Tag: spirit

I was sitting in church worshiping and a thought hit me…why do we, as born-again Christians, have such a hard time laying things down and living a life full of joy when we serve such a faithful and present God?  I have seen so many people stay in their struggle to overcome things in the past for years and years – going to the alter crying, being prophesied over, reading the Bible, and all the other things that seem the right thing to do when we are walking with God.  And yet, they still have this baggage tagging along.

Could it be that when we have struggled so long with something that it becomes a part of us?  And when it becomes a part of us, we are afraid that, if we allow God to heal that part of us we no longer are who we have become to know as ourselves?  Therefore, we find so much of our identity in the struggle – healing, even if subconsciously, is just too scary to accept?

If this is correct – then laying this issue fully down and giving it ALL over to God is a completely scary thing full of doubt and anxiety.  As we face the fact that healing will bring so much change that we decide not to fully give God the authority to do what He needs to do.  And then we remain sitting in our mess because that is easier than the change of healing – even though God is more than willing to give us what we need if we fully trust him.

Our identity was never for us to be hurt, broken or misused.  We never were meant to remain sick, hurt, abused, or stuck.  That is not who God is.  We have seen, over and over, how God has redeemed those in the Old and New Testament – Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, David, Bathsheba, Solomon, Peter, Paul – to name only a few who have seen the redemptive work of the Lord in their lives when they surrender all to Him.

So – what is it for you?  What issue do you face that you need to lay down?  Trauma, chronic sickness, your abusive past, shame from what you did in your past, drugs, alcohol, relationships that are not good for you…what is it that you are afraid to lay down?  What struggle has become your identity?

Whatever it is, remember these things:

• We are a new creature in Christ Jesus
  • So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
• We are called out of darkness and into light
  • But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9
• Christ lives inside of us
  • My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
• We are friends of Jesus
  • I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. John 15:15
• We are God’s masterpiece
  • For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10
• We belong to God
  • But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
    O Israel, the one who formed you says,
    “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
    I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1
• God’s thoughts about us are precious
  • How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
    I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand! Psalm 139:17-18
• We were knit together in our mother’s wombs
  • You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
    Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
    You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
    You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
    Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed. Psalm 139:13-16

It’s time to start seeing our identity in Christ and not in the things that of this world.  No matter what someone has said to you or how someone made you feel, how long you have been sick or what secret shame you hide – God loves you and wants to make you whole.

Go to Him and give over those things that you are holding onto.  Let Him make you who He sees you to be!!