Identity - Choosing to Belileve What He Says About You

I’m so stirred after watching Shelly Hundley preach at the One Thing Conference online. Her story is amazing and such a picture of the Lord’s power to deliver anyone from the strongest bondages. She talked about how she had places in her heart that no one could reach. After counseling and getting professional help, she came to the decision that suicide was the answer. No one could reach the place of pain that was inside of her. After years of abuse in her childhood, she was ready to call it quits when she was 19. She goes on to say how the Lord, the God who sits in the heavens and over the earth, has the ability to reach in and bring wholeness to the parts that no one else can reach. It’s amazing that the Lord not only heals us, but understands us so completely and sees every part of us. No one can see the inside of us. No one can know our thoughts or fears. But He does.

She talked about the importance of filling our hearts and minds on the love of God. When we get in a rut, to “shake off the dust” (Isaiah 52:2) and rise up from the place of allowing things to trample us (our pasts, thoughts etc.). God has called us to walk in the truth of who we are in Him. And, if you are like me, there are times when sitting in the dust seems to be easiest. When all of the strength I once had in the Lord is gone and all I can do it sit and be trampled on. In that place hope seems to be very distant. But the Lord is calling to me, and everyone else who feels they are sitting in the dust, and saying “shake off the dust and arise.” Begin to walk in truth again and feed our hearts and minds on who we are in the Lord, not what people have called us or the opinion of others. Break out of the old habits and come into the place the Lord has made for you – a place of rest and confidence that what He says about you is true. Good stuff, Shelly.

I’m old enough now that I realize life with the Lord is not making one decision to serve Him and that’s it. It’s saying yes to Him again, and again, and again. I think a lot of people give up on the process He takes us through because they don’t always feel strong. The key word is PROCESS and it happens to be life long. When they make a wrong choice or choose a not so great path, they don’t feel like they can come back to the place they used to be in the Lord. Life is about what we do when we make mistakes. And that is what brings greatness – what we do when we make mistakes, not that we never make them. And what we do in that place is based on how we view God. I once thought He was mad and disappointed. Therefore, I wasn’t about to go to Him in my weakness. Heck no, I don’t want a spanking. But as I set my heart on the Word and truth of how He feels about me, my emotions towards Him changed. There are most certainly days that I still struggle in my identity – sometimes I’m my worst enemy. But in knowing that He calls me by a different “name,” the delight of His heart, it causes me to come to Him when I feel weak. The fact that He is safe and He is for me brings much relief to me. And He cares about me. And He smiles a lot. And He is happy…and loves me.

Agreeing With God's Heart and Leadership!

There are a lot of different tangents I could go off on when talking about the subject of agreement. Mostly, we hear about the importance of agreement in prayer – having another person to stand with us in agreement believing the Lord for something. And that is so important - agreeing with each other in prayer. We don’t, as often, consider the Lord’s heart as one who is looking for someone to agree with Him. I believe this is a key to pursuing and having a more intimate relationship and partnership with Him. In better terms, God is looking for friends.

The best example I can think of when thinking about partnership is the relationship between a wife and husband. If they are not in agreement on key issues, it’s just not going to work. It doesn’t mean one is controlling or manipulating the other. There is a freedom for both husband and wife to have their own personality. Yet, it is vitally important for them to have the same values when it comes to making decisions in their lives. That is what the Lord is wanting – that we would have His values – to really partner with Him. He doesn’t want our relationship to be like a master/slave relationship, to where we don’t have a brain. He wants to hear our hearts and He wants to communicate back with us. We can speak our wants and desires to Him, and He wants to share the secrets of His hearts with us. A lot of times we are really good at talking to Him, but listening is a lot harder. He has so much He wants to tell you about your personal life and everything that is involved with it! Do you see how this type of relationship is a two way, not one way type of relationship? We walk with Him together in partnership. Yes, we can have this kind of friendship with God. It’s not limited to the pastor, worship leader, or person on the stage on Sunday mornings (thank goodness). It’s for every grandma, child, full-time worker, and homeless person. It’s for anyone. And everyone! It’s for the person who has made a lot of mistakes and for the person that has a lot of ugly issues. It’s for the poor, the rich, and everyone in between! His heart is big enough for all of us and He really is wanting friends!

This kind of friendship with God does not happen automatically. It takes work. It takes discipline. It takes time. It’s not always easy for us to quiet our hearts enough to actually listen to His goals, His thoughts, and His leadership strategies (or just for His whispers of "I love you"). We are quick to jump into what we think is best (so many times He does bless this!), when He is wanting us to stop and listen to what He would have us do. It’s leaning upon His wisdom, His guidance, His timing, and His judgments on decisions in our lives. It’s about trusting Him and knowing He is good. And it’s not easy, but it is key to partnership with Him and living under His leadership. He is the perfect and best leader!

Not only does He want us to stop, listen, and agree with His plans for our lives, but also with His thoughts and emotions towards us as well as those around us. It’s nothing magical or overly spiritual. It’s simple. He wants us to agree with Him and believe that we are loved and wanted by Him. He wants us to agree with Him that He loves to hear our voice and He wants us to come near to Him. He wants us to agree with Him that we are never alone. He wants us to agree with His heart that He is not disappointed with us or mad at us. Sometimes when I am in a rut, I make myself say it outloud, "I AM YOUR FAVORITE. I AM SO LOVED BY YOU. I AM BEAUTIFU TO YOU. YOUR HEART IS FOR ME. I AM THE APPLE OF YOUR EYE." Sometimes it takes awhile to break through, but sooner or later the heaviness lifts and my heart experiences His pleasure over me again. Peace comes. The accuser wants us to stay in that place of yuckiness when the Lord has a better place for us - the place of experiencing His pleasure over our lives. The words that come out of our mouth does take root in our hearts. Begin to proclaim truth out of your mouth. Pray it. Sing it. Read it. Write it. Tell it.

Then, He wants us to agree with His heart about someone else. This is the most powerful thing on the earth – to agree with God’s heart about someone else. It’s powerful because how God views us is amazingly different than we view ourselves and how we view others. He loves differently. If we can fill our hearts and minds on the love of the Father about ourselves, He will surely give us a bit of His heart for others. In doing so, we can be His hand and heart extended to another. When we agree with God about ourselves, we will be the most confident, yet humble people on the earth. Why? Because we are not ignorant of our humanity. We know that we are all a little disfunctional. And when we realize that God sees that, and HE STILL LOVES US EXTRAVAGANTLY, we can't help but have a meek and humble heart before this kind of God. He wants us to be confident and in agreement with Him about ourselves, and then about others. Bottom line - God wants friendship. God wants friendship with YOU!