I AM...

I am Beloved was the title of a recent sermon as part of the series - Identity Crisis. I am grateful to attend a church where I am fed through the Word and I appreciate the wisdom that comes from Pastor Trigg who takes the Word and makes it applicable to life. In this series there have been sermons on:
I am Chosen.
I am Blessed.
I am Forgiven.
I am Included.
I am Called.
I am Beloved.
I am Connected.
From each sermon, I have been able to take something from it and apply it to my life. This particular sermon was so touching and follows up to a recent blog post I did on Identity.

I'm a mistake.

I am incompetent.

I am unloved.

I am unwanted. Unneeded

I am unworthy. Insignificant.

I am a failure.

Does it sound familiar? These lies that we tell ourselves. Lies don't come with a warning...

TOXIC to the SOUL. 

This lie will compromise everything you know to be true about God

and His LOVE for you.

Instead, we tell ourselves these lies - day in and day out. We believe the lie. The lie is deadly. We slip into a destructive narrative where the lies dominate our soul and everything we believe to be true. We aren't thriving but simply trying to survive each day. We feel the shame. We feel the guilt. We feel that we should know better. That as Christians we shouldn't feel this way and then the level of guilt is even deeper.

We can't begin to change how we behave

until we change what we believe.

It is in the truth that God sees us and in the truth that God loves us. When we begin to address the lies and the labels that we have empowered for far too long, we can begin to truly feel the width and the length, and the height, and the depth of the love of God.

As we journey through Paul's prayer in Ephesians, we find humility - 

"For this reason, I kneel before the Father." ~Ephesians 3:14

Isn't it true that at times of difficulty when we are feeling utterly devastated, we are driven to our knees. This reverence for God should happen more frequently as we rediscover how to be humble and reverent as we worship and honour Christ in prayer.

We also discover in verse 15, the importance of prayers for family.

"From whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name."

I know it is true that I pray deepest for those I love - my family. There are countless nights that go by that I drift off to sleep praying for my family. And when I awake in the morning, my first thoughts and prayers are for my family.

Paul also models prayer of the trinity in verses 16-17.

Daily I pray to the Father, asking Him to strengthen me. I pray that the Spirit will dwell in my heart and guide my path - that His will be done.

Similar to Paul, we pray for the things that matter most to us in life. Paul gives us a model and example to follow in praying for:

Inner Capacity

Spiritual Depth

Personal Wellness

In praying for inner capacity, we are praying that God will empower us through inner strength that we know can only come from God. I have come to learn that it is not by my will or my own self-sufficiency or my power and strength. In those things, I fail. It is only when I am granted the strength from Jesus Christ that I can handle the demands of this world. I am reminded that each day, His mercies are new - new every morning and as 2 Corinthians 4:16 reminds us that we are not to lose heart because we are being renewed day by day. And 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" This speaks to me that we need to let go of past mistakes and completely grasp the identity we have in Christ and the inner capacity that can only come from Him.

Do you sense the inner capacity? Do you sense the strength you receive from God? God has given us a life to live - with a plan and a purpose and He asks us to respond by accepting that gift found in Him.

Spiritual Depth is a regular prayer request for myself and for my children. Sending His presence deep in our hearts as we know and understand the deep, deep love of the Father. There are times it can be too easy to forget that love or feel that we are unworthy of that love. But we must hold on to Jesus dwelling in our hearts as we are rooted and established in love. We need to live a life marked by love. Build our lives on the foundation of the love of the Father so that when difficulties come, we will not fall but will be rooted strongly in His love.

Life is rarely easy and God didn't promise us that it would be. But He promised to walk alongside us. When we know the presence of Jesus and know that we are not alone, our perspective is grounded and the lies will lose their power and control over our life.

A parallel that I had never drawn before was how at Jesus baptism, the dove descends and we are reminded of the love God has for His Son and that He is pleased with Him. However, it was a short time later that Jesus is led into the wilderness and the enemy comes to Him tempting Him with lies - if you really are the Son of God. Satan tempted Jesus and He tempts us. He constantly tries to undermine our identity in Christ. The more we anchor our identity in Jesus, the more effectively we can denounce the lies.

Remember that Jesus love is wide enough to embrace all of us

Long enough to last forever

Deep enough to reach the depths of our brokenness

And high enough to take us to heaven

Personal Wellness seems so easy to achieve and yet many of us are just getting by and not thriving. God wants a wholeness for us and empowers us to be more like Him. 

We are valued.  

We are loved.

We are cared for.

We need to believe the message of hope. Of grace. Of forgiveness.

If we don't believe those messages, then we fall. Every voice we believe shapes every choice we make. When we choose to listen to the whispers of God, there is a deep wellness and wholeness in our souls.

Is there a wellness in your soul?

Are there labels still sticking to you?

Are there voices resounding in your ears and in your heart?

What are the lies that have control over you?

Do you know that you are Beloved by God? Do you believe it? Do you believe that He loves you more than you can even imagine?

Allow the truth to set you free. Allow the lies to be replaced by truth so that your soul can experience peace. Hope. Grace. Life Abundant.

There is a song by Matthew West, "Hello, My Name Is." This song has many of the labels that we each call ourselves. What is your name? What label do you believe?

Pastor Trigg challenged us to a quiet time of reflection where we ask Jesus to reveal the lies, renounce the lies in the name of Jesus, invite the Holy Spirit to replace the lies, and to then live fully and freely in the identity God has called us to live. 

Hello, My Name Is ____.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a new name that will cover over all the lies you have told yourself for so long.

Place this new name somewhere that you will see it regularly and begin to believe the truth and live fully and freely in that truth.

May you live out your identity in Him - believing the good He has for your life - the life He has called you to.

I would love for you to leave a comment and share your new name - let's encourage each other and raise each other up.

Dear Lord,

For each one that has read this post, I pray that they will let go of the lies that they have believed for far too long. I hope that their eyes, hearts, and minds will be open to the glorious riches that you have called them to, knowing that in all things, you have a plan and purpose for their life far greater than they could ever imagine. Lord, I pray that they will feel the unconditional love that you have for them. That they will be able to grasp how wide, how long, how high, and how deep your love is. That they may begin to build their foundation on the truth that you will never leave or forsake them but that your mercies are new every morning. Lord, may they see themselves as you see them - created in your image. And may they live fully. May they live freely. May you give them the courage and the strength they need to live out their identity centred on you. All this in your holy and precious name, Amen.