Identity Boot Camp
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17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romanst 10:17
NKJV
“So then faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God.”
The surest path for God’s truth to travel from your head to your heart is through your ears.
The surest path
for God’s
truth
to travel from your head to your heart
is through your ears.
NIV
“The power of life and death is in the tongue…”
2 Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.
TPT
“…be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think.”
you think.”
Three Guiding Truths:
1. I believe what God says about himself
2. I believe what God says about me
3. I believe what God says about mercy, faith and grace
Spoken truths impact every aspect of our lives. And so do lies…
Spoken words create!
Things we think and say out loud have the power to change us or keep us in the same spiritual place.
OUT LOUD WORDS about us or God build a foundation that an entire life builds upon.
THESE VERSES FROM THE MESSAGE BIBLE:
Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit – you choose.
You’ll be changed from the inside out. (Faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the word of GOD)
The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen.
So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
Kind words heal and help; cutting words wound and maim.
1. I BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT HIMSELF
Abba Father, teach us, show us who you are. With your help we will allow you to be the ultimate authority on our understanding of your identity.
Who you think, believe and say God is determines the essence of your relationship with him and your relationship with others. Our heart idea of God is the most powerful concept impacting our lives. It is shaped by many things, including what we have been taught by others, our relationship with our earthly father (and other people), our misinterpretation of scripture, our misinterpretation of bad circumstances in our lives, and the ideas we ourselves have formed from lies repeated by Satan and ourselves.
You cannot know God just from reading the bible, although it is the only trustworthy place we can start. Knowing God requires a relationship. Understanding and believing who God really is allows us to enter into (or deepen) a trusting, growing relationship with him. Let us now agree to take God at his word, to start believing who HE says he is. Starting with scripture, we set aside our preconceived ideas and pursue a heart change based on his words and his truths. By stating what God says about God, out loud and often, we can change how we understand him.
KEY VERSE:
6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
Yahweh!
The LORD!
The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
Are you like me? Creating a God in the image of my experiences and my understanding without input from God himself?
How have your thoughts, feelings and understanding of God NOT lined up with this verse? Have you judged him to be unmerciful? Angry? Distant?
OUT LOUD: Choosing HIS words to change OUR minds.
But You, O LORD, are a God full of compassion and graciousness, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
The LORD, your God, is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Where can I go from your spirit? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.
Do not fear, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you – never. Look, I’ve written your names on the palms of my hands.
He heals up the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and given to all of them their names. Great is our LORD, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!
Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in mercy.
Exercise: Do you spend time in God’s lap? If not, would you like to? Picture yourself boldly approaching the throne of heaven as a little child, climbing into his lap, placing your head on his chest. What would He say to you? Ask Holy Spirit to tell you the very words you would hear.
2. I BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT ME
Father, I need your help to see myself through your eyes and your heart. Help me to change my reflection to what you see.
Our identity drives everything we believe and everything we do. If we fail to know who we are, and WHOSE we are, then all facets of our life will be a mess. Our goal today is to swap out whatever lies we have believed about ourselves for the truths of God. His truths are based on the fact that we are valuable and loved simply because we were created by him and he treasures us. The all-powerful and all-knowing God gets to determine our worth, not us and especially, not others. Others may base our identity on what we do or don’t do. God bases our identity on our connection to him. Give your identity over to the one who knows you intimately and loves you beyond human measurement. Decide today that you will only believe what HE says. You must make a conscious, bold, sword in the sand decision before the truth will become at home in your heart. By stating what God says about you, out loud and often, you can change how you understand yourself, how you relate to others and how you conduct spiritual battle.
KEY VERSE:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
But you are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
God’s special possession,
that you may declare the praise of him
who called you out of the darkness and into his wonderful light.
How have your thoughts, feelings and understanding of who you are NOT lined up with this verse? Have you felt a disappointment to God? Unworthy? Less than other people? Forgotten? Unimportant? Judged? Labeled in God’s eyes by your sin? Unable to live up to HIS expectations?
OUT LOUD: Choosing HIS words to change OUR minds:
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that, in him, we would become the righteousness of God.
Long ago, even before he made the world , God love us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
For we are his masterpiece, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Phillipians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus.
Do not fear, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…
So you are no longer a slave, but a daughter, and if a daughter, then an heir through God.
For all who are led by the Spirit of Goad are daughters of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as daughters, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
You must be holy because, I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Exercise: How has your misunderstanding of who you are mis-shaped your relationship with God?
Which of these verses will you now pronounce over yourself to re-align your mind with God’s truth?
3. I BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT MERCY, GRACE and FAITH
Abba Father, help us, show us the meaning of these words that shake heaven and earth.
To understand your relationship with your heavenly Daddy, you must first understand what you have been spared, what you have been given and the gifts still waiting for you. God himself has saved us from ourselves, from the consequences of our decisions made devoid of love. He has provided all that is needed to restore us to him, live for him, and to spend eternity with him. The gift of mercy would be enough, that we would be spared the agony of separation from him forever. We have been rescued from eternal suffering, the extent of which we probably cannot even imagine. Mercy is not getting what we rightly deserve! But God’s next move is stunning! He pours grace over us like a spiritual waterfall. Grace is getting lavished with gifts you did not earn. The list of God’s gifts is lengthy and includes all the treasures of heaven. These gifts form the very weapons we are to use in spiritual battle. The third gift is faith. God gives a measure to each of us; we grow faith by choosing to believe everything He says. When mercy and grace land and take full root in us, we take a battle stance that cannot be moved. No matter what comes against us, we battle the true foe in any situation and we no longer take offense or get distracted from our spiritual God-given goals.
Let us agree to believe what God says about mercy, grace and faith.
KEY VERSE:
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.” NKJV
Do you understand that Jesus knows you are weak? Do you understand that this weakness does not separate you from him? Do you see that this very understanding, that you are acceptable while still imperfect, makes you stronger and ready for battle?
OUT LOUD: Choosing HIS words to change OUR minds:
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Their sins I will remember no more.
I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake. And I will not remember your sins.
The Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves were comforted by God.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a 100 years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb. Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God...
So now we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.
Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.
IF you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
For you know the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
For sin shall no longer be your master (commanding General), because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Exercise: Have you allowed a full understanding of grace, mercy and faith to change who you are?