Hello... My Name is Capable

God says that your name is capable.  God says you can.

Sometimes we can be our own worst critic.  We can be our own worst enemy.  We can talk ourselves out of doing something before we have even tried.

Philippians 4:13 (NIV): 13I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

The Greek for strengthens me is endunamounti which literally means, “who empowers me”.  It is God who empowers us to do what He has called us to do. 

Next to John 3:16 Philippians 4:13 is well quoted.  We often see athletes quote Philippians 4:13 or write it somewhere on themselves when they are about to go on the field and go against a formidable team described as stronger, better, or more talented.  The world may even say that the apparent underdog team is highly successful according to the standards of the game.  But the members of the team may still be unsure about their ability to win the game.  Others may be screaming to get you out of the game.  But God says when we have an attitude that is trusting in Him and aligned with His purpose, we can do all things.

(Please watch the Video clip: Woodlawn: “Bring it In”)

I’ve met many people who are considered highly successful according to the standards of the world.  They rise to positions of leadership, authority, and influence.  They have awards to show their skills.  They have the education to support their position.  Other people often call upon the experience for advice or consultation on projects.  And even with all of these worldly accolades, many of them feel incompetent, insecure, and incapable.  And then there are some other people who talk themselves out of being successful and even sabotage themselves because they believe that they don’t have the skills necessary. 

(Video clip: Facing the Giants: “Narrow Way”)

Success isn’t always about the outward symbols.  Those who understand what Scripture says find the success that God has planned for them.  Those who are willing to play by God’s rules find His rewards and blessings on their lives.

Sometimes our challenges seem too big.  But when we think that there is not a way, God will provide a way.  Our ability to do what God desires and has planned for us comes not from our own ability, ingenuity, or spirituality, but from His enabling power.

(Please watch the Video clip: Woodlawn: “On this Day”)

Philippians 4:13 (NIV): 13I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Closing

God calls you capable.  When the odds seem against you… when all hope appears lost… this is just the time when God is able to do more than we can ever imagine and it is all for His glory.  It is about leaning in on Christ who gives us strength.  We can endure and achieve all things that Christ intends for us as we rely on His presence, power, and purposes.

Paul, the writer of Philippians maintained a right and positive attitude on any day, regardless of how it was going.  Paul was an apostle who practiced what he preached and taught.

Conclusion

But God says that we have value, we have worth.  God says we are forgivable.  God calls us capable.  We have the skills and talents to do the work that we have been called to do.  We all need to stop believing the lies that the enemy would use to undermine our worth.  We need to start believing the promises of God.  God will never leave us.  God’s plans are to prosper us and make us successful.  He will give us the strength we need to do what needs to be done.

No matter what garbage people in your past have heaped on you, God will take that and create beauty.  God gives us beauty for ashes.  Take a step and start praying and declaring over yourself that you are valuable; you are loveable; you are capable; you are forgivable; and that you are a child of God.

Believe what God has promised about you and for you.  Believe that God says, “Yes you can!”.

Hello, My Name is…: a Child of God

Hello, My Name is…: a Child of God

Identity.  Personality.  Character.

How do you define yourself?  What is it that determines your identity?  Is it your physical characteristics?  Is your identity determined by your parents?  Are you more like your mom or dad? 

Is your identity found in your personality?  Is your identity formed by your experiences?  Is identity based on what you do?  Is your identity based on your hobbies or work?  Is it based on your school? 

Is your identity defined by your latest update on facebook, instagram, twitter? 

Over the next several weeks we are going to explore who we are in Christ. Christ came so that we can have life and have it to the full. 

Identity is defined as the distinguishing character or personality of an individual.

We can often confuse what the world claims our identity to be and what our identity is in Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) we learn that we gain a new identity in Christ.  17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

God has redeemed, restored, and recreated the believer as a person of faith in Christ. God sees you through His son Jesus Christ.  Our identity is in Christ.  God desires for us to grow into the image or likeness of Christ.  In Christ the sinful flesh has died and the believer surrenders to the Lordship of Jesus.

Through the next couple of weeks we are going to take a closer look at how God sees us through Christ. 

We are going to examine what is meant by our identity in Christ.  We’ll look at how this identity is formed and shaped in three areas.

·       - The messages of the world.

·       - God made us with a purpose.

·       - The promise is this: You are a child of God.

(1)        The messages of the world.

Good, bad, ugly, or indifferent, we are constantly bombarded by messages.  The messages that the world provides gives us a clue about the identity that the world would have for us.  And by “world” we mean our culture; our society. 

To the world image is of the utmost importance.  The world has us compare ourselves to others.  How do we look?  Do we wear the right clothes?  Do we make the right amount of money?  The world uses messages that cause you to question your perfection.  The world causes us to take on names like “disappointment” “regret” “weak” “fear” “failure”.

The messages of the work cause you to question whether you are thin enough, strong enough, smart enough.  Do you have what it takes?  Use this product and more people will like you.  The world’s message for your identity is that you need to make a lot of money, gain power, and gain prestige and fame.  And if you do not gain those things you are a failure.  Using the world’s definition of identity can lead us to feel condemned.  Using the world’s definition of identity can lead us to choose something that dishonors God and separate us from His love. 

And this is not the plan that God has for you.  His plan calls you to be seen through His son Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:2 (NIV): 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We are taught through Scripture to not conform to the pattern or teaching of the world.  The world is not stable.  The world deals with trends, fads, popularity polls, and passing fancies.  The patterns of the world place unrealistic expectations on us.  We become concerned about how many people like our latest post or photo on social media.  The messages of the world get in the way of being who God created you to be.

(2)        God Made You With a Purpose

You have been wonderfully created by God and redeemed by the work Christ completed on the cross.  As a child of God you have a purpose.  God has a role for you to play.

Psalm 139: 13 – 16 (NIV):  13For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.  15My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

We are God’s creation.  There is nothing hidden from God as we grew.  God has written out our entire life story.  Even though we are each created after the fall in the Garden, God acknowledges and claims us as His work.

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV): 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

When we become aligned to God’s purpose for our lives; His plan; His agenda the work we do is not to gain our salvation, but is a result of being saved and aligned with God’s purpose for our life.  We therefore cannot lay claim to the work or the results of the work, for God created these for us to do in Christ.

(3)        The Promise is This: You Are a Child of God

If you are a believer in Christ, this means to think of yourself as "Who you are in Christ."  Remember "you are a child of the One True King."  We can be slaves of the world or we can be free in Christ.  In Christ, you have been set free from the bondages (the messages, the desires) of the world.  You have been set free from the condemnation that comes from not being considered good enough.

Galatians 4:7 (NIV): 7So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

By God’s grace, each of us can regard ourselves as an heir to all spiritual blessings.  For many this can become a mind boggling thought.  And many consider themselves undeserving us this heirship that they have in Christ.  This is an incredible promise.

When we need reminding that we are the children of God we just need to turn our attention to Romans 8: 16-17.

Romans 8: 16-17 (NIV): 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

This is a great promise.  It can’t get any better.  To be a co-heir with Christ means to have all the blessings that God has for us.  The Holy Spirit assures us that we are God’s children.  No matter what we have done or by what name we may have been called or assumed, the promise is that we are redeemed by Jesus Christ and made full heirs to the promise of Abraham.  Our full status as God’s children makes us beneficiaries of everything Christ posses.  Christ has given us access to the Father.  We are truly co-heirs.

By being God’s children, we gain an inheritance, the promise which Paul had earlier described in Romans —

Romans 4:13-16 (NIV): 13It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

So we are no longer slaves to the law.  In Christ the Law has been fulfilled.  People could not keep the Law as it had been given.  The Law became a bondage to the people.  We are co-heirs through Christ.  Paul reminds his listeners and readers that we should not ever return to the life of slavery that we have been saved from.

In the victory of the Cross we have a new and eternal life.  As God’s child we can enjoy the riches of His blessings.  As God’s children we are not to take on the names of regret, guilt, shame, and defeat.

As we are reminded in Romans 8:16, the Holy Spirit tells that we are adopted as God’s children.  We are children of the One True King.  We have been set free by the work that Christ did for us on the cross.  He paid a price that we could never have paid.  We are God’s children.  In that promise we can stand firm.

PRAYER - Lord, we pray that You will help us truly understand our uniqueness.  Help us to see ourselves not a sum of our failures or successes but as You see us, as your children.  We thank You for salvation through Jesus Christ and that we have taken on His identity as we are clothed in His righteousness, Amen.