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July 24 - August 4, 2025
But it does take faith to believe what’s true.
Jesus makes us this cautionary promise: “All who are obsessed with being secure in life will lose it all—including their lives. But those who let go of their lives and surrender them to me will discover true life” (Luke 17:33 TPT).
Trying to eliminate every lie we believe is time consuming and difficult. What is more effective is eliminating the false identity that attracts the lies and allows Satan a foothold into our spiritual life.
By thinking for himself rather than trusting God, David moved into a false self. He believed himself to be unloved and unprotected by God. Once he accepted this false view of himself, the lies came like rats to the trash pile to the point where David began living out the lies as truth. Even his own men considered killing him.
The way to discover the false identity is to ask God to tell you what that false identity is.
Confession is telling the truth to God about what you believe about yourself that feels true.
God still speaks and his word still cuts, so let’s ask God what he wants you to know and what he wants you to do.”
God is ready and willing to lavish his wisdom all over us if we will only ask.
Jesus knew our tendency to turn things into a formula and make them a ritual. That’s what we do to avoid relationship.
There’s your prayer life. If the Father knows what you need before you ask him, why don’t you ask him what you need? If you ask him what you need and he tells you what you need, then pray for that.
Not asking is one hindrance to our journey of hearing the voice of God in our lives. But there is another, I think more insidious, impediment to receiving God’s guidance: trying to listen from within a false sense of self—a false identity.
You cannot know God in any deep way from a false identity. You just can’t.
Satan’s desire, whether you believe in Satan or not, is that you live your life making guesses, mostly wrong, about who you are, who God is, and who your neighbor is. You end up guessing your way through life and doing the best you can. That’s one way to live—most people do it that way—but it’s not a great way to live. You might survive with this strategy, but you will not thrive.
In what ways is your false view of yourself, however real the mistakes you’ve made in the past, diminishing your capacity to hear and respond appropriately to the God who calls you by name and whose Word is ready to slice through all the lies you’ve come to believe about yourself?
In his work The Sickness Unto Death, Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard explains that the most common form of human despair is not being who you are.
Consider the tragic self-identification of a generation of Israelites, who had witnessed God’s miraculous presence and provision under the leadership of Moses, when they looked with fear on the inhabitants of the land promised to them by God: “We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Num. 13:33 KJV, emphasis added).
Gideon is informed that his identity with God is “mighty man of [fearless] courage” (v. 12) and that he already possesses the great strength necessary to deliver Israel from her enemies. Gideon’s response to this information is “my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (v. 15).
As David Benner writes, “We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.”
Jesus’s response to Peter’s refusal was strong: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (v. 8 NIV). In what ways are you refusing to let the Lord serve you?
Instead of entering a religiously, culturally, ethnically, and politically tense situation and trying to overpower and subdue our enemies, we humble ourselves to the role of a servant and offer our very lives for their good.
Today, this woman’s image is painted on the wall of the Samaritan Museum on Mount Gerizim. She is not only commemorated in Scripture but also honored and remembered to this day in her homeland.30 Why? Because she let the King serve her by walking with her from her false identity into her true identity in the kingdom of God.
we had three guidelines for them to remember: Honor all people (1 Pet. 2:17)—No disrespect. Ever. Always speak truth (John 8:32)—No falsehood. Ever. Give thanks in all things (1 Thess. 5:18)—No complaining. Ever.
Take a moment and ask God, “What do I do when I’m in pain? Holy Spirit, teach me to lament and not complain.” The result of David’s “weeping aloud” was encouragement and strength in the Lord his God.
imposter shadow self
Radical individualism is self-generated and subjective and leads only to internal and external conflict.
Contrarily, true identity is the essence of who you are, gifted to you by God and meant to be discovered in relationship with him. It’s the “I” you carry deep inside of you and secured in love, value, and worth. Your unique and true identity is meant to bless the world.
When we come to the Lord in our true identity, we can accomplish more than we can ask or even imagine. It’s unbelievable.
When we’re in a situation, what should we do? We shouldn’t say, “Lord God, do this and that for me . . .” Rather, we should ask, “God, what do you want me to know? What do you want me to do?”
David, the man after God’s own heart, experienced success when he first “inquired of the LORD.” Nine times in the Bible David inquires of the Lord.36 This feature is not seen in any other biography in the Old or New Testament.
As I have studied David’s lines of inquiry, I think there are three main questions we should ask God before we move to action. The first question is, Should I go? Should I do this?
The second question is, Will I win?
The third question to ask before moving to action is, How should I go?
When you ask the questions Should I go? Will I win? and How should I go? your life with God will become generative and creative.
Remember the three big questions: Should I go? Will I win? How should I go?
Whenever the Lord says something to you, this is your answer back to him: Yes, I receive it. Thank you.
I am someone who doesn't need credit
God will only call you a name he would call himself. That’s another way you know it’s from God. He names us after himself, like a good father does.
FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real.
The negative emotion is an invitation from God to seek him and his truth about the situation.
When my mind is fixed on things that are true, my emotions are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
“Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those whose imaginations are consumed with you; they confidently trust in you” (Isa. 26:3 TPT).
Who is defining the words in your life for you?
Don’t analyze and become introspective, just receive and continue to ask, “God, what else do you want me to know?” And write it down. Then ask, “God, when you see me in this identity, what do I look like to you?” Always write down what you sense and share it with a trusted friend or small group.
People need places to confess, to tell the truth about their fear, guilt, and shame.
Hearing communication from God should be a normal, everyday occurrence. It takes practice and intentionality. It’s not magic.
You can’t give away what you don’t have. Let’s agree to stop reacting in fear, guilt, and shame and begin exchanging our reality for God’s truth so that we can effortlessly and fearlessly give away the peace that we receive.
Act on what you hear! JAMES 1:22 MSG
His heart comes alive when he is engaged in these activities because, with God’s help, David is becoming his true self.
David’s brother doesn’t want to be afraid, so he projects hostility onto the person asking the question. This is what fearful people do—blame others for their fear.
A person with an identity cannot be bullied. They can be beaten up and even killed, but they can’t be bullied because they’re not afraid.
