You are who God says you are!

I’ve encountered quite a few people over the last couple of weeks that God is taking into their next level. It’s interesting because in most of the cases, those same folks are struggling with whether to move or stay, what their next steps should be, and their faith. I know what that feels like. I know what it is to be hearing God say go, while your flesh and your mind are saying ‘don’t move too fast.’ I know what it is to question why God would choose you for a certain task when you have always been in the background. I even know what it is to know that God is shifting you and just be plain scared to take the step. But today, God told me to encourage and remind you that you are who He says that you are!

For those of you that are struggling to move forward because you can’t escape your past, God says, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” (Rom. 8:1) If you have confessed your sins and accepted Him in your heart, you are FORGIVEN! God has cast your sins as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more. That’s what the cross was all about! Your “old man was crucified with Him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate [you], so that [you] would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Rom. 6:6) Don’t allow anyone else to keep you in bondage to your past. You are a new creature in Christ, old things are passed away. You are who God says you are…REDEEMED!

For those of you that God has been challenging to move forward in ministry or in jobs or in assignments and you struggle to see yourself there, God says “For [you] are His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so that [you] may do them.” (Eph. 2:10). Don’t you know that God knows your end from the beginning? He has a plan for your life that will test you, grow you, shape you, strengthen you and bring you to a place of completion. Not only that, but He chose you for this! Only you can do the assignment that He has given you. Only you can run that church, open that business, and get through to that set of people. Don’t allow anyone to talk you out of your promotion. You have too much to do!  “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” (John 15:16) You are who God says you are…CHOSEN!

For those of you that have been lost, depressed, or bound up for so long that you have made it your home, God is calling you to freedom. He is looking at you like He looked at the children of Israel and saying, come out! “I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment.  I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the Lord!’” (Ex. 6:6-8) Those are some serious promises! Interestingly enough, the children of Israel couldn’t receive that when Moses told them. They were too wrapped up in their struggle. But God wants you to know that if you will release your struggles, your sadness, your old thoughts to Him, He can release you from bondage. You see, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! There is joy and restoration. There is even supply and provision. You just need to be willing to release it and receive what God wants to do. Because whom the Son sets free is free indeed! (John 8:36)  You are who God says you are…FREE!

I need you to understand that God doesn’t see you like man. He isn’t looking at you and seeing your failures and your struggles. He’s looking at someone that He made fearfully and wonderfully! He’s looking at His child! He’s looking at His image and the temple of the Holy Spirit! He’s looking at His best work and He’s completely and totally in love with you. In fact, He loved you so much that “He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) How dare anyone tell you that you are crazy, not worthy, not smart? How dare the enemy attack your mind and try to convince you that you won’t make it? God says you are His righteousness through Christ Jesus! You are His ambassador! You are who God says you are and that’s amazing! Feel His love today and move forward into the great things that He has for you! “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ!” (Phil. 1:6)

AMEN