Posts Tagged ‘identity in Christ’

You are Confident

Thursday, October 12th, 2017

you-are-confident

You are confident! If you believe what the Scriptures say about you—how Christ sees you and values you—you will be confident. That confidence is what gives you the ability to excel in whatever your life calling is.

Confidence is not the same as arrogance or pride. Jesus was humble and lifted other people up, while being fully confident in who He was. He wants us to know who we are and be confident to walk in what He created us to do.

If you are with other people and you are confident, you can resist peer pressure. When you are confident in who you are, you will not allow people to treat you badly. This is because you have dignity given to you by God that cannot be taken away. You can gently point out to the person who is acting sinfully towards you, that showing honor is the way that God has commanded us to treat each other.

Confidence will make you a better wife because once you know that you have value, it shows in your eyes. You are no longer needy, and husbands love that. It frees them, because they don’t feel an anvil of trying to do what only God can do for you, which is to understand you and love you unconditionally. Husbands are attracted to their wives when they are confident because they look more beautiful. Confidence is a state of mind.

People who lack confidence are droopy and don’t get as much done. Their attitude is also one of self-pity rather than confidence in who God created us to be.

We are commanded to be confident to draw near to God because He will hear us and answer us because He is a good Father:

“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 NASB

beloved-she-art

We have confidence in the Lord, and for this reason, we can have confidence in what He says:

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.” Jeremiah 17:7 NIV

We don’t have to be perfect to have confidence. Even when we make mistakes, we can ask for forgiveness and have a clean slate. God is at work in our lives, and He will conform us more and more into His image as we yield to Him:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 NASB

We are all a work in progress, and we are told in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for us, when we fail. God knows we are but dust, and He doesn’t expect out of us more than we can do. It’s only other people who put pressure on us to perform. Sadly a lot of that pressure comes from church-goers who expect everyone to never fail and never accidentally hurt anyone else with what they say.

confident

Instead of judging each other harshly, we should realize that everyone is a work in progress, and everyone who is truly saved is on a path towards greater holiness. But God does the work. We don’t have to strive and strive and strive and fall over, feeling like an utter failure.

People who are confident have strength of character. Others look to them when times are rough because they are a rock to others. We can be immovable in our confidence, because that confidence and strength comes from Christ! That is why you can be confident!

“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13 NASB

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

You are Beautiful

Wednesday, October 4th, 2017

you-are-beautiful

You are beautiful! Beauty is what radiates from inside of you, and because as a Christian you are a new creation in Christ, you radiate His presence from your face! The more you know who you are, the more you will radiate.

It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside. Even if you have a terrible accident, you can still be beautiful because your eyes reflect your soul, and in the expression of your face there is beauty.

We can also take care of our bodies: eat more fruits and vegetables, drink more water, exercise, and get the right amount of sleep. When we take care of our bodies–showering and grooming ourselves–we put forward our best selves, even on the exterior. Every woman has her own unique beauty.

I-am-beautiful

God chose your face, your hair color, and your body structure before the beginning of time, and He made no mistakes. Accept your outer body, and make the best of it. Even your outer body is beautiful because you were made by God. You are a masterpiece of artistry. Every freckle is right where it’s supposed to be. Stop trying to measure up to someone else’s appearance. You are beautiful just the way you are right now.

The Song of Solomon is an interaction between a husband and his wife, but it is also symbolic of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32). When the man speaks to his wife, this is Christ speaking to us: “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.” (Song of Solomon 4:7 ESV) Christ did not make a mistake when He created us. Let’s stop insulting God by not accepting ourselves just the way He made us.

you-are-beautiful-2

Here is a poem I wrote recently as I was learning to accept that it doesn’t matter if other people insult your physical appearance. I know many Christian women whose husbands say they are fat and they are not attractive. They feel crushed inward and are sad. I want to lift them up right now. I know men with skinny wives who are continuously pointing out the flaws, and these women don’t feel wanted either. Please know that these men are wrong, that they are comparing their wives to airbrushed models that don’t eat and have gotten plastic surgery. These are fake people. You are real. You are beautiful. God created you and made no mistakes. You have no flaw!

You are Beautiful (Haiku)

Delight in God’s eyes
He thought you up before time
He says, “You are Mine.”

God bestows His child
With honor and dignity
You are beautiful

knowing-how-beautiful-you-are

The closer we draw to Christ, the more beautiful we become, because we radiate that supernatural beauty. But even in our worst moments, we are beautiful because God created us and does not make mistakes. “I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:14 ESV

Here is a song you can listen to, so that you can understand how beautiful you are to God. Just let it sink in:

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

You are Forgiven

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017

you-are-forgiven

If you are a child of God, you are forgiven. Jesus died on the cross for your sins so that you could be set free from condemnation. He justified you before God, and all of your sins were nailed to the cross: past, present, and future.

If you accidentally sin, you can confess your sins to God and ask Him to help you overcome the sin (I John 1:9). God will set you free from each sin, either instantly or over the years as you are transformed into the image of Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).

As soon as you find out that you’ve sinned, you can ask God’s forgiveness, and He forgives your sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

If you have a vague sense of condemnation, this is not from God but from the enemy. True conviction from the Lord is specific, and when you confess it, it’s gone! You feel fresh and clean.

You can feel fresh and clean right now. There is never a reason to feel defeated. We are more than conquerors in Christ (Romans 8:37).

forgiven-by-God

If someone is trying to make you feel condemned, they are doing the work of the enemy. Don’t live under their oppression, but let them own their own sin of being condemning. Put up your shield of faith and don’t let their words of death go into you and wound you. God does not slice into us and whip us and harm us. If you are feeling beaten down, this is the enemy and not God.

joy-and-peace

Here is another blog post explaining the difference between a rebuke and an accusation, and why we should not allow ourselves to feel defeated: How Do You Overcome Accusation?

And if you need to know the difference between true guilt and false guilt, here is another helpful article: True Guilt and False Guilt

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

You are Accepted

Sunday, October 1st, 2017

you-are-accepted

You are accepted! It doesn’t matter who else accepts you because Jesus Himself accepts you. Romans 15:7 says, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Jesus accepts us with all our flaws and frailties. He actually gave us our weaknesses so that God’s power might be made manifest in us because–believe it or not–God’s power shows the most in our lives through our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9).

This doesn’t mean that we should purposely sin and hurt Christ. Of course not! But if we sin, we can immediately go to God and ask for forgiveness, and it’s gone. Christ accepts you for who you are RIGHT NOW, not who you are going to be when you are dead, after you are glorified. Don’t you see? You are fully accepted and loved by God, and you can rest in that acceptance and stop striving to be good enough.

We as women tend to derive our worth from how other people view us. How people perceive us does not define who we are. God defines who we are, and if He says we are accepted, then we are accepted!

If other people have expectations of you that are impossible for you to meet, they will always be disappointed with you. But that is THEIR problem. Shake yourself free from their expectations and thrive under God’s acceptance.

you-are-a-masterpiece

We believe that maybe if we perform everything to perfection, we will be accepted by others.

But God does not expect from us more than we can do. He is fully aware that we are but dust.

You don’t have to be forced to change your personality just because someone wants you to be just like them. John the Baptist, for example, was not gracious, but God created him that way and fully accepted and was pleased with him. God created him for a specific purpose that required him to be more straightforward than most people.

Peter the disciple was brash. Just because he acted without thinking doesn’t make him evil. God purposely created Peter to be brash. Sure, he could learn to consult other people for wisdom, but being a man of action is who he was. He got things done because he could think quickly. He didn’t have to sit down and beat himself up because of who God created him to be. And yet we as women do this all the time.

christ-accepted-you

In the same way, you do not need to change everything about yourself to meet with the acceptance of the people around you. Yes, you can ask God to remove sin, but if it’s just a personality difference, God loves who you are because He purposely made you that way. How sad that we never accept ourselves for who we are so that we can become fully all that God has called us to be!

I spontaneously wrote a poem one day to encapsulate the experience I had with God when I felt accepted for the first time. After striving for years to please God, and hearing so many times that I was never good enough, my sister finally prayed with me over the phone, that God would remove whatever was standing in the way to experience God’s love and acceptance:

I am Accepted
I am accepted
God is pleased with me
No more striving
I am complete
God delights in me
I am beautiful
Loved

Waves of love
Wash over me
Every cell of my being
Is accepted
I am at rest
I am complete
Loved

You can experience God’s acceptance, too. Take God at His Word, and believe the Scriptures that never lie, and don’t feel like you have to measure up to anyone else’s expectations of who they think you need to be. If you have over-performed for years, and people nit-pick and criticize everything you do, let their words slide right off. Don’t be hurt. The only person you need to be accepted by is Christ! You are accepted!

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!