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Are You Really You?

Do you ever wonder whether or not you are living the life God designed you to live?  Ever think that just maybe circumstance, or challenge, or other people have unduly pressured you into who you have become?

Whoever you are, you are by choice.  The choices you make, make you.

Your life is unique, original.  You were born with creativity.  The theme of our story is how we become human.  God has designed life so that our experiences challenge our identity.  Life is revealed as we live it, respond to it.

God is the designer, the architect, the provision of our life.  We can only become who He made us to be as we embrace Him.  Without Him at the center of our lives, our living becomes unbalanced, out of sync.

As you discover your God-given identity, you begin to realize that you are God-chosen, God-assigned and God-defined.

You then acquire a God-dominated imagination where His presence captivates your thinking concerning your responses to life.

Fear, doubt and unbelief no longer influence how you choose to live.  God’s life flow through you intensifies and your life is more meaningful, fuller, and powerful than ever.

This is the “You” God had in mind when He designed you.

Your Uniqueness

Unique is defined as “one of a kind, unlike anything else”;  “the only one”; “unequaled”.

God is into uniqueness. 

There are billions of people born on earth, and yet each one distinguishable from the others.

Your purpose is powered by your uniqueness.  Only you can do what you can do like you can do it.

Your success as a person in charge of your destiny begins the moment you acknowledge, embrace and live your uniqueness.

Your uniqueness is your wealth, your strength, your advantage.  Stop asking why you are not like someone else and embrace who you are.

God designed you, equipped you and charged you to live your life, not someone else’s.

Originality and creativity are essential to identity and calling.

Life is, first of all, about who God made you to be and how God designed you to live.

Is your life dominated by God or by fear?

Are you going to live out your God-created, Spirit-anointed, God-assigned, God-defined Identity, or allow the world of circumstance, fear and intimidation to dictate your response to life?

Be unique – be you!

Identifying Your Identity!

Proverbs 4:23

Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

The greatest wealth is knowing who you really are.

Whoever you can be, you must be.  Every person came with an Identity from God to be discovered in the process of living life.

Nothing is more critical to successful living than knowing who we are.

That which is within the heart of a person is by far the largest and most important part of their existence.

Proverbs 19:21: Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will prevail.

Proverbs 20:5:  The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.

Our “Identity” must come out of our deep inner self, from the reservoir of God’s truth, wisdom and knowledge.

Our “Identity” should never come from our circumstance, adversity, culture, status, position, past, sins or failures.

Our “Identity” is to be built over the course of our lifetime as we respond to the issues of our life.

Proverbs 4:21, 23:  Keep my words in the center of your heart.  Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the issues of life.

“Issues” means “to go forth, limits, boundaries.”

Your Identity will determine the boundaries, the limits, of your life.

What is your life full of?  When life squeezes you, what comes out?

Do you know the person God designed you to be?  Or, have you become the person the world around you has determined you to be?

The Fulfilled Life

There is a truth I live with each day of my life –

When I stand in the presence of Jesus, He will not ask – Why were you not Paul?  He will ask, why were you not Tony?

A story is told of a man who died and was able to speak with Peter in Heaven.  He asked Peter – Who were the greatest men and women who lived on earth?

Peter took him into a huge room filled with drawers containing cards with people’s names and their assigned purpose.

As he pulled out card after card he realized none of the names were familiar to him.  Peter replied, they never accomplished their purpose.  God intended greatness for each of them.

Each individual’s original purpose is to make a difference. You alone can do best what you were created by God to do.

Purpose is the intent or reason for existence.  You may live a “Filled Life” but never be “Fulfilled.”

To engage in your purpose is the highest activity of your being.

Purpose is often hindered, interrupted by circumstance.  God always intended for us to be “defined” by our purpose – not by our circumstance.

Whoever you are at the core of your being will determine the substance of your life.

God is always going to do something good with any and every situation. God always gives us something better than we expect and deserve.  He provides some better thing.

God always gives something better than He permitted to be taken away.

Your purest purpose is something you love.  Do it with all the passion of your heart and significance will follow.

If you missed this weekend at TheChurch on Strayer…

The REASON!

The focus of this season of the year is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. 

Isaiah 9:6 (AMP)  ⁶For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given: …and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Identity has always been important to God.  Just as identity defined Jesus’ purpose, so also does identity define His purpose for you.

• “Adam” means “earthy or of the earth” revealing God’s purpose for him to rule, dominate the earth.
• “Eve” means “life spring” indicating her purpose as mother of life.
• “Jesus” means “Savior,” the very purpose of His birth, life, death, resurrection, and second coming.

The reason Jesus came was to give us back our identity so that we could live the life He designed us to live.  Jesus knew who He was and is.  In Acts 9, Paul asks Him, who are you, Lord?  And He said, I am Jesus…Jesus knew the reason of His life.

Nothing is more critical to a life of significance than knowing our God-given identity.  Do you know the “Reason” God put you on earth?  Do you know your “true God-assigned identity?”

Revelation 2:17 says God will give a white stone to everyone who overcomes.  On that stone is a new name.  It is new in the sense that it is different than how the world sees us.

On that stone you won’t find names such as stupid, idiot, liar, thief, prostitute, adulterer, failure, alcoholic, etc.

It is His name for you – a white stone not colored by our past, our sins, our failures, our mistakes.

It is “pure you” as God designed you to be, fully alive and living your purpose.  It is your “Reason” for living.

So when you look at the manger during the Christmas season and see the Christ-child, you can truly have a Merry Christ[mas] because of who He made YOU to be.

The Adventure of Becoming Who I Am!

You are never more a man (or woman) than when you embrace an adventure beyond your control, or when you walk into a battle you aren’t sure of winning.

We should see every adventure of our life as an opportunity for initiation.  What are You teaching me, God?  What are You asking me to do or to let go of?  What in my heart are You speaking to?

Oswald Chambers said, “Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.”

Originality and creativity are essential to identity and calling. 

The adventure begins and our real strength is released when we no longer rely on formulas.  God is an immensely creative person and He wants His children to live that way to.

God wants us to know that our battles are personal to Him and He will design personal and unique strategies for each battle.

The theme of our story is how we become human.  What does it mean to become human, be a real man, a real woman?  What must we deal with in order to become ourselves, to grow up?

We can’t be human without God.  Human life is a great gift; every part of it is designed by God and therefore means something.  Every part of it is blessed by God and therefore is to be enjoyed.

We can refuse to participate in God, act as if He isn’t our designer, provider and covenant presence.  But when we refuse, we’re less; our essential humanity is less, our lives are diminished and impoverished.

God-thirst is the most powerful drive in us, stronger than all the drives of sex, power, security and fame put together. 

To be God-chosen is to be God-anointed, God-assigned and God-defined. Once you know who you are, you acquire a God-dominated imagination.  You practice the presence of God and His presence captivates your thinking about your responses to life.

The most personal, most significant, most human thing we ever do is to believe in and trust in God.

And I’ll leave you with this…your thumbprint is God’s way of reminding you of how unique and special you truly are!