Oasis of Living Waters

                             Our Identity and Significance is Found in Christ

                                      Who you really are – the woman God Sees

          God created each one of us to be His child and walk in perfect unity with Him.  Adam and Eve had that and it was only after they sinned that they felt shame and the need to hide themselves.  Our feelings of insecurity,  of wishing we were different,  of believing we aren’t good enough and won’t ever be;  that God is love but He couldn’t love me  are all part of that fall.  All those thoughts and feelings are LIES of the enemy to keep us from being all that God created us to be.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (New American Standard Bible) For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

 

1)                The TRUTH of who we are and how God sees us is revealed in His Word.  We need to read it and plant it in our hearts so that our minds can be renewed and we can replace the lies of the enemy with the Truth of God.  The Truth is that each of us was created by God to be unique- there will never be another human being exactly like you, with your combinations of strengths and weaknesses, with your calling and the destiny that God created you to fulfill.  As the book The Significant Woman says, we can discover and appreciate our uniqueness by playing to our strengths and acknowledging our weaknesses.

Like Esther, you have been created for such a time as this and ONLY you can be and do what God has created You to be and do.  We are each precious to God.  We each have a calling on our life and a place in the Body of Christ to fill.  We each have an assignment to help further the Kingdom of God and the Gospel. Romans 12: 4-6 tell us that ” For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: . .

            Psalm 139:15-16  tells us that  My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;  And in Your book were all written
 The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them
.”                                          This means that God knew exactly what we would look like and be like before we were ever formed and our “destiny”, the days ordained, were already known to Him.

Ps 139:17-18How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.  When I awake, I am still with You.

In a way, when we focus on our faults and on the physical things we don’t like about our body- our nose, our shape, our legs etc, we are insulting the Creator who made us that way.  Have you ever looked at a baby or a person that was REALLY not very cute but because you were filled with love for them, they looked absolutely beautiful to you?  That is how God sees us.  Make the most of what God has given you, take care of your body- the temple of the Holy Spirit- and focus on developing your inner beauty, your gifting and calling and destiny, becoming more like Jesus so when people look at you, HE is actually who they see.

  In her book, The King’s Daughter, Diane Hagee gives 5 requirements for reaching your divine destiny.  They are : 1) Show absolute obedience to the voice of God- in His Word and during prayer  2) Rely on faith over feeling- trust in God’s goodness, faithfulness, truth and wisdom   3) Be persistent – stand and having done all, stand again 4) Take bold action – be proactive in acquiring what you want from God.   Once you have received God’s direction, act on what He has commissioned you to do, and watch miracles happen.  5) Know that you are a very important person in the Kingdom of God- the purposes of God will prevail in your life when you surrender yourself to His will.

 

2) God looks at us and sees the finished product- He knows how we will be when we have finished our walk and have become more and more in His image.  Romans 8:29 tells us   For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son,”  And  2 Corinthians 3:18 says  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”  That’s partly why He isn’t focused on our weaknesses as much as we are and is so patient with us.  His Word promises that He will complete the work that He started in us. “ Phil1:6  For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Also God looks at our hearts.  He sees our inner beauty.  He is not judging us based on how we look on the outside or even how our behavior looks on the surface. He knows that we are not perfect.   He is looking to our heart- what is our first love, what is our intent, are we trying to choose and act in ways that are pleasing to Him.  1 Kings 8:61 states " Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments,  and  Luke 10:27 says  And he answered, " YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

          We are a ‘human being’, not a human doing. Yes we have a calling and need to use our gifting as God leads us but our value is not in what we do.  It is in who we are in Him and in our relationship with Him.  We were created to love Him, to know Him and to serve Him.  He wants our hearts and He wants us to spend time in communion with Him.  That pleases Him more than any accomplishments.

3)      Also, the book Search for Significance tells us (chapter 8) that we need to verbalize what the blood of Jesus has done for us: We are deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted and complete in Christ. 

His truth is that 1)  “I am deeply loved by God” through Propitiation (1 John 4:9-10) – this means that Jesus has satisfied the holy wrath of God through His payment for sin. (p99)

2) I am completely forgiven and fully pleasing to God through Justification (Rom. 3:19-25 and 2 Cor. 5:21).  Just. is transferring our sin to Jesus and His righteousness to us.  Through His act of love, we have the worthiness to stand in God’s presence and be declared no longer condemned.

Just 3) I am totally accepted by God through Reconciliation (Colossians 1:21-22)  Rec. means that God does not base His love and acceptance of us on our performance but rather we are completely acceptable to God through the blood of Jesus.  (p. 68-73)

4) I am absolutely complete in Christ through Regeneration.(2 Cor. 5:17, 19, 21) p.71  Reg. is the renewing work of the Holy Spirit that literally makes each believer a new person at the moment trust is placed in Jesus as Savior.

 

4) God loves us unconditionally and forever.  Hebrews 13:5 tells us He Himself has said, I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

 Jeremiah 31:3 “ "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

1John 3: 1 We are a child of God and He is our Father.

It is Ok to need Him.  He wants us to depend on Him.  We will grow stronger as we walk in His ways but independence and self-sufficiency is actually a barrier to the relationship God wants us to have with Him.


5) There is a saying that although God loves us just as we are, He does not leave us there.  So although we are also to love ourselves and see ourselves through God’s eyes as beautiful, we also are called to not stay as we were when Jesus saved us.  It is a very dangerous mistake to justify sinful behavior and bad habits as “well, that’s just the way I am “ and be comfortable walking in the flesh in those areas.  That opens a door to the enemy to cause a stronghold to build in that area.

So even in the area we most struggle with, we do not “condemn” ourselves but we DO need to repent when we are wrong, ask God for forgiveness and with the grace and strength from the Holy Spirit do our best to make better decisions, and choose what pleases God over what our flesh wants to do.  Repentance means turning away from sin and turning toward God. The sin should grieve us, as it does God. Romans 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

We are all a work in progress.    We can be secure in the love of God and our identity in Him and then move forward  choosing to apply His Word to our lives.  We can acknowledge the areas that we need to surrender and change, with God’s help.  When we choose to let the Holy Spirit direct our life, then our life will supernaturally reflect Jesus Christ. (the Significant Woman) We begin to bear spiritual fruit, the characteristics of the One who is filling and directing our lives.  Those Godly characteristics, fruit, are love , joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23)

 

Read the Father’s Love Letter.

Declare the Who I Am scriptures.

 

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