Who are you in Christ?  Are you confused about your identity?  Do the circumstances of your birth define you?  Are you the bad things your parents may have said about you?  Are you the sum of your past failures and mistakes?  Are you the reject the bullies at school said you are?  Are you the lies and rumors that were spread about you?  Are you who your enemies say you are?  Are you defined by your successes and achievements?  Does the death of your spouse alter your identity?

Step One:  Ask Forgiveness

The first step to finding your true identity is to ask God to forgive you for your past mistakes.  First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  If you haven’t already done so, ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins and to live in your heart.  Invite Him to be your Lord (Master).  When you do this, you become a new creature in Christ!   Second Corinthians 5:17 (King James Version in the Bible) says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.”  If you prayed for God to forgive you for your sins (mistakes) and you believe that Jesus died on the cross around 2,000 years ago to forgive each of us humans for the sins we have committed, you are a new creature!  The old selfish you was crucified on the cross with Jesus!  He is now alive again, and He will help you to live a life of love like He does!

Step Two:  Know Your True Identity

The real you was designed by God before the foundation (“throwing down”) of the world.  Ephesians 1:4-5 (New Internation Version) tells us, “For he [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestinated us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”  You were predestined to be adopted by God to be His son or daughter!  Acts 17:28 says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.'”  You, my friend, are God’s offspring!  Your identity is not based on the circumstances in which you were born.  You are not defined by bad things your parents, bullies, slanderers, and enemies said!  Your worth does not change if your spouse dies!  God is your Creator, and He has given you a wonderful identity in Christ!  Read Psalm 139 for some real encouragement about who you are.  The second half of verse 14 of that chapter says, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made….”  No matter what identity issues you may be facing, you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God!

Step Three:  Receive His Love

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Who you are is loved by God!!!  THAT is your identity!  His love will heal any guilt, shame, pain, or fear you feel!  His love will inspire confidence and boldness.  Proverbs 28:1b (KJV) says, “…the righteous are bold as a lion.”  Psalm 18:35 (KJV) says, “Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation; Thy right hand hath held me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great.”  Your identity is not a loser when you know God.  Neither are your successes the basis of your identity!  When God is on your side, His gentleness makes you great!  You are highly favored!   …No matter what anybody else says, good or bad.  That includes the devil!

Step Four:  Resist the Devil

The devil will remind you of past failures.  He will lie to you about your identity.  He will tell you that you are rejected and hopeless and that life isn’t worth living.  He is called “the accuser of the brethren” in Revelation 12:10.  The devil is a bully, but Jesus is your Big Brother who will protect you from him!  James 4:7 tells us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  Get close to Jesus, and He will give you authority over the devil in your life and in the lives of those around you.

Step Five:  Humble Yourself

James 4:6b says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”  We need God in order to be great.  We are not great in ourselves, no matter how many achievements we have under our belts.  Our identity is not found in our successes.  None of us are “self-made men.”

On the one hand, there is great big God.  On the other hand, there are us.  Compared to Him, we are just little people.  We are not more important or worth more to God than somebody else.

We need to humble our hearts before God.  If we don’t feel humble, but want to, we can ask Him for a humble heart.  He will gladly give it to us.

Some people take humility too far.  They think that we are nothing to God, not important at all, that only Jesus matters.  Jesus didn’t die for “nothings”!  He considered you to be so precious to Him that He gave His precious life and blood so that He wouldn’t have to spend an eternity without you!  There is no higher price He could have paid than His own life and blood, other than when His fellowship with the Father was suspended on the cross for a few hours.  He paid that price for you!  You matter to God!  You are not just the “toenail” on the Bride of Christ!

 The truth is that each of us humans is precious and irreplaceable to God!!!  That is our identity!  We are children of God and individually brides of Jesus!

I addressed this issue also on pages 8-9 in A Romantic Journey With Jesus: Commentary On The Song Of Solomon – Bride Of Jesus Ministry.  I encourage you to read this paragraph talking about how your identity is a bride of Jesus!

Do you struggle with identity issues?  Let me know how I can pray for you!  I myself have certainly struggled in this area!  Post a comment below or click the conversation bubble above.  If you would prefer to keep this private, fill out the contact form on the Contact page and send me your comment!

Are you waiting on God?  How can you know that He will answer your prayers?  I wanted to include this with the last post but didn’t want to make it too long.  So here is part 2!

Is God My Main Pursuit?

First thing is to ask God, “Are You my main pursuit?”  If so, we can be sure He will answer our heart’s desires.  Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” (New American Standard Bible)

Did We Ask God?

Second, did we ask God?  James 4:2b says, “You do not have because you do not ask” (NASB).  So often we, I included, go without blessings simply because we do not bother to ask God to bless us!  God likes to be asked!  He is the ultimate Giver!!!  James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (New International Version)

Is What I Am Wanting His Will for Me?

Third, ask the Lord, “Is what I am wanting Your will for me?”  If we can answer yes to that question, then we can be sure that God will give us our requests.  In 1 John 5:14-15 it says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (New King James Version)

Am I Asking for a Blessing for the Right Reasons?

Fourth, inquire of Him, “Am I asking for a blessing for the right reasons?”  James 4:3 says, “Ye [You] ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”  Do we have impure motives for asking for something?  For example, do we ask for an expensive sports car because we want to impress others?  –Or do we ask for the car of His choice so that we may tend to our and/or our family’s needs and use that car to serve God?  Having the correct motive is so important!  If we feel convicted our motive is wrong, we simply ask God to forgive and cleanse us and put within us His dreams.  First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins [wrongs we have done], He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Do I Have Faith for What He Wants for Me?

Fifth, seek God, “Do I have faith for what You want for me?”  Hebrews 12:2  tells us that Jesus is the “author and perfecter of faith.”  You cannot work up faith.  Yes, memorizing scriptures will help our faith to grow, and I highly recommend that.  Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (King James Version).  Memorizing scripture is great, too.  However, true faith comes from the Author of Faith, Jesus. What God gives you faith for, He will give you!  In Hebrews 6:12, God advises us “that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”  Patience is waiting on God.  In Romans 10:11 we find, “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM [GOD] WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.'”

Do You Lack Faith?

Do you lack faith?  Ask God for it!  He will gladly give it to you!  Wait on God with faith.  He will not disappoint you!!!

Update on Me

Remember I told you last week in “Waiting on God Part 1” that I was waiting on God to sing and play the piano at my church?  Well, glory be to God, I DID sing and play Sunday!!!  God gave me that desire of my heart.  May He continue to heal my throat from laryngitis.  I know He will!  He will continue to give me the desires of my heart!  He will continue to give me every good and perfect gift!  I am asking according to His will, and I pray I have the right motives.  God hears me, and He will continue to give me the petitions I have asked of Him!  The Author of my faith, He will also perfect it!  He will NOT disappoint me!!!

How can I pray for you as you wait on God?  Leave a comment below or click on the conversation bubble above.  I love to hear from my website visitors!  I want a friendship with you and not just to increase my website and search engine rankings! 🙂

Are you waiting on God?  Welcome back to my blog!  Has God ever made you a promise that you read in the Bible or that He personally spoke to you?  …And then so much time has passed, and it still hasn’t happened?  Joseph in the Bible had the same experience!  God gave him dreams that his brothers and parents would bow down to him (Genesis 37:5-11).

Yet years later after faithfully serving God, he found himself unjustly in prison!  He interpreted dreams while there.  One was to a butler.  Joseph prophesied within three days that the butler’s position to serve Pharoah (the King) would be restored to him.  Joseph asked the butler to remember him to Pharoah so that he could be released from unfair imprisonment.  Guess what?  The butler forgot to mention him to Pharoah!

Do You Feel Like a Joseph?

Can you relate to Joseph?  I sure can!  My dream has been to play the piano since I was five.  In college I took piano lessons for a few months.  Then God called me out of college where I was studying music education and told me, “I’m training you My way.”  (That was His plan for me.  Others He calls to college.)  When I was 21, I wrote a song and played it at church on the keyboard.  Then I didn’t play keyboard again until I recorded my CD in 2004.  Afterwards, I stopped again for many years.

In March of this year, God showed me to play my keyboard again.  He asked me to sing to Him “Oh, Father of Jesus” by Michael Card.  I have diligently practiced the keyboard, often ten hours per week, learning my songs and “Oh, Father of Jesus.”  Yet here I find myself struggling with a weak voice, unable to sing consistently.  I keep having to cancel my singing engagements.  This has been a trial of my faith!

Our Dreams Will Come True!

If you have read Genesis chapters 37 to the end of that book, you know it all turned out well for Joseph.  He got out of prison and did indeed become the governor of Egypt.  His brothers did bow down to him.  Even his parents were under his governmental authority.  God put Joseph there to feed the hungry in the famine and preserve many lives, including those of his family.

God is going to take me out of this prison of mild laryngitis so I can minister to God with my voice and play the keyboard publicly to minister to people as well.  Like Joseph, my heart’s desire is to feed the hungry in the spiritual famine!  God will make good on His promises to me!  I just need His grace to keep trusting in faith that He will answer when the time is right!  In the meantime, He is purifying me and helping me to grow into a more mature bride of Jesus.  He is doing the same in your life!  One thing is for sure:  He cares about our suffering of patience!

I wrote a poem about waiting on God.  It is called “The Promise.”  It is #9 in my poetry booklet Journey To The Promised Land – Bride Of Jesus Ministry.  This is on my website.  Perhaps you will find it encouraging!

What promises are you waiting on God to fulfill?  Leave me a comment below or click on the conversation bubble above so I know how to join you in prayer for your answer to come!

Welcome to my blog!  What does it mean to be a bride of Jesus?  I think it is the same question as:  What does it mean to run the race to win the prize of a spiritually intimate relationship with Jesus and rule in His kingdom?  On page 134 of  A Romantic Journey With Jesus: Commentary On The Song Of Solomon – Bride Of Jesus Ministry, I wrote the following:

      Paul said he was running a race to win the prize and exhorted us to run in such a manner as to win the race and inherit the prize as well (Philippians 3:14; I Corinthians 9:24-25).  He was talking about “running the race to win the prize” of marrying and ruling with Jesus during the coming ages.  What does “running” look like?  It looks like surrender; like yielding; like crying out to Him, “Help!”  It looks like saying “yes” to the Lord when He gives us a command, even if it hurts to obey, even if it means suffering for a season because we didn’t get our selfish way or personal preferences.  It looks like spending intimate time with Him, LETTING HIM LOVE US until our hearts and souls are overflowing with His love.  It looks like seeking Him daily, through reading the Bible and talking (praying) to Him.  It looks like laying aside every (ankle) weight, including needless drains on our time (activities outside of the Lord’s will) that would slow us down (Hebrews 12:1-2).  It looks like loving others, helping them meet the Savior-Bridegroom and prepare to marry Him.  It looks like being an oddball in a sinful world (John 15:18-21; 1 John 3:13).  It looks like repenting when we fail.  It looks like a romantic journey with Jesus.

What are your thoughts on what it means to be a bride of Jesus or what it means to run the race to win the prize of being close to Jesus and ruling with Him?  How can I pray for you to run this race?  Please leave a reply below or click on the conversation bubble above.:)