Knowing who we are in Christ is essential to receiving all the inheritance and kingdom privileges that Christ has purchased for us. A few of us prayed with a lady a few weeks ago who obviously loved Jesus with all her heart but who was failing to know who she was in Christ.  She had been suffering with severe health issues for several years but they had taken another turn for the worse in the past few months.  The doctors were uncertain of the cause of her recent symptoms of seizures and extreme fatigue but they were telling her she would never work again.

She is a very gifted person and her work has been a place where she was able to use her gifts as “her ministry.”  The idea that she could not longer touch people with her gifts was emotionally devastating to her as well as the pain she was in.  She had asked a small group from our church to come pray for her healing.  She was not a member of our church but her church was not very confident in God’s willingness to heal in this day and age.

We began by asking about her illness – when it started, the symptoms, etc.  She quickly began to download a litany of symptoms and suffering that began in her childhood.  She spoke about her emotional brokenness and disappointments and even the struggles in her marriage. What struck me the most was how convinced she seemed to be that her suffering was God’s way of bringing her to a complete place of brokenness so that she was asking for more brokenness while she was wanting us to pray for healing.  She went on about how undeserving she was and how she just wanted God to use her but she knew that she needed to be even more broken more so that he could use her in great ways. All the time she was weeping and wondering when God was going to answer her prayers for healing and restoration.

In her mind, God was humbling her so that at some point he could lift her up. In her mind she was trying to achieve humility by focusing on her insignificance, by devaluing herself, and by accepting this suffering as something she deserved because she was unworthy of anything God might do for her. At the same time her heart yearned for healing, God’s assurance of her significance to him, and release from her sense of isolation and despair.

Our friend had fallen prey to the misconception that humility is coming to the place of denying that you have any value or worth in the kingdom of God and that it is only by God’s grace that your are artificially assigned any value at all.  You’ve heard the expression that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.  Many of us have been taught that God’s grace is the lipstick, but we are still just pigs. We have also been taught that once we accept our “pigness” then God can begin to use us and bless us.  My experience has been, however, that once we accept our “pigness” we feel so unworthy of God’s love and blessings that we pray with little faith and lower our spiritual expectations to avoid more disappointment in our “piggy” lives.

Biblical humility is maintaining an objective view of who we are rather than denying that we have any value or capacity for achievement. But in that objective view we must know that we are, in fact, sons and daughters of the King, members of his royal priesthood, God’s anointed representatives on the earth, the vessels of God’s Holy Spirit, dispensers of his power on the earth, and that at all times we are his chosen ones and more than conquerors. Humility is not denying our value and significance but rather knowing who we are and being confident in that, while at the same time not feeling as if we are superior to all those around us.

Think about Jesus.  Our goal is to be like him in everyway.  Jesus walked on this earth being confident of who he was to the Father – the Son of God, the beloved, the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  When he commanded demons he did not question the authority the Father had given him.  When he prayed over a little bread and a few fish to feed five thousand, he did not doubt his significance to the Father and so did not doubt that his prayers would be answered.  We see Jesus having time for the lowliest of people and yet never denying his significance in the kingdom of God. Actually, knowing who we are and believing it releases us to be servants and to hang out with the lowly, the powerless, and the impoverished. Knowing who we are releases us from the need to be part of the “in crowd” because we are already part of God’s “in crowd” and you can’t get anymore “in” than that.  Knowing who we are releases us from the need to appear to be significant because we are significant. Confidence in our significance in Christ allows us to walk in humility which is actually strength under control rather than denying our strength.

As our friend kept speaking about her brokenness and a desire for God to break her even more, I stopped her in mid-sentence.  I began to remind her of who she was in Christ and the promises that were hers because of that. I began to remind her of the healing, provision and joy that had been purchased for her by the blood of Jesus.  There is a time for brokenness but that is usually reserved for the prideful, the arrogant, and the self-sufficient of this world, not for the suffering and brokenhearted.  As I began to remind her of what she had once known but had forgotten, her countenance changed and her prayers and declarations for healing changed. Instead of whimpering before the throne and pleading her lack of worth and value, she began to approach the throne of grace with boldness.  That night she received freedom from the demonic and a significant amount of healing.

We always know that the source of our value, giftedness, and anointing is by grace and from God through Jesus.  But when Jesus makes you an ambassador, you are an ambassador. You don’t deny your ambassadorship, but you exercise it with confidence because you know Jesus has made you that. To walk around declaring that Jesus gave you the post because of how amazing you have always been would be arrogance. But to accept the position as a reality is required before you can fulfill your calling. To think that Christ calls you an ambassador but that you really aren’t an ambassador undermines everything he appoints you to do because you will only act like his representative, conveying his power and authority, when you believe that you truly are his authorized representative on the earth.

So…today be humble.  Know who you are in Christ, know your significance in the kingdom; know your significance on the earth. Be confident in who God has made you to be and live with that confidence. Faith is not just knowing who Christ is but also who you are in Christ.  Pray with confidence and expectation because you have great standing in the courts of heaven.  Believe it. Be blessed.

Did you ever have the feeling that someone envied you? Maybe they just simply came out and told you that they envied you, your lifestyle, your faith, your marriage, your talent, your stunning good looks, etc. It’s likely that they were giving you a compliment.  They were sincere and it was meant in a positive way rather than an “I wish I had what you have and I wish you didn’t” way.

To know that someone envies what you have or what you are often allows us to see those things through fresh eyes and to reassign value to some things we had come to take for granted or simply ignore. If a struggling person or a much younger person tells us about the envy the feel in our direction, we may feel a bit flattered but we aren’t blown away.  After all, value is relative. If someone without a car at all envies you because you drive a ’79 Ford Pinto, you still won’t feel that great about taking your girl to the prom in the Pinto.  You still know it’s an old beater.

But what if the rich, the famous, and the powerful began to sincerely indicate that they envied you for certain things?  You might begin to see whatever that was in a much different light. You would begin to sense the value, the uniqueness, or the special qualities of whatever they saw in you or in your possession that they longed for themselves.  Realizing that, you might begin to feel a little more significant, walk a little taller, and expect a little more out of life.

Consider these two verses:

               Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.  (Eph.3:8-10)

As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look. (1 Pet. 1:10-12)

These are interesting verses. In summary, they tell us that there were mysteries that rested in the vaults of heaven for ages.  There were rumors and hints about God’s plan for redeeming Israel and, perhaps, even others.  The great prophets of Israel sensed that something was up and asked God to show them.  He would not.  Angels themselves longed to look into the plans of God regarding man.  God kept the files shut. But in the fullness of time, he chose the church and he chose you to announce the mysteries surrounding Christ, not just to the world but also to powers, authorities and angels in the heavenly realms.

This unveiling of God’s secrets began at Pentecost but continue through today.  The Spirit of God now reveals the mysteries of God to God’s people as they pour over the Word, seek him in prayer, or operate in the grace-filled gifts of the Spirit.  As they do, they announce these revealed mysteries not just to the rest of the body of Christ, but even to the angels who long to look into such things but must wait to hear them from us.

If we could only grasp the honor and the privilege that God has given us as his children we might feel more significant, walk a little taller and expect a little more out of life.  It really is amazing.  There is a real sense in which you are envied by the angels for he has entrusted to you and to every believer true riches that must be distributed by you even to those amazing creatures who stand in the presence of God.  Consider that privilege today.  Dig a little deeper in the Word.  Pray a little longer.  Ask God for a greater revelation of Jesus every day.  When you get it, share it with others and when you do you will be sharing with the angels as well.  Blessings.

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.     He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (Jn.1:3-13)

I wanted to spend a little more time on John’s theology of Jesus in chapter one of his gospel.  I love the phrase, “In him was life and that life was the light of men.”  In the writings of John, the term “life” or “eternal life” speaks more about quality than duration.  For him, eternal life is the quality of life a man has in connection with the Father rather than eternal existence.  Those who find themselves in torment will have a never-ending existence but John would not call that “life.”

When he looked at Jesus, he saw something that he had never seen before.  He saw a quality of life that he had never imagined. It was a life in close and intimate fellowship with the Father.  There were qualities evident in the life of Jesus that had not been seen since Adam walked in the Garden.  Think of the things people saw in Jesus that arrested their attention.

The most obvious was the power available to him because of his relationship with Jehovah. As Jesus touched the lame, the blind, the lepers, and even the dead they were instantly returned to health and life. Demons were driven from their victims with a single command. Jesus tore at a few fish and a handful of bread and fed thousands. He commanded storms, walked on water, and changed water into the best wine at the wedding.

He also taught as no one had ever taught before.  He taught with the authority of one who knows, rather than one who speculates. Instead of quoting great Rabbi’s he spoke what the Father was giving him at the moment.

He exuded a security and a peace that is available only to those who know the heart of the Father and know the love the Father has for them. Jesus himself said that he gave peace, but it was not like the peace the world gives. Jesus had three years to save the world but never seems in a hurry, never worried about his next meal, and never spent a moment concerned about the approval of men.

He prayed in such a way that his disciples, who had heard thousands of Jewish prayers while growing up, felt like they had never heard anyone pray before.  They asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Jesus also dispensed love and grace in ways that no one had seen before either. Moved with compassion, he touched broken lives with his love and grace in a way that invited people to trade in their old way of life, full of sin and brokenness, for a new life where grace and forgiveness ran deeper than the river of sin that had been gushing through their lives.

Those who saw Jesus saw that life and that life was the light of men.  If you’ve ever been lost in the dark you know how welcome a light is.  Suddenly, that light gives direction and hope. Suddenly you know in which direction you should be walking or driving and the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness are chased away.

The life Jesus modeled shows us that there is something else, something more, something worth pursuing with all of our hearts. It also gives us hope that there is a heart in heaven from which all of that flows.  The life we see in Jesus echoes the atmosphere of heaven.  In that life we sense that there truly is a place filled with love, peace, and security.  A city where sickness, death, and the demonic have no power and no place.

The life people saw in Jesus was a light directing them, calling them, and filling them with hope.  The amazing thing is that his life is available to us. As the Holy Spirit conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ, our lives should begin to emit that same life and hope to those still walking in darkness.  Paul said that, as believers, we should shine like stars in a dark sky.  I marvel at the men and women who centuries ago ventured out on seemingly endless seas in tiny boats with only a hand-held sextant and a basic compass to tell them where they were and where they were going. Sometimes they were driven by storms for days never seeing land or a single star to give them a heading.  When the clouds broke and the night sky was clear, they found hope and direction from those lights shining in the darkness.

My hope is that we (myself included) will pray harder and press-in harder to know the life that John saw in Christ so that others may see Jesus in us and that life, then, can be a light for them giving direction and hope. Remember, you are the light of the world.

“Jesus is Lord!” How often has that phrase been spoken in the past two thousand years?  It is an amazing theological statement full of implications but it can also be a phrase used so often that it loses its meaning to those who use it most.

We can also say with great accuracy that Jesus not only is Lord but has been Lord and will always be Lord.  The prophet Isaiah was given a great vision in the year that King Uzziah died.  It was a year of uncertainty in Israel.  A good king had died and the few faithful kings that ruled over Israel were typically followed by disastrous years of rule by wicked kings who forced God to send judgment on a rebellious nation. It was a year and a moment when Isaiah needed encouragement.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isa.6:1-5).

In his moment of need, Isaiah wass given a vision of the throne room of God which exuded the power, the glory, and the might of the one on the throne. This was his God and the one who watched over Israel. It was a reminder that even when the earth or our particular part of the earth is in chaos, there is no chaos or panic in heaven.  At the same time that this vision was meant to reassure Isaiah that “God was still on his throne,”  the sheer glory, power, and holiness of the Lord overwhelmed Isaiah with a sense of his own sinfulness.  Yet God immediately cleansed the prophet so that he could stand in the His presence. He then gave him his prophetic orders.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isa.6:8-10).

In John 12, the apostle quotes this passage from Isaiah about Israel but then says, “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (Jn. 12:41). Isaiah’s vision opens up to us the glory that Jesus had in heaven before he put on flesh and became Son of Man.  He was Lord before the incarnation as well as after.  The word Lord, in both Hebrew and Greek simply means “one who has immense authority and one to whom great respect is due.” It is frequently applied to deity in both languages.

When we speak of Jesus as Lord, we echo his position of great authority and the immense honor due to him.  The N.T. speaks of his great authority over and over.

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.  And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Eph.1:20-23)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matt. 28:18)

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil.2:9-11)

As those who are in Christ by faith, we have the immense honor of not only serving the King of Kings and Lords of Lords but of knowing him as a friend and brother. It’s not always easy keeping the balance between friendship and kingship, between reverent awe and familiarity. And yet we have the privilege of doing just that with the one who made Isaiah tremble. It is possible, not because Jesus has been brought down, but because we have been raised up with Him and “seated with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).

Three things we should remember today:

1. Jesus is Lord and as such should have our immediate and complete obedience in all things as well as our greatest respect. He isa to be honored above all.

2. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth and he exercises that power and authority on your behalf. When you enter into seasons of turmoil and chaos in your life, remember Isaiah’s vision of Christ on the throne and remember that although he is the Lord who sits in unspeakable glory, he also knows you by name and watches over you as a friend, a brother, and as the Good Shepherd.

3. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places and you represent the King of Glory with immense authority that has been delegated to you by the King. As his representative (ambassadors) on the earth you are to re-present Jesus and do what he would do in every circumstance of life. Your words carry weight, your prayers carry weight, and your actions carry weight when you are faithfully serving Him. Because you serve a king with great significance you are a person of great significance.

Spend some time today imagining Jesus in all his glory and seeing yourself in that same throne room, sitting at his right hand, as his ambassador and close friend. You are eagerly waiting for your next diplomatic mission. How are you dressed? How do you feel? How do you sit?  How do you walk? How do you speak?  Carry that with you today because that is  who you truly are in Christ – King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I have heard it said that “Jesus is imprisoned within many believers and desperately wants out. “ It’s not that he wants to separate himself from any of us.  It’s just that Jesus decided to take up residence within us by his Spirit so that he could continue to have a physical presence on the earth through us.

Paul put it this way, “ I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me” (Gal.2:20).  The implication of that statement is that Paul lived constantly by the leading of the Spirit so that in any given moment he would do what Jesus would have done and say what Jesus would have said.  In that way,  Christ was incarnated once again in Paul.

We all remember the WWJD bracelets that were popular a few years ago.  The idea seemed to be that when confronted with an issue, a challenge, or a dilemma, we should ask, “What would Jesus do if he were in my shoes?”  It’s a great question, but I think most of us want to consult with Jesus or meditate on his life when we get to a fork in the road and we are uncertain of our path, when crisis rolls in and we are uncertain how to pray, or when temptation is pulling at us and we are thinking about giving in.

But Paul’s statement seems to encompass every moment of every day rather than moments of crisis or indecision.  Have you ever wondered…

• What would Jesus do if he were just wandering around Wal-Mart?
• What would he do in the midst of screaming parents at a little league game?
• What would he do when no one was looking?
• What would he do in the face of tragedy as he sat with a family who just got a diagnosis of stage-four cancer in the mother of two small children?
• What would he do with the homeless man on the corner hustling money?
• What would he do with a thirteen year old girl who just came home and announced she was pregnant or gay?
• What would Jesus do at the scene of an accident where a six year old boy who was hit by a car just died on the side of the road?
• What would he do as he sat at board meeting for a Fortune 500 business?
• What would he do while he was on the job checking people out at an all night convenience store?

My point is that Jesus wants to live through us in every circumstance of life – not just when we are stuck or in a moral dilemma.  To let Jesus out, we need to sense through his Spirit what he would do or say in any of those settings. What would he talk about with the people paying for gas at midnight?  Would he immediately pray for supernatural healing for the cancer victim or pray for life to reenter the six year old body of an accident victim? Would he take the homeless man for a meal and talk about his life?   If he would, then we should.

If we are to let Jesus out of his prison, we must do whatever he would do. Sometimes I believe he would just tell someone that God loves them.  Sometimes he would just carry a heavy grocery bag for an arthritic grandmother. Sometimes he would get the in the face of a religious tyrant and at other times he would heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and talk to someone about the kingdom of God – even at Starbucks.   He might even mow his neighbor’s yard just for fun.

So…just for fun, let’s all be Jesus today in every setting in which we find ourselves.  Let’s ask the Spirit to prompt us to absolutely be Jesus not only in the extraordinary moments of our day but also in the most ordinary moments of our day as well. For today, let’s let Jesus out and then do it again tomorrow.

I would much rather talk about the power and glory of Jesus and the advancing kingdom of God than the kingdom of darkness, but demons are still a spiritual reality that must be dealt with.  I have decided to do a series on the demonic because each of us will face them in our lives and I believe there is a great deal of demonic activity in America and the world today.  The only question is whether we will recognize what we are looking at and will we know what to do if we recognize that demonic spirits are in the mix.

A study of demons is both intriguing and frustrating.  They are simply a given in scripture with little or no explanation of their origins.  They are referenced in both the Old and New Testaments.  The first reference to demons is found in Deuteronomy.

Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God— gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. (Dt.32:15-17). [Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel who had begun to sacrifice to idols behind which were demonic spirits].

The Psalmist also declared, “But they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols,which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.”  (Ps.106:35-38).

In both references demonic spirits are attached to idol worship.  If we understand prophetic sections of the Old Testament correctly, Satan became proud and jealous and determined that he should be on the throne of heaven rather than Jehovah. It makes sense, then, that demons pose as gods and solicit worship.  Not only would their assignment include drawing people and nations away from the one true God, but surely they would also share the character of the one they serve and desire to be worshipped as he does.

The Old Testament refers to a number of spirits that are also demonic in nature – a lying spirit (2 Chr.18:22), a spirit of jealousy (Num.5:14 ESV), a haughty spirit (Prov.16:18-19), a spirit of heaviness or despair (Isa.61:3), a spirit of prostitution or spiritual adultery (Hos.4:12), and a spirit of perverseness (Isa. 19:14).

In Daniel 10, the curtain is drawn back on the spiritual realm and we see the angel sent in response to Daniel’s prayer engaged in cosmic warfare with the Prince of Persia who is resisting the plans of God.  This demonic spirit is so formidable that Michael, the arc angel, is released into the battle so that the first angel can deliver his message to Daniel. Later in the chapter the Prince of Greece is referenced which seems to be a demonic spirit as well.

So, throughout the Old Testament we see the move of demonic spirits who are opposing the people of God and pushing back against God’s will being done on the earth.  Some seem to be posing spirits who are not of great consequence while others seem to have power and authority in the kingdom of darkness. All of this lines up with Paul’s declaration in Ephesians 6 that the real battle is being waged in spiritual realms.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph.6:12)

Old Testament references to demons are somewhat scattered and vague but in the New Testament, the people of Israel seem to be quite familiar with the demonic.  Jesus, the twelve, the seventy-two and the church engaged in deliverance on a regular (almost daily) basis.  The pattern given to the followers of Jesus to announce the kingdom of heaven was to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers and raise the dead. Many times, those who came to Jesus seemed quite clear about whether a person had a physiological condition or a demon.  Demons manifested in torment, physical conditions that looked like an illness, demonic doctrines taught by men without conscience (1 Tim.4:1-2), and, of course, all kinds of temptation to draw men away from the Father.

In general then, we see that demonic spirits are present throughout scripture.  They are indicated before the flood since every imagination of man was evil all the time (Gen.6:5), as Moses faced the occult practices of Pharaoh’s magicians (Ex. 7:11), during the time of the Law and the Exile and most certainly in the New Testament. We will talk more about how these spirits manifest in men later, but tomorrow we will examine a few of the theories about the origin of these spiritual beings.

As I close the beginning of this study, I want to emphasize that however we understand the demonic, the bottom lines is always, “He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world” (1 Jn.4:4).  Believers who understand who they are in Christ should not fear the demonic; rather the demonic should fear those believers.

After 30 years of pastoral counseling and working through my own “issues,” I am convinced that nearly every personal struggle walking into a pastor’s or therapist’s office has been birthed out of a negative self image.  Most of us come into the world hungering to know who we are.  Our view of ourselves is shaped by the responses of those around us. We ask a few basic questions in a multitude of ways.  Who am I?  Do I matter?  Does my life have significance? Am I worthy of love? Am I competent? Do I belong?

These basic questions begin to be answered immediately after existing the birth canal.  When I cry, do I matter enough for someone to comfort me, feed me, or change me?  Am I loveable enough that people fuss over me or hold me close?  Do I have enough significance that I am protected and nurtured?  When I am cared for,  fussed over,  and played with, the answer to these essential questions is “Yes.”  A lack of these parental responses or blatant neglect and abuse trumpets a huge “No” to these questions. A huge “No” breads all kinds of issues in the life that individual.

As we get older the refrigerator door becomes littered with crayon scrawls that we pushed into our mother’s face asking if she liked each one (our way of asking if we are competent or capable).  As we get older we measure our worth by the number of friends we have on Facebook, the number of parties we are invited to in junior high, the number of accolades we place in scrapbooks or see in our high school annual.

For the rest of our lives we are still scanning the horizon for clues about who we are and if we matter.  After forty years of marriage couples still ask one another, “Do you love me?” which is code for, “Am I still worthy of love and do I still matter?”  Many humans go to their graves with unhealed wounds because a father or mother never said “I love you” or I’m proud of you.”

God crafted us and understands more than anyone our deep need for confirmation that we matter, that we are capable people, and that our lives have significance.   Even the Son of God needed to hear, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Our heavenly Father spends a great deal of time in scripture answering each of those questions for us.  They are answered with a resounding “Yes” for every person in Christ.

They were answered first by the cross where our heavenly father paid the ultimate price to retrieve us from the enemy.  Beyond that we have been pursued, adopted, grafted into his beloved Israel, declared to be the righteousness of God, appointed as ambassadors of Christ, seated with Christ in heavenly realms, honored to be kings and priests on the earth, given the very presence of God to live within us, granted immediate access to the throne room of the creator of the universe, promised that our Father will never leave us nor forsake us, given purpose and destiny by the King of Kings, and given supernatural gifts that surpass any earthy talent that can displayed on a stage or in any arena.  On top of that we have been made more than conquerors and will sit in judgment on angels.

Think about who you are in Christ.  You matter. You belong. You have an amazing  destiny written in heaven.  The Holy Spirit lives within you, so are supernatural.  You are a son or daughter of the creator of the universe. You are his appointed representative on the earth.  You are flat amazing! God says so. Take that knowledge with you wherever you go today.

One of my favorite authors these days is Bill Johnson.  He is extremely practical and believes that Jesus is coming back for a glorious church rather than a church hiding in the shadows of persecution and apostasy.  He believes in a kingdom of power rather than resignation.  He believes in a triumphant church rather than a church winding down its influence in the last days.  I like that.

One of the thoughts he has challenged me with is that believers should limit their self-examination and introspection.  That thought immediately flies in the face of Paul’s admonitions in his letter to the church at Corinth form believers to examine themselves (1 Cor.11: 28) and to judge ourselves (1 Cor.11: 31).  Many of us have been taught that the true way to holiness and spiritual maturity is to identify every sin and shortcoming in our lives so that we might live a life of confession and repentance, bathing all those failings in the blood of Christ.  I am an introvert by nature so all that introspection is something I am wired for anyway.

However, I believe the Holy Spirit has confirmed in my own heart the truth of what Bill Johnson has said.  I’ll quote from him.  “I struggled for many years with self-evaluation. The main problem was that I never found anything good in me. It always led to discouragement which led to doubt, and eventually took me to unbelief. Somehow I had developed the notion that this was how I would become holy – by showing tremendous concern for my own motives.”

He goes on to point out that a preoccupation with our weaknesses and failings keeps the focus on “Me” rather than on Christ.  It keeps the focus on the failings of the natural man rather than the glory of the spiritual man who has been clothed with Christ.  It tends to deny the things that God says are true about me – that I am a son in the house of God, holy, forgiven, beyond condemnation, seated with Christ in the heavenly places, representing the courts of heaven on the earth, walking with the power that raised Christ from the dead within me, and so forth.

Its not that we never deal with sin and weakness, we just let the Holy Spirit point out the things he wants to deal with rather than us always being the judge and setting the agenda.  Paul had just pointed out specific issues in the church at Corinth that had ben revealed by the Spirit.  Once revealed by the Spirit, they were to acknowledge the issues within them and deal with them.  Part of the ministry of the Spirit is to convict us of sin and to lead us into truth.  Our role is to listen and be led by the Spirit, not to dissect ourselves on the table each day until we are overcome with remorse and condemnation.

Our own constant introspection becomes a kind of work where we are trying to establish our own holiness through our own efforts.  God’s process for making us holy is to constantly remind us if who we are in Christ rather than reminding us of all the ways we are not like him.  I have come to agree, that we should take the same tact – spend more time reflecting on who we are because of Jesus rather than the ways in which we don’t yet measure up.

So, if you are a prone to introspection, self – criticism, and condemnation think about it.  Satan is the accuser of the brethren.  The Holy Spirit is the encourager! Perhaps, you should park your introspection and simply listen to the Spirit to see what he is concerned about in your life.  See what God shows you.  It might be a better, more biblical path to spiritual maturity.