Who I believe I am, has a great deal to do with focus. It is hard to do what needs to be done when the world around me is trying to define me. It can quickly get me to focus on the wrong things.
Usually it is the voice of critics, but at times it can be the enemy, or even someone who means well. When I allow others to define who I am, I become preoccupied with trying to be that person.
This is something we all struggle with from time to time., our identity. Some struggle more than others. However, I know that when you are listening to other voices it is hard to listen to the One that matters. And that voice isn’t even yours. We have to know who God says we are. We have to pull our worth and value from what He says it is. We have to judge right and wrong by His standards, not the worlds.
So how can we know what He says? The first place to start is His Word. I spent months daily journaling who God says I am.
When I am feeling like I don’t amount too much that is where I return. When I feel lost as to who I am, I return to His word. The Creator is the only one who can define purpose. People may use created things for other purposes, but only a creator can define its purpose. When I come across others who are struggling to live up to someone else’s expectations, I share with them who they are in Christ.
Here are a few truths I use to combat the lies about who God says I am:
I am forgiven: I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I John 2:12
I am chosen: You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. John 15:15
I am loved: In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. John 4:10
I am saved. I am called.: who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 2 Timothy 1:9
I am known: O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. Psalms 139:1-4
I am free from sin: But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. Romans 6:22
I am a child of God. I am an heir with Christ.: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Romans 8:16-17
These are just a few scriptures, that I focus on when I am attacked at a level of who I am. When my sins are brought against me, past and present I can repent and know that I am forgiven and that I am free from sin, I do not have to succumb to it and allow sin to have power over me. When I feel left out and unwanted, I can remember that God chose me. When I feel unloved, I am reminded that God loves me. When I feel without purpose, I can remember God called me. When I feel like no one knows or understands me, I can be reminded God knows me. When I feel like I don’t belong, or am reminded that I am an orphan, I am reminded that I am God’s child. I am His heir.
There are truths to combat most any lie that comes to attack who you are. There are a lot of great resources out there, but I have found that going to the Scriptures for myself and reading them, writing them, and meditating on them makes the Truth more real in my own life.
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