especially in the Middle East. And it is speaking uniquely to those people's hearts because the artwork comes alive and they go, wow, that's an amazing painting. That's an amazing photograph. And then he partnered that with the truth of God's word, stories and testimonies. It's so cool the way that God has brought that together because he was passionate about it. To unique. I mean, people. People in Iran are coming to know Jesus through this book. It is wild. And it's just because he followed a little bit of a dream that he had with God, something that he was passionate about.
• 24:54
  Corina: Yeah. And that. And that brings up our last question. What dreams do you have? What dreams do you have? What are the dreams that God has placed in your heart? We know from the Psalms that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, he gives us the desires of our heart. But sometimes I don't even know that we've allowed ourselves to dream those dreams, to know what those desires are. And so it's really valuable to sit down and say, if money wasn't an issue, what would I do? Where would I go? Who would I talk to? How would I live my life and just begin to dream with the Lord? And that's something that you can do in that quiet time with Him. God, draw out the dreams in my heart. I think often, if you've been raised in the church, you probably squashed some dreams, right? Like, there's probably parts of you that you're just like, well, that'll never happen, or that's not holy enough. Or we have this idea that our dreams are separate from what God desires for our life. But the reality is that God gave you those desires and he gave you those dreams. And that's why when you delight in him, he brings those things to pass because it's who he made you to be. So dig into those things. Dig in to dreaming with God. What, what is. What can my future look like? What can my finances look like? What can my family look like? God, what do you want me to do? And Lord, in five years, give me a vision of what my life could be or who I'm. Who I can be. If I just stick with you and listen and lean into this identity that you are speaking over me, I think you'll be surprised at what he says.
• 26:31
  Josh: I remember Corina always used to ask me, if you could do anything, what would it be? And I never really had a good answer to that question. And I think it's because I just hadn't allowed myself to dream with God and allow him to speak those things into me. And so such a. An important step to take and to allow yourself to be free. I could think of anything that you would like to do. And sometimes it's a process that God is leading us through. That was how it was for me. I had to kind of get out of my comfort zone. I had to get out of my routine, of what I've been doing for so many years. Go spend time with God and then try some stuff, try out a few things. It's really hard to figure out what you're passionate about if you never try something new. So try some new things and go, actually, that's really fun. I really feel alive when I do that. And then ask God, what does it look like? Maybe you love whitewater rafting or some extreme sports make you come alive. God, what does it look like to use that for your glory? Do you want, Is this something I could do for my living, like, for my job? And sometimes our passions can be something that we make money from. Sometimes it's something that we do just because it's our calling. It's something that, that we love to do. Either way, explore that with the Lord and see if he doesn't give you some crazy idea of how that could work, some new thing that you could try and then start exploring with Him. What does it look like to do that? What's the first little tiny step that I could take? And then those little steps start to. You learn a lot when you take those. And God's going to direct you all along the process. It's just all about partnering with him, him in the process, allowing him to speak to you and to. Just to move your heart. And as long as we say yes to the process, we're going to get where he wants us to be. You can't mess up God's will for your life. You're not going to mess it up as long as you say, yes, God, I'm going to explore that with you. You'll get where he wants you to be. We hope that this has been helpful to you. Spend some time with God. Get peaceful, get alone with him and ask him these questions. Ask him what he loves about you. You, what did you create me uniquely for God? What makes me come alive? What am I passionate about? And what dreams have you put in my heart? And as you ask those, write them down and just continue to explore that with Him. And he's going to reveal the wonderful, crazy identity that he has for you. You are so uniquely created. And then he's going to show you what are you called to do in life.
• 29:08
  Corina: So remember, you are his workmanship. You were created in Christ Jesus, and you're created for good works, on purpose, for a purpose. And go explore that with the Lord this week. We would love to hear what he reveals to you. You are amazing.