Hi there Lighthouse Sisters!
We have been so BLESSED this past month with the Liberated 2018 Retreat! God is awesome!
Getting back on track here with our weekly Lighthouse Sister Devotions now that all that wonderful planning and preparation from the retreat is over.
Today Dina Alma shares with us a devotion from one of her recent Sister Circle gatherings. You can join her any 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month at 10:30 for a Sister Circle.
Identity
by Dina Alma
Identity – everybody has one whether they like how they are identified or not, still everyone has an identity.
The definition of Identity is the fact of the whom or what a person is. It is individuality, self, personality, character, originality, distinctiveness and uniqueness.
So basically, it is what makes me-me. It is what makes you-you.
If I were to ask you to explain someone to me, for instance, I asked you to remind me of who a person is you would say things like, “you know she is tall, she is blonde, her eyes are brown, she always wears pink,” and then I would go, “oh yes that is so and so.”
You see we have certain characteristics whether it be short or tall, skinny or not, blonde, brunette, red head, or whatever our hair color may be.
We all have an identity.
There are similarities in people. For instance, throughout my life I have heard that I look a lot like a woman from Florida. One time I met a woman who started to speak to me as if I were the person she knew from Florida, and when I told her I was not who she thought I was she did not believe me. She insisted I was this person, but when she realized I was not she began to say to me, “be glad you’re not her,” and started telling me all the things she thought was wrong with this person.
She said I am sorry for that, and we laughed as it was a case of mistaken Identity.
And that is what I would like to talk about -mistaken identity, and how if we are not careful we can fall prey to the goal of the enemy to have a mistaken identity to where we do not know who we are in God.
We are always under attack. The enemy is always throwing darts our way, ones that cause us to devalue ourselves and cause us to magnify our weaknesses. This happens all the time because the last thing satan wants is for us to be free. He does not want us to be the woman who God created us to be, so he works over time using people to sling darts at us to cause us to stumble so that we will never fully know the power of God that resides in us. He wants us never to allow that power from God to come out of us and touch a world broken and in need. The goal of our enemy is for each one of us to have a mistaken identity so that we do not know who we are in God. If you and I are victims of mistaken Identity than guess what – satan’s Job has become a whole lot easier because our defense will be a lot weaker, and his voice will be a lot louder as we hear the shouts of you are not who God wants you to be. We need to be aware of satan’s tactics. Something he loves to do is to try to keep you in a constant state of mourning over who you are not. He keeps you grieving over who you wished you were instead of knowing who you really are (because of Christ). He loves mis-identity because if he can get you away from the truth of who you really are than He can keep you from ever moving forward in who God created you to be. Being overwhelmed by insecurities and crippled by self-doubt is always a red flag that you are walking in mistaken identity. It always mistakes the truth of who you really are and calls you by something else.
That is why we need to be very careful when we are speaking about someone else. Sometimes we can mistake them for what we believe about ourselves, and we can cause others to identify them as someone they are not. It is so important that we stay close to God all the time. That we are constantly in prayer and the word so that when the fiery darts of the wicked one come flying at us we can lift up the shield of faith and extinguish those flaming arrows—those lies with the truth of who we are with the word of who God says we are. The identity of who we are in Christ, it’s not like the identity we spoke about before . It has nothing to do with your hair, your eyes, if your skinny, if you’re not, this is the identity that God has given to us. It’s time to know truth and stop letting satan, and others, words and actions brainwash you and cause you to be weak or to be disengaged and lifeless believing you have nothing to offer.
If you’re like me than at some point in your life you too may have been (or maybe right now you are) a victim of mistaken Identity, believing the lie that you have nothing to offer. Maybe you have let a man, or another woman, or parents, or children, or whoever, talk down to you and make you feel so insecure about yourself. If you struggle with knowing who you really are then you are a victim of mis-identity. God wants you to know your real identity. He wants you to know that you are a child of God, that his royal blood is flowing through your veins. He wants you to declare that every word of God is the truth, and make His word what you stand upon. Mis-identity can happen to us all. It can attempts to happen all the time. I can just get up in the morning and, boom, I feel this heaviness on me, a weight on me, but that’s where I have to make the change. I need to begin to pray, and praise, and spend time in the word, and read the scriptures of what God says about me. I have to proclaim these truths, and then my attitude will change as I take on my true identity in Christ. My circumstance might not change right away, but my attitude will.
Ephesians 1:3,4,5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath equipped us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”
We are equipped with spiritual blessings let us proclaim that!
Verse 4 – Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. He said we are chosen in Him. Before the foundation of the world He chose us… He knew us before we were formed, and he chose us, and regarded us as holy and blameless before him. That is powerful!
Verse 5 – Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
So, He adopted us through the kind intention of His will and the bible says that we are joint-airs with Jesus. That means we are a brother or a sister to Jesus! We know how much God loves Jesus His only begotten Son, and we are a joint-heir with Him! You are loved that much!
THE ENEMY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO BELIEVE THAT. HE WANTS YOU TO THINK THAT NO ONE LOVES YOU, AND SOME OF YOU MAY BE SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WHERE THIS IS BEING PUT ON YOU ON A DAILY BASIS. YOU NEED TO ALWAYS BE PROCLAIMING WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST.
Verses 6 ,7, and 8 – “To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight .”
So He redeemed us. He has forgiven us and He lavished, (lavished means he poured on – to do extensively) so He lavished us with grace not a one-time grace but with an endless supply.
Verses 9-11 – “God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”
When Paul tells us we have this in Christ, than we have these things because these promises are from God they, are God breathed.
We have a hope in Christ which so many do not have, but we have a hope in Christ that he is there, that he won’t leave or forsake us. We have to know this. This is declaring Gods promise and power over your life.
Never compare yourself to others. Your identity is in Christ not man. You too have a calling on your life. So – dismiss the lies. Know who you really are and know where your strength and ability come from.
Satan’s work was already destroyed on the cross. We are not fighting for the victory, we are fighting from the victory.
Your identity comes from God. You’re a child of God – remind yourself of that every time.