It’s time for the lies of the enemy to be exposed. This month has been incident after incident proving that there is a serious need for the truth of identity to be spoken boldly. As I sit here and pray for the words to convey the message of what I have learned during my time in Jeffreys Bay, I also pray that these simple truths become more than just words on a screen for the family, friends, or strangers who may have googled “blogs about traveling the world”. I don’t know how you ended up here, reading the words of a woman who is writing about truths she believes for herself for the first time in 22 years of life, but I’m glad you’re here. I’m not going to apologize for my lack of skill in writing, or for how real and raw the examples I will use are. So get ready to read some words that you may have heard your entire life, but I pray that this be a moment that you let them sink deep. Let the truth wash over you and become a reality that you live out of. It will change everything.
During my time monitoring tests for a South African high school, my eyes have been opened to something tragic…words being thrown like daggers. Frustrated teachers, who mean well but can’t take anymore disrespect. Students who are arriving at the school, never hearing anything but what they aren’t and will never be. Tired, hurting people fighting to get through one more day. You know exactly what I’m talking about because it is occurring all around the world. It’s as if we hope to cut so deep that people will emotionally bleed until they are lifeless and can’t hurt us anymore. We retaliate relentlessly, speaking whatever insults come to mind. But what if we chose to see who the real enemy is here?
You see, the enemy can’t change who we really are or what we have actually been made for, so the next best thing is for him to confuse us of the truth. And since he has no actual power, he will just turn us against each other. We have been fighting the wrong enemy for far too long, my friends. We have “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” to fight the attacks of the enemy, but we have traded this for kitchen knives to injure people who we have been create to love. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
You are bad. You are disruptive. You are violent. You are an outsider. You are weak.
I know that each one of you reading this can look at the bold list above and think about many other negative things that have been spoken over you for your entire life, or maybe even think of times that you’ve spoken them over someone else. Lies you’ve heard so often that you’ve accepted to be facts of who you are. I just want to ask one thing. How many of these things that you believe about yourself or others line up with what the Word of God says about us? As believers, the truth lives in us (2 John 1:2). This means that even when everyone around us speaks of what we are based on our actions, behaviors, or “weaknesses”, the truth that is inside of us is completely unchangeable. This truth about your identity is not negotiable because it was sealed with blood at the cross. End of story.
Sounds good in theory, right? But how do we move on? How do we change this vicious cycle of “friendly fire”? I think it’s time that we change the way we talk…and it starts with us. Let’s release the truth inside of us, healing wounds and injuring the one we are actually fighting against.
Now it’s time that we collaborate! That’s right, I’m asking for interaction here. Haha. I’ll start a list of truths that we can speak to ourselves and others, and then YOU comment and contribute! We are a body; I need to know your passions and perspectives just as much as you need to know mine. Sound good? Thought so! Now…LET’S GOOOOOOOO!
“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the Church,” Ephesians 4:15.
- You are good. Want to know how I know that for sure? “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good,” Genesis 1:31.
- You, my friend, were made by God. You were intentionally designed with purpose and value (Psalm 139 and Ephesians 2:10).
- You are not who you used to be. “Everything in Christ is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come,” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
- You are a chosen, loved, pure child of God. This wasn’t decided when you proved yourself worthy, either. He made up His mind far before you could convince Him otherwise. Ephesians 1:4-5, “before He made the World, God loved and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ”.
Okay, now that the ball is rolling, open up your Bible (or a new google search tab) and add what the Lord reveals to you! I encourage you to choose just one person to focus on today, and intentionally speak the Word of God into their lives. Share your story with me, encourage those around you to do the same, and I believe that we will see a change that can only occur when people understand their true identity and expose the lies for what they are.
