In a world that is all about knowing “who we are” and finding our identity, I realized something today. It doesn’t matter if I know who I am if I don’t know who my God is.
Knowing who my God is changes everything.
It will change how I interact with Him.
It will change my relationship with others.
It will change how I view myself.
Since the beginning of time satan has tried to get us to believe the worst about our God.
Listening to the enemy at times has stunted my growth. It’s crippled my faith.
If we see God as a God who only does good things for others. We will hesitate to ask Him for ourselves.
If we see God as a God who works everything for His good but not ours, we might never believe He has good plans for us.
Here is what He says,
” For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.
God’s words is true, no matter what we see.
We just have to realize that we don’t see the full picture.
Like a child working on a puzzle who picks up a piece and sees that it has white and blue. Surely its a piece of the sky right? We push and try to cram it into that spot.
But in reality it’s just a swans feather on blue water. We can’t see everything. But He does.
He is the Alpha and the Omega- The beginning and the end.
His word tells us He is the author of our faith. He holds all things together and he is able to keep that which we have entrusted to him until that day when we see him face to face. He’s got the beginning, the middle and the end of our story.
And this is just ONE facet of our God and who He is.
Knowing who our God is and who He is in us is, how we take up the shield of faith.
This is how we extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy.
Our shield of faith in who God is, deflects the lies from the enemy.
It keeps them from penetrating our hearts.
The very first year after Alan went to Heaven. I was walking in the park and literally struggling to renew my mind on the daily. I wanted to walk this broken place out and truly learn to “grieve with HOPE.”
But some days this was so hard to do when I could barely catch my breath.
This was the day, the Spirit first whispered “Lift Up Your Eyes,” into my heart.
For the last 4 years, I’ve been on a journey to learn how to do just that, and it’s transforming the landscape of my heart.
It begins by, Lifting up our eyes… away from ourselves. Because, fixing our gaze on ourselves will only lead us to hopelessness.
Because, we can’t pull ourselves through the storms of life no matter how hard we pull on those bootstraps.
No, it is “Christ in Us” that gives us hope.
That’s why lifting up our eyes is just the beginning. We lift them and as we seek his face more and more and fill our hearts with his Words, our minds are renewed, the wounded places of our souls are stitched back together and we learn who we were always meant to be.
So I”m fixing my gaze on Him. I’m seeking to know Him over myself, because no one knows his creation like the one who created it. He will teach us all we ever need to know.
How has knowing Christ more deeply helped you know who you are beloved?
