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Identity Theft

Psalms 55:22 (AMP) Cast your burden on the Lord [release it] and He will sustain and uphold you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (slip, fall, fail).

Way back in the early 2000s Facebook was emerging. I started out with MySpace as my first social media platform. Then came Facebook, it took me a year to finally join. In those days we did not have apps on our phones. We opened up and checked our profiles on our computers. The computer I most used was my work computer. It was in my office. If I did not log out of Facebook and someone else would use my computer, I would get a fun status update left. These do pop up on my memories every once in a while. Things like “is a goober monkey,” “thinks John is hot,” or “really needs to start logging out of her Facebook.” Most of them were left by my husband.

I remember a special post hid did because he used my phone to take with him to the bathroom. I had the better phone, and he wanted to scroll as our men tend to do these days. The number of responses I got from his post thinking that it was me.

So here I am after nearly fifteen years and how does this equate to what I am going through right now. I had a moment of allowing the enemy to put a new identity on me…”not wanted.” Where did that come from? Did it come from my need to be seen as good growing up? My own father chose not to be a part of my life growing up. After my parents divorced, he did not visit or call that much. He did not even send gifts for birthdays or Christmas. This weighed heavy on me growing up and that is where the “not wanted” came from. It surfaced from a text message that someone sent out. My question was, “why could they not call me?” Why did this text come from a third party? The identity of “not wanted” started to surface. I battled with it most of the morning and I had had enough.

1 Peter 5:7-9 (AMP) Casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]. Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.]

I am taking the groceries out of the car and talking waving my hands back and forth in a fit at the enemy. Casting my cares on God and just letting it all out. Yes, I am in the front yard. My husband calls and asks, “who are you talking to?” (He can see me on the Ring camera). I told him what I was battling and how I was handling it. He laughed and told me it was going be okay. The individual is rejecting me because of their own insecurities, and I told him I knew that, but it still hurts sometimes. I had to really allow God to do a deep work in me and had to repent even of my mindset towards this individual. I have to be careful not to assassinate their character just because of the way they are treating me. Keeping your words in check can be tough. However, I had to be reminded by the Lord that others battle this too. This was going on the same week that the SBC was voting on whether women should have the title of pastor. Guess what they call me in my church? We are not a part of the SBC, but it still was a main topic that was constantly on my news feed. I do have family that are. So, I intercede.

Acts 14:21-22 (AMP) They preached the good news to that city and made many disciples, then they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening and establishing the hearts of the disciples; encouraging them to remain firm in the faith, saying, “It is through many tribulations and hardships that we must enter the kingdom of God.”

What we put our minds on really has control over us; it can become an idol. Wanting to be someone to this person was taking over my mind. I had to release and pray. I can tell you that it did not disappear right away, but it has gone further from my mind. You can say that I am just really starting to get over it. However, you do not know how much this individual has hurt me over the years and is still involved in my life. I am standing firm on my faith. I am casting those cares to God; He actually does care about me. That is what I had to battle the “not wanted” identity with. He cares about me. Keeping my heart and mind on Him battles that identity theft that tries to come in. How about you? Do you battle identity issues? Have you believed the lie that maybe you are not loved, or that you are like me and feel like you are not what they wanted, or that you are a failure because of the mistakes that trip you up? None of them are true. That is why it is so important to read your Bibles. God also plants us in churches to build us up, especially when these lies are exposed. They need to be exposed so that real healing can come.

Why did this happen when I have come such a long way? I think it is because the enemy is looking to halt the discipleship that I have stepped into. He wants me hurt so that I cannot build up and point others to Christ. He wants me going back into dark places because there I cannot be a light. I am not ashamed of the battle. Those attacks are going to come. I would misuse His grace by living with that wrong identity. That is not who I am. I do not want to live with those thoughts, and I do not have to. What happens when they say it to my face? Recognize that it is not of God and who’s voice it really is.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 (AMP) Brothers and sisters beloved by God, we know that He has chosen you

I am chosen! I am cared for! I am wanted! I am deeply loved!

Abba Father, our Creator and our Banner, You are Marvelous and Wonderful. That You for Your Son, that put us into Your family. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, so that we can learn more about our identity. We come before You, recognizing that our true identity is found in You. Thank You for making us in Your image and us Your children.(Genesis 1:27; 1 John 3:1). Help us see ourselves as You do—loved, chosen, and precious in Your eyes. Guide us to live in the truth of our identity in Christ, free from the enemy’s lies and the burden of past mistakes. (Proverbs 4:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Help us see our true worth, not through the world’s standards, but through Your Word, knowing we are blessed, redeemed, and victorious by Your grace. (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21). May we stand strong in the truth of Your love, and be empowered to walk confidently as Your children, sharing Christ’s love with others. (Romans 8:16; Ephesians 3:17-19). Help us to hear Your voice clearly and trust Your guidance, so we can live a fruitful life and fulfill the purpose You have set for us. (Philippians 3:20; Ephesians 1:9-11). May our lives be filled with Your love, and may we keep growing in understanding and embracing who we are in Christ. (1 Peter 2:9; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:3-5). We choose forgiveness today. We choose love today. We choose hope today. We choose joy today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Faithful (Loved) or Lazy (Selfish)

Matthew 25:21 (AMP) His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little, I will put you in charge of many things; share in the joy of your master.’

This is one of my daily prayers: ‘Lord, let me be a good steward today with everything that you have placed in my hands.’ I want to honor God with everything that I do and say. Most of that has to do with the value I put on the people and things that are presented before me. Do I love them more or less than God? I have to love God more. One of the things I have learned is that we have misunderstood what the love of God means, and we become selfish. One such story of not understanding the love of God is found in the parable of the talents. The man that received the one talent in this parable buried it.

Matthew 25:24-25 (AMP) “The one who had received one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a harsh and demanding man, reaping [the harvest] where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed. So I was afraid [to lose the talent], and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is your own.’

From what we know about Jesus, does this match His nature? Did this servant know the true heart of who He was serving? Would the Master have put it in the servant’s care if He did not trust him?

Matthew 25:26-30 (AMP) “But his master answered him, ‘You wicked, lazy servant, you knew that I reap [the harvest] where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter seed. Then you ought to have put my money with the bankers, and at my return I would have received my money back with interest. So take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ “For to everyone who has [and values his blessings and gifts from God, and has used them wisely], more will be given, and [he will be richly supplied so that] he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have [because he has ignored or disregarded his blessings and gifts from God], even what he does have will be taken away. And throw out the worthless servant into the outer darkness; in that place [of grief and torment] there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].

There were two responses:1) “You were faithful.” 2) “You were lazy.” The Greek word for lazy is okneros, defined as to delay, slow, tardy, slothful, lazy. Another terminology defines it as, “pertaining to shrinking from or hesitating to engage in something worthwhile, possibly implying lack of ambition.” Rick Renner says about okneros, “It carries the idea of a person who has a do-nothing, lethargic, lackadaisical, apathetic, indifferent, lukewarm attitude toward life.” It is hard to be faithful when you do not know your worth. This is why it is so important that we seek God as our vital necessity. This is cultivating a relationship with Him.

Did the third servant lack anything to perform the way the others did? Their strong hold was their mind. Love is a powerful force. When you know who you are in Christ there is no holding you back from seeing your talents and gifts as valuable to what they were given to you for. You will start seeking out ways to glorify Him through them. Keeping your focus on Him and not them.

2 Peter 1:3 (AMP) For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 

Ephesians 6:10 (AMP) In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might. 

Ephesians 6:10 (TPT): “Now my beloved ones, I have saved these most important truths for last. Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life-union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force of explosive power flowing in and through you.”

This word “strong” is an explosive power that has been deposited within us as a vessel. God is the giver, and we are the receptacles into which this power is deposited.

Ephesians 1:19 (AMP) and [so that you will begin to know] what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. 

This is real power. A demonstrated power that raised Jesus from the dead that now lives in you. Here is the best part, it is backed by His might. It is backed by His strong hand, like He is the body builder with the great big muscles backing us up. This makes me feel wrapped in His love even more. One last thing. This will put a balance check in our why. We are backed by His power. We can do and still have pride, which will totally make it wrong. My stewardship has nothing to do with me and all to do with Him.

Philippians 2:3 (AMP) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves.

I am deeply loved, but so are you. My gift and talent are not more important than anyone else’s. Actually, it is not mine; it is His, it was given to me to manage. I want to steward well and that means I also must love well. Good and faithful has to do with how I value what He values. The most precious gift that He gave me is my salvation, my new life in Christ. Which means I am now a minister of reconciliation (2Corinthains 5:18). My gifts and talents were meant for this ministry (ministry of reconciliation), not “MY MINISTRY”. When selfishness sets in, we have become like the person with one talent and buried it. We have buried it in self.

I know the title of this blog will get a lot of passes, but if you read through, I pray you hear my heart. I want you to be in freedom and understand the dynamic love Christ has for you. It is through that love that we have been given everything needed for this dynamic spiritual life in Christ. When we surrender to that freedom, we live bigger lives than we could have ever dreamed of for ourselves (Ephesians 3:20). It is all for His glory. I want to hear “well done good and faithful servant.”

Adonai, our Jehovah, our Rock, You are Marvelous and Wonderful. Your Glory is what we seek. Thank you for Your Son, to be our Salvation. Thank You for the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher. Thank You for Your Word to be the Light in our lives. We repent for making decisions on our talents and gifts based on how we feel or how we want to be seen. All of it is for You and should be done with You. Jesus came so that we can have a dynamic spiritual life, and that takes surrender. We choose a life of surrender. We choose faithfulness instead of laziness. We choose to give of ourselves freely instead of holding onto what cannot last forever. You are our eternity. You are our mighty fortress. You are our strength. You are Holy. We are deeply loved by You. Let all that You put in our path be for Your glory. Let us be good stewards with whatever we have been given today. We choose peace today. We choose joy today. We choose hope today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.