At PopUp every morning one of us would be in charge of leading what they call the “devotional” and the following blog is on the devotional I was in charge of one of the mornings, that’s why it’s a bit long:
I’m going to share a little bit about what God has been teaching me these past few weeks that I’ve started the race. It might make you initially uncomfortable because I am still working through processing everything and it makes me uncomfortable. But I realized I really needed to dig up why.
The way that the Lord speaks to me most often is through recurring themes, its like he slaps me across the face with a message because I begin to see it connect in all aspects of my life. So lately he has been teaching me that I am His heir, a fellow heir with Christ. Many people have called me a princess, referring to me being a daughter of Christ, My squadmate Becky sat next to me on the plane to Africa and read a book to me called My Princess which is full of little love letters that correspond with scripture. My squad leader asked me to read a book called Supernatural Ways of Royalty which I will quote from in red. The Lord also placed me in PopKids where there was a little girl named Princess. This little girl walked around like she owned the place, at 2years old she carried herself with such entitlement, and she was a tough little girl, no matter if she fell or got hit in the head she just got right back up. Romans 8:15 says “You recieved the spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are his children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” So this is saying I am Royalty, I’m kind of a big deal! Now try and say that about yourselves, because that is hard thing for me to say and even think.
He’s been teaching me that the biggest part of my identity is that I am a princess. Which when I think about I want to puke. Because of what the world says about princess’, all the Disney movies where there was a “damsel in distress” completely helpless, and is afraid to get dirty, who is a dumb ditz that needs someone to take care of her. I’m like God no! That is not who I am. And He’s like why are you still trying to define yourself by the world’s perspective?? That is not a princess at all. A princess is a woman who has huge responsibilities, a very big role in a community; she has title because of what is expected of her. She is noble. That takes smarts and authority. She’s not just on the side, she’s front and center learning how to reign. Her wants and desires are cast to the side for the cause of the Kingdom. But then once I was able to realize how the Lord defines a princess then I had the attitude I’m waaaay not worthy of that. That Identity freaks me out because what if I fail, I’m not good enough, I’m going to make a horrible princess and let God down. And then He’s like have you forgotten about Jesus?? It doesn’t matter if you fail because its not ABOUT YOU! It’s about what God is already doing and we get to be a part of it because we are his children!
So I asked myself what does walking that identity out look like? It means walking with your head held high because you hold Christ inside of you and where ever He goes He should be exalted. One of the ladies that works at PopUp was telling my teammate Imelda a story about the Donkey that carried Jesus. The people put down palm fronds for the little donkey’s hooves. What other Donkey gets to walk on palm fronds? That Donkey gets treated like that not because the donkey alone is deserving but because the Donkey was carrying Jesus Christ. We are the donkey, what if we had refused to walk on the palm fronds because WE felt unworthy? Understanding that concept was hard for me but that story laid it out simply for me. The book I’m reading states “the greatness of God is actually magnified as each of His sons and daughters receive the revelation of their nobility and begin to operate in His authority.” We cannot do God’s work until we accept our true Identity in him, us feeling unworthy will only hinder God’s will.
But then fear trickles in telling us that walking in that identity is prideful. I had to deal with the issue of being uncomfortable with accepting that title because I thought I’d be sticking my nose in the air and saying I’m better than everyone else by calling myself noble or royalty. I didn’t want to become prideful so I totally rejected the idea all together that I should expect to be treated like royalty, and to be honest I’m still processing through this issue. But putting myself down and not accepting MY TRUE IDENTITY is having false humility. We must remember that God doesn’t call us to have low self-esteems. In the book it talks about when people give a compliment a common response is “It wasn’t me, it was Jesus” and the author says he always wants to say “it wasn’t thaaat good” “This mentality is killing us because we don’t want people to think that there is anything good in us.” But there is good in us because God created us, and He dwells in us. If we live our lives as our identity in Christ, as His Son or Daughter we are good because we are living out how He intended us to live and who he intended us to be. When we drown ourselves in low self esteem, and putdowns, we are letting the devil in to tell us lie after lie after lie and paralyze us. The biggest lie of all is that “being confident that we are doing a great work for God is arrogance.” Of course the enemy doesn’t want us to come to the realization that we are holy and adopted by our Lord and King as His child and therefore His Heir. Jesus has commissioned us to co-labor with Him and reign WITH him. “God never reminds us of our smallness when he calls us to do something awesome.” He is only going to encourage us in our obedience because he doesn’t even see any of the other junk. He looks at the heart because he wants us to reach our full potential to see His creation complete.“True humility is not thinking less of ourselves but thinking ourselves less and true humility is born out of an awareness of God’s greatness.”
However, we are told in the bible that everything that God created us to be is already complete. That identity of who He made us to be is already who we are but we have to go through the process of after learning that and knowing it, understanding it through believing it as truth. And it is through the Grace of God that we are still used for his work throughout the process, before we have truly and completely stepped into that Identity. That means we are worthy of wearing a crown on our head! Even before we have totally accepted our identity. God didn’t make us for nothing we have a purpose and a responsibility to live that purpose out.
One of my favorite verses is John 14:12 “I tell you the truth anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.” This means as a body, God has called us to do even greater things than JESUS!! That is CRAZY! How can we get to this point if we don’t know our calling, how can we figure out our calling if we don’t accept who God created us to be? That’s why it’s so important to acknowledge who we are in Christ and not have the mentality of a pauper but the mentality of an heir. God will still use a willing heart but how much more can the Lord use someone who has stepped into their calling?
The rest of Romans 8 say: “God’s spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are co-heirs with Jesus, provided that we suffer WITH him in order that we may also be glorified WITH Him”
Just because we are Royalty we cannot put our noses in the air because life as God’s child is not going to be a life of luxury. It is going to be full of persecution, adversity, and fight because there is a battle going on. Living your life for Christ and His will through you we will be humbled through that suffering and it’s after that then we get to share in His glory.
So I need to remember to not confuse true humility with false humility (low self-esteem) and to continue to walk in my identity has a princess of the Lord Almighty even if I haven’t fully accepted that role quite yet. But I am trying to learn to accept it fast so that I can find my calling to live out why God created me.
