Recovered In Christ

If you would seek God’s opinion of who you are and no one else’s – you would never again need to ask the question. Ever! Many people have asked me over the years where my confidence comes from, in hopes of discovering my “secret formula” for some kind of self-esteem boost, or in the hopes of reassuring themselves that I’m just delusional in their attempt to avoid the discomfort of being challenged! In so many cases, even the most devout Christians who come into “agreement” with me – are still trying to figure out how to own the authority that I have. Is it belief? Is it faith? Is it grandiose narcissism? 🙂

The truth is – ALL my life I have listened to the voices in the world, and to the voices in control of the world, not realizing what was at play… not thinking anything of it! From my earliest memories I have been surrounded by the most vicious and brutal opinions of me that I’ve ever heard of. My nickname since I was 4 or 5 years old was ugly. whore. stupid. garbage…..given to me by the people closest to me. Try to imagine hearing that every single day. Feeling it. Owning it. Being it! As my bones and flesh and hair grew..so did the power of those opinions about me….the ones given to me and the ones I formed independently. We could pause here and chat about nature vs nurture? Did I become a monster because of the evil that surrounded me? Would I have become the depraved sociopath I became regardless of who’s opinion was fed to me?

The truth is – I was destined to be fused as a villain and a victim from the moment I was born…there is no separation…on through the years of my life…I can’t tell you how many different opinions about me I have heard….to some I have been a saint, there are people right now in my community of believers who would take a bullet for me…who adore me to pieces…and there are others who loathe me…who actually threaten to physically harm me…who think I am a monster. What is the point of me telling you this?

I know you think you see it coming…how I’m going to launch into telling you some Bible quotes about my identity in Christ…and how I’m forgiven…and how I am redeemed and how I’ve really convinced myself that I’m forgiven and that all those opinions about me whether true or false don’t really matter because I only listen to God’s opinion.

I could tell you that! It’s all true! But I don’t think it will really help you – see, I’m worried about the person who is reading this, who really is like the boy whistling in the dark pretending not to be afraid of the shadows he sees around him…I’m worried for you, because I know that so many of you…DEEP DEEP down don’t really believe you’re anything other than what the world has told you that you are. Even those of you who love to come into fellowship with us and quote extensively to us about how God does not see your sin anymore, he only sees Jesus in you…or how you believe you are redeemed….I don’t believe you. Despite how many affirmations you memorize and how many excuses you make for yourself that it’s ok not to be perfect…and how many pictures of rainbows with quotes about being worthy you post…I don’t believe that you believe you are who God says you are.

It’s in your eyes. It’s how you carry yourself. It’s how you act. It’s oozing out of you! It’s like a grown man wearing a young boy’s outfit…you wouldn’t be fooled that he’s a kid just because of the clothes he’s wearing….I can see it in you, you are old and weary and truly believe and behave that you are worthless…I want nothing more than for you to TRULY see yourself the way that I see myself…through the eyes of the only guy’s opinion that counts – Jesus.

The truth is, that is never ever going to happen, so long as you continue to try and talk yourself into “standing on the word of God”…there is no way around it, you have got to get real with God. Will you do a dare? I dare you to ask God to reveal to you all your self-deception. Do it. Ask Him! Ask Him to reveal to you who you really are!!!!

The truth is, of all the nasty, horrible opinions of me that are floating around out there…there is no opinion of me that is worse than the truth about me.

That is who God revealed to me. The totally depraved, hopeless person that I AM in and of myself. Period. And what He did to redeem me through His Son Jesus Christ is my identity. I was literally born again in spirit through Jesus Christ. Born again. Every single iota of my spiritual DNA has been created new in Jesus Christ. THAT is who I am. I have learned, like a newborn baby to depend on God’s voice to be my milk, my protection, my dad. He is the voice I know. I have grown up in a new house, with a new family, in a new body, with a new mind in a new place, with God as THE ONLY voice that I will listen to. I know my father’s voice. It doesn’t matter how well clothed you are in scripture…I can tell who’s voice is in you.

So please, think about this, if I was willing to turn my back on the opinion of the people closest to me, and learned to wean myself off of needing their approval and acceptance….if I was willing to forsake the love of this world….do you really think that I am going to stop now? Stop coming…stop pushing? Stop standing? Stop pressing into the enemy’s territory? No. Very simply. No. It is one of the greatest weapons that God has ever given me. The quiet and unafraid “No”.

Every voice that comes into my life that has tried to destroy me, I can simply and yet irrevocably say No!

Every attempt to turn me against the broken people of this world through accusations, slander and malice towards me….I say No!

Every assignment, every dart and every which way the Enemy has tried to seduce me into turning against God….I say No!

Tell God the truth. Ask Him in all honesty to reveal to you what you are most afraid of having confirmed about you – ask him! Say YES to Christ’s offer to take on to His Cross that Sin that you keep dancing around – and I promise – you will calmly and powerfully look EVERY single storm that comes into your life and simply tell it…No.

“Buffeted, knocked down but never knocked out, cast down but never in despair, persecuted but never forsaken, because – praise the Lord! – you have found the answer to what it takes to stand in the ministry you have received: a clear view of Jesus, in contemplation; in reflection of His glory in the midst of the battle; and then being made like unto Him as day by day your heart is lifted up to the Lord Jesus as He imparts to your life the sweetness and loveliness of His character.” 
– Alan Redpath

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2:13-14 

(Re-blogged – Fan Favourite )