Who are you?

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  Ephesians 5:1

This poor world is so mixed up these days.   There is a tremendous pull by our culture for women to seek identity in all the wrong places.  People are being deceived and lied to by society today. There is an increasing amount news about identity.   Who are you?  What are you?  Men think they are women, women think they are men, some people think they are neither.

Super hero movies are very popular these days.  The super hero himself always has a secret identity that hides who he/she really is… like a teenage boy being a spiderman or Clark Kent being superman.  Do you get the picture? People are always searching for thier “true identity”.

Identity:  the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.

I love this definition.  So much of who we are is wrapped up in what we are.  But what happens to our identity when the what changes?

For a long time I was a very familiar face at the church I had attended for many years.  Everyone knew who I was.  Oh that’s Patty, so and so’s assistant. Oh that’s Patty the worship singer etc.  It was great to be known.   I found myself trying to live up to all that everyone said and thought about me.  I was trying to be all things to all people.  I wanted acceptance.  Then the Lord moved my husband and I far away from our church, away from all we knew.  The reasons for us moving are not relevant, but what happened to me is… An Identity crisis.  Going from a place of prominence to a place where no one knows you…from being someone to being no one at all.  I realized that I didn’t know who I was apart from all my “labels”.

It was in this place that the Lord began a new work in my life.   He revealed to me that I defined myself by WHO I was…not WHOSE I was.  I was defined by people’s thoughts of who I was.  It seemed that everyone had a say in who I was.  Believe it or not, this discovery and subsequent feeling of loss … was painful for me… who I WAS, was what I was…What people thought about me put value into my life or decrease the value of my life… This identity crisis was God’s soverign way of showing me where my true value and identity lied.

I had to start working identifying myself base on WHOSE I was.  This means that all that I am should start with who God is and who He says that I am.   I started asking God this question?  WHO AM I?

I searched the scriptures, the only source of real truth. Who does God say that I am?  Here are some of the some of the answers I found…There are many many more…

I am “His beloved child”… 1John 3:1, John 1:12-13, Gal 3:26, Isa 43:1

I am “chosen, holy and blameless”.  1Thes 1:4, 1Thes 2:13, Eph 1:4,

I am valuable…Eph 2:10    I am a New Person…2Cor 5:17

I am His Friend… John 5:15    I am Redeemed…Eph 1:7

It is only when you have God in His proper place in your life, celebrating who He is and what He has done, can you truly begin to know yourself.   I started reading these verses to myself and journaling how I felt when I read them.  Being transparent before the Lord I began to ask the hard questions.  Did I believe all that God said that I was?  Would this be enough?   In my head, yes… it took a while to really sink into my heart.  This was not easy.  It was a painful process.  I had come to the end of myself and make a choice.  It was actually very simple… I either believed what He said or not.

If you don’t learn what you were born to be and do, then you become a victim of other people’s opinions.  Understanding who made you and who you are is crucial so that other people do not take possesion of your life. 

(Dr. Miles Munroe)

I love this quote, especially the part about other people taking possesion of your life.  I read it in a devotion one morning.  It shows me how much sway people’s opinions have over our lives. Think about the word possession… it means “the state of having, owning, or controlling something”.  How much of our lives do we allow people to possess?

Knowing your true identity begins with the worship of God as your sovereign CREATOR.    Remember He is the one who made us.

Psalm 139 captures this truth so well…

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it.  You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion!   Psalm 139:13-15

Did you catch this?  Every fiber of your being, everything that you are was carefully knit together by God’s very hand.  There is no part of you that has ever or will ever be hidden from Him.  From the color of your eyes to the size of your feet, your unique personality, your gifts and talents are all given to you by Him.

Now I’m sure that most of you…me included…are not satisfied with this.  Maybe we think, I wish I had blonde hair and blue eyes.  I wish I was more musical.  I wish I was more athletic, or that my tendency was to be thin rather than fat.  Maybe I wish I had more hair… or I wish I was smarter or prettier.  the list of I wishes are endless right?

Face it, there are times in our lives when we wish we could remake ourselves into the image of what we would like to be.  If you really think about it, it sounds like we are putting ourselves above God doesn’t it?    Our refusal to accept who God made us to be is saying to God, nope you made a mistake. What about you?  Can you imagine telling the Creator of the universe that He made a mistake?  Stand back…This is how the world today thinks.   Beware that it does not become your thinking.  He is the Creator of ALL things.  He made a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman.  Your individual DNA proves that.  In the beginning was GOD.  All things are held together by HIM.  Colossians 1:17 says this, “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”

Ephesians 2:10 says we are His masterpiece.  Think on this for a moment…Selah…

¹⁰ For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].

Is there anything that stands out to you about what is being said?  Is it that we are HIS work of art?  Is it that we were not only created, but created in Christ Jesus, experiencing spiritual rebirth and transformation?  Is it that He is ready to use us for His good works?  Is it that God prepared paths for us to take?  This verse is pack full of wonders isn’t it?

When a woman submits herself to God as her creator, she will begin to see herself in light of who GOD says she is.  What others say, whether good or bad, will no longer have a hold on her.  As she submits herself to God, she allows HIM to the the possessor of her life.  She will trust in His divine plan for her life. She will believe in His abiltiy to make her who she was meant to be.  She will be able to accomplish all of His purposes for her because HE enables her to do it.  It’s His strength through the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in her.

Knowing your true identity begins with the worship of God as your SOVEREIGN creator.    Remember He is the one who made us.

I am a planner by nature.  I love to plan as much of my life as possible.  Anyone else out there like me?  Sound familiar to anyone?  So what happens when things in your life don’t unfold as you so carefully planned?  Do you blame God?  Acknowledging God as sovereign creator means you must rest in the fact that every circumstance, every experience and relationships of your life has been under the watchful eye of God.  Did you get that with me… under God’s watchful eye.  Since He created you, He not only knows the number of your days, but also the circumstances you will be facing each day.  Psalm 139:16 states this so well…

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them

Reread that verse…  Are you blown away by this?  It means so simply that I do not write my own story.  The story has already been written for me.  In a perfect world, I would live inside the plot that God has written for me and live in the way I am called to live. But this is where things can go wrong.  Have you ever questioned God’s plan?  Have you ever fallen into the thinking that if you were in charge that things would have turned out better?  As we grow older and get more self reliant, we forget who we are and begin to believe that we are the ones who are guiding our lives.

Look back at your life for a moment.  Is your life a picture of God’s control or your fight to gain control? 

There is a scripture in Job that is most profound:

“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”  Job 42:2

God is sovereign…We are not.  His scriptures prove that the story written for us before we were even born are written with love.  We may never understand His ways, but He calls us to trust in them.    Jer 29:11 says this:

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God has special plans for you.  Once you realize that your identity is based in Him and in who He says you are, then the only one you will ever want to imitate is Christ himself.  If you are hidden in Him, your identity is safe and sure.  Ask for the Lord’s help to see who you are in Him.  It has been such a freeing revelation to me in my life.  He is the only one who can safely “possess” my life.   The only one I truly trust.  He never changes how he feels about me or how He sees me.  I urge you to seek to become who He created you to be.  Allow Him to possess your life.  Allow Him yo speak truth into your heart thru His word.  His truth will ensure you of who you are and how much you mean to HIM.

Til next time,