Fervent, Strategy #3: Identity

My train of though feels more like pit of bumper cars. Today (yesterday) has been full of distractions and interruptions. I apologize if this post is scattered. I find my mind so rattled as I write this, so please bare with me. Despite how difficult it has been to complete this third day, I dug in and pushed hard. May God still speak.

Today starts "If I were your enemy, I'd devalue your strength and magnify your insecurities until they dominate how you see yourself, disabling and disarming you from fighting back, from being free, from being who God has created you to be. I'd work hard to ensure that you never realize what God has given you so you'll doubt the power of God within you (Page 55)."

What better way to weaken someone they getting them to believe they have no power. Think about it. How often does a villain play that very mind game with their victim? Obviously, its useful in real life too. What about ask a kid? I know for a fact I did that to my siblings growing up. I tried to convince them I had the upper hand so they are better off not trying to get me in trouble. In reality my parents had the true power, not me, but I didn't want my siblings to realize the truth. That truth meant I was done for, more often than not.

What I did to my siblings is exactly what Satan does with us. "He magnifies your insecurities, leading you to doubt what God says about you and disregard what He's given you (Eph. 1:17-19) (Page 15)." God has complete power and bestows that on his children. He gives us the power to not only get the Devil "in trouble" but to use it as well. If he keeps us blind to what God has equip us with, as His children, we think we are powerless. That allows Satan to keep us under his thumb. Just as the abuser tells the abused they don't amount to anything, that they can't make it with out them, that there is no point trying, Satan uses the same tricks to keep us in the box he designed for us.

This chapter has shown me that is not true! I've allowed Satan to disarm me by downplaying my strength from Christ. I've traded God's truth about me for Satan's lies. God reminds us through Paul in Ephesians 1:3-20 what are true identity looks like. Today for the "ask" part of my P.R.A.Y prayer I worked through that scripture.

"Soak my true identity into my soul. In Ephesians 1 You used Paul to define our identity. Equip me and guide me to use every spiritual blessing (vs 3). Help me to claim the identity you chose for me before the world existed. Show me how to see myself as you do, holy and blameless through Christ (vs 4). Reveal to me how glorious the blessing of my adoption and inheritance is by the kindness of Your will for my life (vs 5,11). Show me how to live out the redemption and forgiveness you lavished on me with abundant grace (vs 7-8). Guard my heart that I would always cling to the security of my forever salvation by the Holy Spirit of promise (vs 13-14). Open me to receive Your Spirit of Wisdom (vs 17). Enlighten me to understand the hope of Your calling for my life. Help me to grasp how beautifully full of glory my inheritance through Christ is (vs 18). Show me how great, how out of this world, Your power is in me and how mightily you use it in my life (vs 19). I want to be completely aware I am seated with You in heavenly places (vs 20). Awaken me to the spiritual realm that surrounds me (Ephesians 2:4-6). In the Lord's Prayer your teach us to pray for Your will "to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven". That tells me you are constantly dropping Heaven into our lives. Unveil me that I may see Heaven on earth. Stamp these truths repeatedly into my heart that I would completely access, engage and draw down their powers, Your powers, into my everyday life. Remove the lies I believe about my identity so that Your truth would be my foundation. Enable me to realize how vastly I've been equipped by You."