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11. You Are God’s Masterpiece: Living From Your True Identity in Christ · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Whatever we do throughout our lives, I just find it helpful to be like, I'm just a kid. Yeah, just a kid in God's family room making noise. Making noise. I'm doing my best. And whether I, whether I do a good job, I think I do a good job, or I do think I do a bad job, it's really useful just to go, God, what did you think about that? His opinion tends to be a lot different from ours. And he's, I don't, I've never heard him say, well, that was terrible. Try harder, try harder. It's always like, that was amazing. Yeah, you did so good. Love your heart. I love your heart. To serve me, to glorify me, how you reflect my glory. He's just such a good dad. Welcome to Believe and Become Spirit led breakthrough for transformation that lasts.
• 0:50
  Speaker B: We're Josh and Corina Greegor, authors, speakers and freedom coaches who help Christians like you break free from any anxiety, burnout and spiritual frustration by renewing your mind and walking in truth.
• 1:02
  Speaker A: If you're hungry for real, lasting change and ready to grow in identity, peace and purpose, you're in the right place.
• 1:10
  Speaker B: Let's believe what God says and become who he created us to be.
• 1:20
  Speaker A: Welcome back to the Believe and Become podcast. We're so excited that you're here with us. Listening. Today we're continuing our conversation on our identity in Christ. It is so important to understand who God created us to be, what he says about us, because we can't consistently do what we don't believe we are.
• 1:41
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 1:42
  Speaker A: And I have found that God doesn't change the conversation much from identity. He always wants to speak identity over me. Over you. Whenever I ask him, God, what do you want to talk about today? He almost always says, I'm so proud of you. I'm so pleased with what you're doing, who you are. You're my son. I'm so proud of you. And he's just saying that over you. Today. My experience with, with God is that he just, he wants to pour out his presence over us. And part of that is just understanding our relationship to him, who he created us to be. The dreams that he's put in your heart, those aren't just you, that's God put those in there too. So many times we think, oh, I have this crazy dream of what I would like to do. Nah, that's must just be me. I'm gonna squash that. But so many times God actually put that in there and he's trying to call that out of you. And so it's just important to know what he's saying about us. And one of the most important things we can renew our minds with is our identity in Christ, writing down those things that he's saying over us. And you can turn those into declarations and say them over yourself every single day. That's what I do. And, boy, let me tell you, it really helps you step into what God's called you to be, who he's called you to be.
• 2:58
  Speaker B: Yeah, this idea that we have dreams or thoughts or maybe just something occurs to you, like, oh, I should totally do this, or this would be so cool if I could fill in the blank. Right. Or maybe you have a picture in your mind of. I would just love to speak to stadiums of people. And there's something in. I don't know if it's human nature, if it's our culture, if it's maybe things you've been told, but there's something that goes so prideful, like, you're not that great. I don't know.
• 3:30
  Speaker A: That sounds like the Enemy to me.
• 3:31
  Speaker B: It does sound like the Enemy, but it's. It comes, I think, through all of those other influences. Right. Stop trying to like, you're not special. What makes you think you could do that? That's obviously the enemy. Yes, but it comes through voices that we've heard from other people. It comes through our own sense of, I could never do that. You know, our insecurities. But when you begin to explore who God made you to be, and not just who God made you to be, but how God calls people out, even in Scripture, people who thought they were nothing, people who thought they were the smallest, people who were the least, people who were forgotten. And he calls them to greatness. We are all made for greatness. We all carry his glory. We all carry a piece of his heart. And the dreams that we have that sound impossible, but that's not the Enemy. The Enemy's not trying to get you to go evangelize to people on the street. He's not trying to convince you that you should fill stadiums and preach the gospel. Like, the Enemy is not putting those dreams or those ideas in your mind. And I think most of us are not that full of ourselves that we could think we would be able to do those things on our own. So recognizing who we are in Christ actually gives us permission to dream those dreams and to walk into, I think, greater things than we would conceive for ourselves. It gives us permission to say, I think I could do that. I think maybe that's something that God is calling me to do, which might feel huge or insurmountable sometimes. One of my favorite Bible teachers, Beth Moore, says that if it doesn't make you scared, it's probably not God. If I can do it on my own, then it's not a God sized dream. A God sized dream is going to scare your pants off. Right. Like you're going to be like, there's no way I could do that. God. And if we can do it without Him, I don't know, what's the point? He created us for big things. And so, yeah.
• 5:29
  Speaker A: I mean, if God wanted us to think small and with limitations, he did a bad job because I mean, a bad job.
• 5:36
  Speaker B: Of telling us.
• 5:37
  Speaker A: Yeah. Of telling us. Bible says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
• 5:42
  Speaker B: All. All things.
• 5:42
  Speaker A: All things.
• 5:43
  Speaker B: And he says greater things than these will you do. Right. Jesus said. Jesus said you're going to do greater things than I have done. That's crazy. That blows my mind. Because Jesus raised the dead.
• 5:56
  Speaker A: Yeah. With God all things are possible.
• 5:58
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
• 6:00
  Speaker A: And how many stories do you read through the entire Bible of people that you know, Gideon, Moses, David, I mean, you name it, it was just person after person in the Bible. That was Esther. I mean, pretty much everybody in the Bible, they weren't qualified for what they were called to do.
• 6:17
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 6:18
  Speaker A: But God qualifies us. He qualifies you for what he's called you to. To do. And so we're just here today to blow the ceiling off of what you believe about yourself and what you believe is possible through God. As we get that inside of our hearts, that changes us. And that's God's word. That's his promise to us. We're not just making stuff up to make you feel good, but it's in, it's in His Word and it's in there for a reason.
• 6:46
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 6:47
  Speaker A: And I just feel like so many of us, for whatever reason, have been limited in our thinking for our whole lives. That could never happen. That's impossible. I could never do that. Probably don't get my hopes up because I'm just going to get disappointed, you know? And God's like, He says the opposite. He's like, get your hopes up, get excited. Get that huge dream in your heart and run after it. Because I want to make your dreams come true.
• 7:16
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:16
  Speaker A: I want to see you step into the fullness of who I created you to be. I created you uniquely. Psalm 139, verse 14 says, I will praise you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. God is a good creator. Just read the creation account. Everything he made was good. When he made Adam, he was very good.
• 7:43
  Speaker B: He was very good, very good.
• 7:45
  Speaker A: And. And he hasn't stopped making very good things. When he created you, he made a very good creation. He looks over all of creation with pride. It's like, look at what I did. God kind of likes to show off a little bit. I mean, if you've ever seen a sunrise, beautiful mountains, like sometimes you just go out in nature. Wow. God, you're incredible. How much more wondrous.
• 8:10
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 8:11
  Speaker A: Are his children. You are a wondrous creation. And he is proud of how he made you. He didn't make a mistake when he created you.
• 8:19
  Speaker B: That's right. 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. Some translations say, we are his masterpiece. You are his masterpiece. You are something that he made with his own hands, that he made beautifully and he made well. He didn't make any mistakes, like Josh said. And I think sometimes we look at our lives, we look at ourselves, and we're like, this could not have been God's design. Like, God, why did you do that? And I get that some of us have, you know, kids or family members with mental health issues or difficult things that come. And I. I don't think that those kind of things were God's design. I don't see God making those quote unquote mistakes. God doesn't do that. God's design is flawless. But we live in a fallen world. We live in a world where the enemy has come to steal and kill and destroy. And so we can take the, this idea that you are his workmanship and the things in your life that feel hard or not good, take them to him, talk to him about those things. God, was this your plan? And if so, how is this for my good? Show me where, where the good is. And if it's something that we need to work through, let's. Let's do that until good comes of it. But God can be glorified through those things if we will allow ourselves to rest in him and to truly discover his purpose and his plan through it all. If we can say, okay, Lord, we are your workmanship. Me, my flaws, all the things that I've come with. You know, maybe something that you have seen as a flaw your whole life, God actually has seen as something really beautiful and something really unique. And so seeking his. His opinions about yourself are. I think that's really important that we get. We get with him and say, God, here's something I don't like about me. What do you have to say about it? Getting his perspective on it. Because the things that kids tease you about when you're a kid, you know, when you're in school, those things can leave a mark. You can continue to carry those pains, those hurts throughout your life. But God, what do you think about this? You know, and just talking to him about how he made you.
• 10:35
  Speaker A: Romans 5:8 says, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If that's not love, I don't. I don't know what is. He knew. He knew everything we were ever going to do in our lives. He looked at all of creation. He lives outside of time. He knew every mistake we're going to make, every sin we were going to commit. And he demonstrated his love for us by giving his only son. That is incredible love. And his love is sufficient. Jesus sacrifice was sufficient to pay for all of that all at once. That's incredible. That's an incredible love to give up, really. Himself. He gave up himself because he was so heartbroken that we weren't in right relationship with him, that there was separation between us and God.
• 11:22
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 11:22
  Speaker A: He was like, I would give up everything to get my kids back. And he did. That's incredible. First John 3:1 says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. That we should be called children of God. He upped the ante. We're not just. I mean, he calls us friends, too. That's pretty great. But he adopted us into his family.
• 11:43
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 11:43
  Speaker A: And God is the best father. Think of the best father that you can imagine on the planet. And God is way better.
• 11:50
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 11:51
  Speaker A: And so we can use that picture of a father with his children. But not just any father or an earthly father, even a really good one. God is way better. He is the best father. And he loves his kids so, so much. And he continues just to demonstrate his love for us as he. He pursues us. He's running after us. Just read the story of the prodigal son. The Father comes running because his son is back.
• 12:21
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 12:22
  Speaker A: And he's running to you. And even when life feels dark, it feels difficult, or you've gone through trauma or crazy trials in your life, God is running towards you. He never stops pursuing us. Even when we run away from Him. He continues to pursue us and come after us because he just loves us so much. And it. It breaks his heart if we're not. We're not together. And he would do anything to get you back. And you just hear testimony after testimony of wild conversions, wild redemption stories of how God took somebody from crazy situations and drugs or addiction, gambling, I mean, you name it. Just deep, dark things. And God shows up miraculously and redeems that and brings them into right relationship. It's incredible. God really can do anything. He can do anything.
• 13:10
  Speaker B: I think recognizing that that always stems from his love.
• 13:14
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:15
  Speaker B: Is so transformational that it's not just because he needs another robot to worship him.
• 13:22
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:22
  Speaker B: He doesn't need another. God could have done that. He could have made us without the option. He could have made us just to worship him and to always obey and to do everything perfectly. But instead he chose to. To create us with free will. He chose to create us in such a way that we could choose Him.
• 13:40
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:40
  Speaker B: Because he loves us so much. He wants us to love him back and to have the choice to be able to choose to do that. I just want you to repeat after me. I am deeply loved by God.
• 13:53
  Speaker A: I am deeply loved by God.
• 13:56
  Speaker B: As we go through this, I want you to hear that. I want you to hear who you are. Hear the identity that were speaking over you. I am his masterpiece.
• 14:04
  Speaker A: I am his masterpiece.
• 14:05
  Speaker B: I was created in Christ Jesus for good works.
• 14:08
  Speaker A: I was created in Christ Jesus for good works.
• 14:11
  Speaker B: Yeah. God has good plans for you. He created you special. He loves you at the end of every Veggie Tales episode. What? What did he say?
• 14:21
  Speaker A: God made you special and he loves you very much.
• 14:26
  Speaker B: And that is the. That is the heart of the Father. He made you fearfully and wonderfully. He made you as a ma. He created you specifically and specially for the things that he prepared in advance for you to do. You are deeply loved by God. You are so special and you carry something so specific that nobody else carries. You carry an aspect of the Father. You carry an aspect of God inside of you. We are all reflections of his nature. And so there's something so unique about you. And if you don't know that what that is, we just encourage you to get alone with the Lord and begin to talk to him about God.
• 15:06
  Speaker A: Who.
• 15:06
  Speaker B: Who am I? What did you put inside of me that is unique? I. I know I've spoken to so many people who are like, there's nothing special about me. I. I can't get in front of people or I can't Sing or I can't perform, or I can't, whatever it is. But they don't see the. The unique things in and of themselves. Because maybe it's something that is hidden. Maybe it's something that. Maybe it's hospitality, maybe it's administration. Maybe it's taking really good care of your kids. Maybe, you know, it's these things that go unseen. And so it feels like there's nothing special. I'm just doing life. But I think even when you are gifted or talented, you often feel the same way. I'm just doing what comes naturally. Like, I'm not trying to be special. I'm literally just being who I was made to be. And we don't always see ourselves the way others see us. We don't definitely don't see ourselves the way God sees us. John 15 has something so unique about this idea of abiding. And I want to read to you part of John chapter 15 starting at verse one. I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. I'm gonna skip down to verse 4. Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I, and you, I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. This idea that as we remain attached, as we abide, he says it over and over in this passage. Remain, remain, abide, abide, abide. Make your home in him. He has to be the place where we get our identity. I love how Pastor Bill Johnson talks about this idea of pruning in verse two. Every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. And we think of pruning. Like when I think of refined, being refined or being pruned, that sounds painful. And I'm usually like, I'm good. No, thanks. I think we're good. God, like, we don't need to go. But this idea that pruning is actually a reward. Pastor Bill always says pruning is a reward for bearing fruit, because if you're not pruned, if the fruit that's maybe not as sweet or the fruit that's not as good doesn't get pruned off, then those things are allowed to grow. And so God says, hey, you're doing really good bearing fruit. There's some fruit maybe that we need to get rid of our. There's these extra branches over here that are starting to shoot off, and we don't need those. Those are just going to take away from the good fruit. So let's get rid of those things. And he sees what needs to remain, and he gets rid of the things that are not going to benefit us or not going to produce fruit. And so as we remain in him, we begin to understand who we are. He can say, hey, you're really good at evangelism and you're doing such a great job, but you're also trying to lead worship and run a business and do all these other things that I never called you to do. So why don't we just take a step back from those things and let's step into, you know, more of what you're created to do. And as you abide in him, then you begin to see who you were created to be. And from that identity flows the assignment. So whether. So whether you're called to evangelism and you have all these other kind of plates spinning in the air, he can bring that out of you in those different places. It doesn't have to look like an evangelistic ministry. It can look like, I tell everybody I meet about Jesus, and even on my job, everybody knows I'm a Christian. And if they have an issue, they come to me and I pray with them, and I hand out dollar bills to homeless people and tell them about Jesus. Maybe you don't even recognize that on yourself. You're just like, oh, that's just who I am. Right? And the Lord is like, actually, I've created you to evangelize. I created you to tell people of my love, and it flows out of you. That doesn't have to look like a job title or a position. A calling is just who you are. That's who he created you to be. And those things flow out of your identity as you begin to recognize, I didn't think this thing was special about me, but actually God says it's very good. God says, wow, this is exactly who I made you. Let's do more of that. Let's be more of that. Let's be more kind, let's be more loving, let's be more compassionate. You're really good at that.
• 19:30
  Speaker A: Most of our giftings and callings, the things that we're really good at, come out of us so naturally we don't even recognize it. And it takes time with the Lord or sometimes another person to go, did you know that you carry the father's heart really well and you love people so well. No, I didn't know I did that. It's like, it's just part of who you are. It's in your DNA. It's how God created you.
• 19:52
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 19:52
  Speaker A: And so it's worth spending some time to explore with the Lord. What God? What did you. What about me? It's special. What did you create uniquely in me that only I can do?
• 20:03
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 20:03
  Speaker A: I remember one Saturday morning, I was taking a shower and I just decided to ask the Lord, how am I doing today? How do you think I'm doing today? Because I had spent a lot of time in my feelings and in my own emotions. I feel terrible today. I slept bad. I'm so tired. I don't know if it's going to be a good day or not. And I decided I'm just going to ask the Lord, ask God, how am I? How do you think I'm doing? Because his opinion of us is way more important than our own. And, you know, he said, you are doing so amazing. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you going after me and pursuing your relationship with me. You're doing so great. And I remember finishing getting ready, I came out and Karina asked me, how. How are you doing today? I said, I'm doing great. And she goes, who are you and what have you done with my husband? Because I'm not really a morning person. That was not my typical response.
• 21:01
  Speaker B: That was the first time you had ever said great.
• 21:05
  Speaker A: But it was just saying what God had told me.
• 21:08
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 21:08
  Speaker A: Like I'm making a decision today to believe what God is saying and not what my emotions are saying. And it just reminds me that your past does not define you. Your emotions do not define you. Your experience, what's going on in your. That none of that stuff defines you. God gets to say who you are because he created you.
• 21:27
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 21:28
  Speaker A: And I just feel him right now releasing a special grace for you to hear his voice, to hear what he's saying over you about you, to define you. And it's beautiful. What he sees in you is incredible. And he's wiping the slate clean. That stuff in your past is gone. And it's just all about who he created you to be right now, today. Those things that only you can do, only you can say. And he. He's working all those things from your past. He works all those things together for your good. Even those things that could be tragic in your life. God, he doesn't cause Those things to happen. But he is a redeemer. He redeems our past and he brings us into his glorious plan for us.
• 22:12
  Speaker B: Yeah. That's beautiful. I think too, there can be a temptation. I can begin to think that what I do is who I am or to turn who I am into what I do. And I think that often we see ourselves and we define ourselves by what we do instead of by who we are.
• 22:30
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 22:31
  Speaker B: And I think it would be weird if somebody was like, so what do you do? You know, like, oh, I'm a Jesus lover. I abide in the secret place. You know, people would be like, you are so weird. Even Christians would be like, okay, me too, I guess. Right. So to be like, oh, I'm an evangelist. And they're like, oh, that's what you do? No, actually it's just who I am. I do it all the time, but it's not what I do. Right. Like, so there's this idea in. Maybe it's just in our culture, I don't know. But when you meet somebody, oh, tell me about yourself. And they're like, oh, this is what I do. Right.
• 23:01
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 23:01
  Speaker B: And so we're very much about, this is the job title that I hold. You know, I'm a stay at home mom, or I'm a businessman, or I'm a life coach, whatever it is, I'm a pastor. But he doesn't define us by what we do. He defines us by what he created us to be.
• 23:17
  Speaker A: It makes me think of the illustration of an apple tree.
• 23:20
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 23:21
  Speaker A: Right. So that tree, I know it's an apple tree. Does it, has it produced any apples? No. Does that change whether it's an apple tree? No. If that apple tree died today and it never had any apples, would it still be an apple tree? Yes. And it's the same with us. God has created us with a purpose and with special giftings and talents. But whether or not those ever bear fruit doesn't change who we are, who.
• 23:44
  Speaker B: Were created to be.
• 23:44
  Speaker A: Who were created to be.
• 23:46
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that's. That's exactly it. Because it's who you're created to be, not what you have done.
• 23:51
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 23:51
  Speaker B: Right. And so the apple tree was created to be an apple tree, whether or not it ever has apples.
• 23:56
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 23:57
  Speaker B: Recently we had the opportunity to lead worship. And before worship, during pre service prayer, one of the band members was praying, thanking Jesus that he had come before us, that he had gone before, and he'd walked through the rows of chairs and he had filled the place with his presence. And as he was talking, I got this picture of Jesus literally walking through the rows and touching the chairs. And then when he was done, standing in the back and just smiling at us as we're leading worship. And we weren't. We were praying, but I could just see him, see his face smiling at us. I'm so proud of you. You know, there's just this joy over the worship and joy over his people. And it was such a sweet picture. And then as worship was going on, and if you ever do any sort of performing or leading worship or speaking, you know that you can be doing the thing, but your brain is somewhere else. Or you can be having thoughts right while you're singing or playing or whatever. And so we were in the middle of a song that I was leading, and I heard this voice say, if only they knew how hard you were trying right now. And in the past, it would have probably rattled me. Like, I thought that I was doing really good because I saw Jesus smiling at me. But now, you know what? Now I'm perform. Like, it would. It probably would have thrown me or it would have taken me a while to go, wait, that's not my thought, right? Or that's not true. But I literally. If I hadn't been singing, I probably would have laughed out loud. I was like, that is the most ridiculous thing I've heard this morning. Because Jesus is smiling at me. And I'm. I'm not performing up here. I am. I am just emanating what he gave me to give. And I am just doing it with him and for him and not for any of these people. And, you know, it was just this whole conversation in my head of like, that is hilarious. That is just hilarious. And I had a moment of the worship. Leading the singing is not who I. That doesn't define me. Whether I'm doing it well or doing it poorly, whether I am doing it on the stage or doing it in my bedroom, whether I am the leader or the background, it doesn't matter, because I get to worship him. And that's who I am. I'm a worshiper. I am a lover of God. I get to abide in the secret place no matter where I am. And so for me, this idea that I don't actually have to perform for God, Jesus was smiling at me before I even started singing. Yeah, before I did a good job or a bad job, I was already approved. I didn't have to perform for him. This idea that we don't work for God, we work with Him. Or that I'm not performing for his love. I. I'm actually performing from a place of already having received it. So I can get up there and I can sing the wrong notes or waft in the wrong rhythms, or come in at the wrong place, or not hear the cues where I'm supposed to go. And it doesn't really matter because he's already proud of me. I've already done everything that I need to do just by being his daughter. And so I just want you to repeat after me. I don't have to perform to earn his love.
• 27:09
  Speaker A: I don't have to perform to earn his love.
• 27:11
  Speaker B: I'm his child and I am approved.
• 27:13
  Speaker A: I am his child and I am approved. God's been speaking to me a lot about childlikeness lately, and I think that ties into what Karina was saying. But we're all just his children. If you've ever had kids or been around kids, they're always putting on a show for you. And they're rarely good. I mean, objectively, you know, but it doesn't. That literally does not matter. Like, you just love them because they're your kids and they're cute and it's just fun to see the joy on.
• 27:44
  Speaker B: Their faces and they're a reflection of you.
• 27:46
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 27:47
  Speaker B: Even if what they're doing isn't the best thing they've ever done or that you've ever seen, it might be the best thing they've ever done, but it's not the, maybe not the best thing you've ever seen. It's a reflection of the freedom of being your child.
• 28:01
  Speaker A: Yeah. Your kids aren't. Children aren't worried about, is it good? Am I doing a good job? They just want to see the smiles on their parents faces and kind of smiling down on us. There was a time in ministry school I was on the worship teams and you know, there's definitely like this struggle that I had with performance, wanting to be perfect and play all the songs perfect. And it just, it's a lot of pressure that I put on myself. It wasn't from anybody else. And there was a time where we were, you know, backstage, I think we were praying just before we were gonna go lead worship. And God just reminded me of how we're all just kids in God's family room banging on drums just like our boys. Our boys used to get their instruments out, percussion instruments and xylophones and. And it really is a joyful noise when they were little. Of course, things are different now, but back, back then when they Were little. They're just banging on stuff and it's chaotic sounding, you know. And as we grow up, we think, oh, we're so much better and we're doing a great job and this is beautiful. And it is, and it isn't right. It might be better to human ears, but I'm not sure to God it makes any difference. Yeah, I think kids banging on drums in. In the living room, putting on a show, give God as much joy to his heart as the most beautiful produced worship set that you've ever seen or heard. He's looking at our hearts, and either way, he's looking down saying, those are my kids. I love them. And I just see his face smiling down on us with pleasure. Whatever we do throughout our lives, I just find it helpful to be like, I'm just a kid. Yeah, just a kid in God's family room making noise. Making noise. I'm doing my best. And whether I. Whether I do a good job, I think I do a good job, or I do think I do a bad job, it's really useful just to go, God, what did you think about that? His opinion tends to be a lot different from ours. And he's. I don't. I've never heard him say, well, that was terrible. Try harder, try harder. It's always like, that was amazing. Yeah, you did so good. I love your heart. I love your heart. To serve me, to glorify me, how you reflect my glory. He's just such a good d. Had.
• 30:21
  Speaker B: It reminds me of when I homeschooled our boys when they were little. Probably not that little. I think it was during first year, actually, and we had. We would do devotions in the morning and we would often try to. This is going to sound like really holy, but it's not. I would try to have us memorize a verse together and then sing a hymn that we would learn together. Most mornings I would forget. So we probably got through, I don't know, a handful of verses and maybe they. Maybe they learned a couple of hymns, I don't know. But during first year, I had this struggle of identity, of coming into a new environment. I think I. I have talked about this before, but just having kind of everything taken off my plate. And I had for 20 years been a worship leader. That was my identity. And I didn't get to do that in school. And so that was a really difficult shift for me because I thought that I knew that I was a worship leader in my heart. I was a worshiper. Regardless of whether I was leading but there was a big part of me that felt just, like, kind of empty. And we had been in class and somebody was leading a song, and I was, you know, not trying to be judgmental, but just had a moment where my. My brain went, I could do that better than her. And recognizing immediately and being like, God, this is not my heart. This is not how I want to be. I don't want to be here judging people. Exactly what you said. Every thing that we offer, it's beautiful to him, and I know that. And so just really checking my heart in the moment. So I think it was the very next day. I had time in the morning to sit with the boys and have our devotions and stuff. And so we were singing Great as Thy Faithfulness. And so I don't know if he ever listens to this. He'll probably be mortified that I shared this. But our oldest son, his voice was changing at the time, and so. So on one side, I have Great Is Thy Faithfulness. And he's just trying to find the note because it's too low or it's too high. And his voice isn't quite comfortable in either register. So I have him going up and down. And my other son, my middle son, and at the time was liking to sing everything in an operatic style. And so I had, on the other side, morning, you know, he's this big, giant voice. And so I'm just sitting there in the middle of it. And, you know, there's, like, the musician, perfectionist part of me that is like, this is not the beautiful picture that I had in my mind of us singing hymns together, right? And I. And I heard God in my heart say, do you think this is any less beautiful to my ears than what you think you could have done on that stage yesterday? It. I. He blows my mind because to him, that chaotic noise in our family room of the one who can't find the pitch and the one who's singing at the top of his lungs and the mom in the middle just trying to keep us in a key is beautiful to him. And it was not less beautiful than the perfectly produced worship set that I had been in the day before. It was not less beautiful than anything that I could have created or produced for him. And he just spoke to my heart in that moment and said, this is just as beautiful. This is just as beautiful when my kids get together and sing their hearts out and have fun. Because we were laughing like it was so funny. Just having this little moment of nothing is going how it should. And to him, it's all the same. It's the joy that we carry in, in worshiping him. The joy that we bring when we just hang out with him and give him everything that we have. That's all he wants. He's not interested in our perfection.
• 34:16
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 34:16
  Speaker B: He's interested in our connection. And when we abide in him, when we remain in him, then we get to hear him speak those things to our heart and to speak that approval over us.
• 34:28
  Speaker A: That's so good. God is all about fun.
• 34:30
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 34:31
  Speaker A: And childlikeness. We, sometimes, we take ourselves so seriously and I just, I just hear him right now saying over you. Let's just be a kid.
• 34:40
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 34:41
  Speaker A: Let's have fun together. You don't have to be so serious all the time. You don't have to get it right. You don't have to get it perfect. For sure, he never expects perfection, but really, where was your heart? Did you have fun with me? Did you connect with me? That's really all that, that he's interested in just connecting with us and loving on us and having a good time. And I feel like if we had fun, we succeeded. If we had fun with God, we succeeded. No matter what it is, whatever we're trying to do, if it's going to work, if it's raising the kids, if it's evangelizing, if it's leading worship, whatever it is, driving your truck. If you had fun with God, you succeeded. He's just that good of a father.
• 35:21
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 35:22
  Speaker A: Well, we hope this has been a fun episode for you, that you've learned a little about your identity in Christ and he's just calling you right now. Go spend some time with the Lord and say, God, who am I? Yeah, how am I doing today? Who did you create me to be? And listen. Listen to his voice. Pay attention to any pictures you see in your mind. Write those things down. Remember that he doesn't condemn you. Remember that all his thoughts towards you are lovely and he's going to speak good things over you. Write those things down, renew your mind with them every single day. And we just bless you to enter in to the identity of who God has called you to be. So thank you for listening. If you struggle with your identity in Christ and understanding that, or maybe you're feel like you're believing lies that are holding you back, that you have strongholds in your mind that you'd like to overcome. We encourage you to check out our coaching program. Go to joshandkarina c o R-I-N a.com coaching and check out our coaching program. We have a 10 week program where we walk with you through the steps to renewing your mind and give you practical tools to create systems and habits in your life that are going to set you up for success and enter into who God created you to be and live the abundant life that he's promised you. So check that out. We would love to work with you as always. If you can share this episode with one of your friends, get the word out about believe and become. We appreciate that too. We love you and we hope that you have an amazing week.