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January 17 - January 17, 2023
“Are you going to stay, remain, dwell, continue, abide in and with me today?”4
He spent time with his disciples, asking a lot of questions and telling a lot of stories—stories that we are still trying to understand today. Matthew describes a day with Jesus: “All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon” (Matt. 13:34
We have believed and confidently trusted, and [even more] we have come to know [by personal observation and experience] that You are the Holy One of God [the Christ, the Son of the living God]”
We learn language formulas.
Jesus never speaks in language formulas. Do you know why? Because every person Jesus interacts with is a unique and distinct identity of whom he is the Creator. Generative language formation is how Jesus talks to people. In this formation, you create a new conversation every time you talk, and it can be a lot of work.
Sociologists and anthropologists say that the two highest goals of people are to be immortal and permanently joyful.
“Well, my identity is militant peacemaker,”
The gates of hell cannot stand against us moving in our true identity. But if we take one step outside of that identity, we’re done, we’re finished. It’s over. “If that’s true,” I said to my friend, “how dangerous is it to live a life with no sense of your identity?
The journey in discovering your true identity in the kingdom of God is an eternal journey. There is no end to the depths of who God made you to be.
Why is it that we often look for the quick answer, the get-spiritual-quick scheme that will magically turn us into the person we think we are supposed to be?
One of the reasons the participants wanted to find agreement was because they were so moved by the powerful teaching of someone with whom they identified so deeply. He wasn’t trying to convert them to another religion. He was simply leading them into identity transformation.
“Do you agree that we must receive the sacrifice of Jesus as the way into the kingdom? That this is the only hope for the Muslim people of the world? Do you agree?”
There are ideas inside your mind, heart, and spirit that no one has ever thought of before. And the beauty is that these ideas want to come out of you. The sad part is that for most of you, it’s not going to happen because your false self—your fear, guilt, and shame—will shut down your creative and imaginative true self.
“What do you want me to know and what do you want me to do in relation to the men there? Is there any part of me that is not in line with hearing your voice and acting from my true identity found in you?”
The enemy’s goal is to limit and narrow our thinking so that we can’t see anything new but continue to tell ourselves why things cannot or will not work. We have an enemy who daily says to us, Here’s why that’s not going to work.
When we pray, God tells us how things do work, and we need to be able to hear him above the voices that tell us how things don’t. Prayer is this place, up and out of ourselves, where nothing is impossible.
He’s creative in how he talks. He’s mysterious.
In our lives, there are three great mysteries to explore every day: The mystery of God and his universe. Every day we can explore the mystery of the universe. All humans love to look up at the sky. By wondering about the sky, humans have figured out planetary motion and gravitational force; they have discovered other planets and how to possibly travel there. The ones who have committed their lives to understanding this mystery have said, “We’re going to figure it out even if we die trying.” And when they figure out one thing, they learn there’s much more to know. Each day, try to understand
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If you endeavor to love God with your mind, your mind is opened up beyond the rational into the intuitive. The intuitive mind is the place where we pray and dream and hope for things as they ought to be, things yet unseen by the rational mind.
The way for things to be unlocked in you and in your spirit is for you to pay attention. Pay attention to God. Pay attention to things in this world. We are so distracted that we are not paying attention to what’s really happening.
gave his only Son for whoever, whoever, whoever, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, whoever believes—and here’s the complicated process of receiving what God has done: you must believe. That’s it.
Look in the mirror and tell the truth about what is happening around you, to you, and in you. Tell the truth. In order to learn how God is getting your attention, tell the truth.
When you pay attention to God, it means you’re living and speaking the truth. This leads organically into a deeper awareness of God, yourself, and others—the three mysteries.
Confession is telling God the truth about what you really believe about him, yourself, and others. It’s the greatest act, a sacrament. God loves honest confession. Confession is the beginning of genuine transformation. If you don’t tell God your truth, how can he enlighten your reality with his truth?
If I say to God, “I think you let me down every day, and I’m afraid to take a new job because I’m afraid you won’t show up,” he will always work with that. Always.
Ok Holy Spirit, call me out
Confession activates repentance. Repentance is changing the way you think, turning and going a new way. God tells you the truth about who he really is, who you really are, and who your neighbor really is. God’s truth empowers you to believe in a new way, which leads to thinking in a new way, which leads to acting in a new way. This is transformation.
When you live in continuous confession and repentance, your life is transformed in every area: professionally, spiritually, physically. In every way, you begin to ascend.
Jesus Christ came in the flesh and walked the earth, and when he walked the earth, he came to do two things. He came to destroy the works of the enemy and to make people well.
Death no longer has a hold on those who embrace Christ.
Because of Christ our Savior, you say to us, “Come boldly to the throne of grace in your time of need.”
We say, “The Lord rebukes you, Satan, in the name of Jesus. You have lost; you are done; you are over. We bow our knee to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We don’t bow to anyone else. The Lord rebukes you, Satan, in the name of Jesus, whom you must obey.”
“You’re good enough”? Why? Could it be that you don’t think you’re good enough? Isn’t it beautiful that God is affirming to you that he has always approved of you? It’s not about works or comparison or competition. God made you enough, and that is how he has always seen you.
“I love you more than you will ever know.” Beautiful.
I heard "You are a child of God." The Holy Spirit emphasized the word "child." I continued reading and gasped when I read this line that He will love me more than I will ever know. I have a tattoo that says this specifically in my Dad's handwriting. This is the reminder my heavenly Father wants me to know today.
“God, what (else) do you want me to know?”
I heard He is proud.
If you live in fear, you are still going to try to control things in order to cope with your anxiety. Your identity is fear.
Only God makes you worthy. Only God removes shame and replaces it with value. On the cross, Jesus canceled all guilt and its resulting shame. Your works cannot accomplish this. Receive the free gift of God.
When did that sense of unworthiness (or fear, shame, etc.) begin?
It’s fascinating that the heart is really the information gatherer and the brain is simply the organizer and processor.
Truth telling moves us from what is real to what is true. This is important because what is real to me isn’t always true, but what is true is always real.
What are our middle school–aged kids doing? Do they have an inner sense of identity that is energizing them into their future destiny? From where and from whom are our sons and daughters gaining their identity?
Whatever level you find yourself within this world, you can go higher.
“You are my beautiful student,”
you come to the Lord as if you are a victim—“Oh, God, I’m so unworthy. Oh, God, I’m so shameful”—his response will be something like this: “Who is this? What is that noise? All I see is my leader, my student, my beloved son, my beautiful daughter. Who is saying they’re shameful? Did you say that? How dare you say that to me! I died to take away that shame. How dare you call yourself unworthy. I died to show you your value to me.”
You want to end a conflict? Let the enemy know that their life is valuable in your eyes.
When we take our eyes off Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,6 we stop abiding and we become separate from truth. This separation results in a descent into falsehood. This descent, unchecked, whether gradual or rapid, is inevitable and often destructive.
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55 ESV). Do we not believe this? If we’re afraid to die, we will do anything to protect our lives.
Zacchaeus is the one who came up with the idea of returning four times the amount of money he had taken illegally.9 Jesus didn’t tell him to do it. Being with Jesus, transformed into his true identity, Zacchaeus did what his true identity knew to do. He returned what he had stolen and began to live generously.
After witnessing Jesus’s constant communication with the Father and the ensuing results, a normal person has got to ask, “Can you teach me to do that?”
Jesus knew our tendency to turn things into a formula and make them a ritual. That’s what we do to avoid relationship.
As David Benner writes, “We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.”
