Hey there! It’s been a rough several weeks for me. I’ve been battling one physical ailment after another since I got back from my NY trip mid-August. Looking back, I realize I had gotten off track with many of my healthy eating disciplines. I made the excuse of being busy or tired, but realize now, slacking in this area will cost me more time and energy then staying on track and doing what’s right in the first place. I know better, but I guess I needed a reminder. Having been very sick years ago, I learned the healing power of certain foods. This was foreign to me, because I had always seen food as the enemy. When I began to learn how powerful the food God created was (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds) and all of the health benefits they contained, I realized when Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine,” he was ON POINT! After I began to incorporate the right things into my diet, and began to physically heal when nothing else worked – not medicine, not the doctors, nothing… my eyes were truly opened to the truth. So, today I made a good choice… instead of rushing and grabbing a protein bar yet again because I was busy (or lazy 🙁 ), I made this for lunch. 
It’s coconut (dairy free) yogurt mixed with flaxseeds, fruits, grain free granola made of hemp, chia and coconut flakes and sprinkled with chia. However, it is also antioxidants, magnesium filled, hormone balancing, cancer-fighting, natural medicine for my body!! So that’s a little of what’s been going on with me. Besides that, I’m dreaming of cooler weather and was overjoyed to see some pumpkins in the store finally!
Anyway, last week, during my time with the Lord, He gave me a prophetic Word for the church. He most often speaks to me for the body of Christ as a whole, and yet it’s also personal because, well, I’m part of the body of Christ! I heard Him say:
I am restoring identity to my people. I am restoring their identity in Christ, so that they could correctly, beautifully and accurately reflect who I am to the world. There is a shaking, but in the shaking, I am at work removing the labels, the old paradigms and all that has blinded my people to their true identity in Christ. I am bringing my people through stronger, so they will show the world who I am like they never have before.
Sometimes labels have been placed on us that have hindered us from seeing who God created us to be. It may have been things that have been said or implied about us when we were younger or even presently. They may have caused us to believe lies about who we are. We can carry things from our childhood and experiences in life that we may not even realize. By doing so, it may have hindered us from fully living and expressing ourselves.
God wants to remove those labels from us, and change our paradigm, so that we can see clearly who He created us to be. I believe knowing our identity in Christ awakens us to this. It’s a personal thing each one of us must discover. Our joint mission may be to express who God is to this world, but no one can do that like another person can. We are all unique in who we are and how we express who God is. We are one of a kind creations. God doesn’t want us to be limited by labels or anything else that may define us.
Sometimes the labels aren’t even bad things, but still limit us. I’m a PK (preachers kid) and growing up, I was always introduced as “Pastor’s daughter.” I remember one day I was talking with one of my friends and someone walked up to me to introduce me to another person. They said, “Bob, this is “Pastor’s daughter.” Suddenly, my friend spoke up and said, “No, this is Jill.” Having been introduced like that to other people most of my life, I didn’t even realize the impact it had on me until my friend said that. Now, of course no one meant any harm by it, but hearing it again and again, I had unknowingly allowed it to define who I was. I may have fulfilled the role of pastor’s daughter, but I was Jill, God’s creation; with gifts, attributes and characteristics only I have and can express to the world around me.
Maybe you can relate. Maybe without even realizing it, a role in your life has defined who you are. Are you “Jack’s wife, or Alison’s mom?” Change the names and make it personal. Is that who you are? No. These may be roles you fulfill in life but it’s not who you are. The danger in allowing our roles to define us is that when those roles or relationships change, we’re left wondering who we are. This is why a person may struggle when their children leave the nest or their spouse passes away, or a marriage fails, or career ends. Don’t get me wrong…we find joy in our roles, but they are just that, roles we fulfill. It’s not who we are. Outside of those roles, we are so much more and God wants us to see that and express Him in a way only we can.
So, what labels have you embraced? What paradigms have kept you back from seeing and believing what God says about you? Have you placed your confidence in something other than what God says about you? God doesn’t want you to find your identity or place your confidence in a role you fulfill. He doesn’t want you to base who you are on what someone else says about you, whether good or bad. For some, maybe we’ve even felt good in this “assumed” identity because we find our self-worth or the approval in man in it; yet if our identity is not found in Christ it’s faulty. No matter what role we fulfill, no matter how our relationships change, no matter what somebody says about us, or what mistakes we may make, or what life brings us, God wants us to know who we are in Christ so that we have an unshakeable confidence in HIM! Jesus is the Rock on which we stand and find unshakeable God confidence!
This word is for you. And it’s for me. Let’s throw off the old labels and paradigms that have hindered us and let’s embrace our true identity in Christ. Maybe you are questioning, “How can I be strong and confident in who God created me to be when everything around me is shaking.” Maybe you feel you’ve even lost some of the confidence you had. Know this, God is at work in your life and the good news is; you don’t have to fear. God promises that only the weak things in our lives will be shaken and that which is strong will remain.
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[a] 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Hebrews 12:26-27
What are the weak things? Our insecurities, our fears, our doubts, our worries, our faulty paradigms, things we’ve placed our confidence in that we shouldn’t have, and anything else that has held us back. What will remain? The truth of who God created us to be and a new-found strength, confidence, power and authority that comes ONLY from knowing who we are in Christ. These things are UNSHAKEABLE!
So would you repeat this with me? I am (add your name). I am created by God. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a unique one of a kind creation, with gifts, attributes and qualities only I have. There is no one like me and only I can impact the world around me in a powerful and beautiful way as God created me to. My identity is in Christ alone, and I have unshakeable God Confidence.
THIS is the place God wants to bring us to, so it’s not something we just say but believe in our hearts, no matter what we face!
Blessings!
