Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God's Voice Above All Others

by Steven Furtick

Because the voice you believe will determine the future you experience.

Confession 1: God says I am. Overpowering the lies of the Enemy in your insecurities Confession 2: God says He will. Overpowering the lies of the Enemy in your fears Confession 3: God says He has. Overpowering the lies of the Enemy in your condemnation Confession 4: God says I can. Overpowering the lies of the Enemy in your discouragement

In some ways insecurity is the ultimate insult to God. Because when we allow insecurity to override God’s purpose in our lives, we’re implying that He didn’t quite get the job done when He put us together.

God told Jeremiah that He knew him and had handpicked him for his task. But God had made His choice not after Jeremiah proved his potential as a preacher or after Jeremiah demonstrated significant levels of consistency or proficiency. God chose Jeremiah before he was ever born. Before Jeremiah could do anything to merit God’s acceptance, He hit the big button. Perhaps the light of heaven shone a little brighter over Anathoth, the small town where Jeremiah was born and raised, when God made this announcement, signifying that He had spoken the first and final word concerning the destiny of this boy: I want him. That one. Jeremiah. He’s a good friend of Mine.

God turned His chair around and hand selected Jeremiah to be a part of His plan before Jeremiah preached a single syllable of his first sermon. I believe God wants to enlighten your life with this very same revelation, in this very moment. You don’t have to sing a single note to get God—or anyone else—to notice you. Because before you ever breathed, before you even had the opportunity to show off or screw up, God declared, I want you. You’re Mine. I’ve chosen you. You belong. To Me. And you can know that you always will, because you always have. Before you were ever born, I knew you. Put it this way: God has issued an announcement from His throne in heaven, and He wants you to know, The audition has been canceled. He has not chosen you blindly but intentionally, even while knowing you inwardly

In other words, we can manufacture the goods, but the way you put them to use determines their usefulness.

we do with what He does that determines our destiny. So I confirm God’s calling on my life when I learn to affirm my identity in Him. And I activate my identity when I refuse lies and walk according to specific redemptive truth. • I don’t like myself very much in this moment, but I am loved. • I don’t seem to be gaining much ground in this battle, but I am more than a conqueror. • I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself right now, but I am strong and courageous. • I don’t know how to fix this part of my life, but I am healed and whole. • I don’t know how long I’ll continue to struggle with this sin, but I am forgiven and free. How do I know? Because God says I am.4

But this is the starting point, or—more likely—the starting-over point. You can’t go any further until you realize that the worth of your activity for Christ cannot rise above your understanding of your identity in Him. And there is unlimited power in the Word of God. Power to overcome the warped ways we see ourselves. And power to reassemble the image of God that we haven’t always reflected but have already received. God spoke to my heart recently in a

I have nothing to prove, because I am already approved.

“Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness.”5

Don’t let a battle that you are afraid to fight keep you from a victory that’s already won. Go back the way you came. Get back to work.