Week 1
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QUESTION:: “DO YOIU COME IN PEACE?”
2 Kings 9:19
It’s easy these days to feel disconnected: From yourself, from Family, from your friends, your neighborhood, your office mates, your church, your government, and GOD.
It is just as easy to suddenly realize that you’ve lost the essence of WHO YOU REALLY ARE? Or at best, you find that you are bending in all directions to the point of breaking.
”Center” seems nowhere in sight as you continue to slide off the”right” and familiar path, endlessly winding through detour after detour.
How do you re-track our lives when many of the struggles we face have nothing at all to do with a choices we have made for ourselves, but are the result of someone else’s (in)actions or poor choices? Qiuite possibly made without your permission, yet now effect you too.
Wrong Turns, Old Wounds, Poor Choices leave an imprint on us, ultimately teaching us LIES and incorrect narratives about ourselves. This often results with us( or those we love) trying to find or prove our worth in WHAT WE DO, What We PROVIDE, What we HAVE PRODUCED or even ACCUMULATED.
IS there a way to find out who we truly are? YES….but Its a Lifestyle. The ULTIMATE LIFESTYLE that we were originally created for and destined to Live Out.
There is even an Example We CAN Follow - JESUS CHRIST.
Before you roll your eyes and say you have heard this all before, let me assure you this will be a fresh take. These are radical times, calling for a radicle solution. Though the solution itself is not radical at all, but rather gentle. Full of Grace and Mercy and Goodness and Light. First for yourself and then toward others.
JESUS LIVED THROUGH TUMULTUOUS TIMES too, yet HE LIVED “LIGHTLY”
He lived “PEACEFULLY BETWEEN THE TRIALS AND PRESSURES OF THE CULTURE and THE EXPECTATIONS AROUND HIM”
“HE STAYED TRUE TO HIMSELF” - seemingly unaffected by the brutal opinions and fatal actions of everyone else around him.
We exercise and take vitamins to keep our immune system ready and able to ward off intruders. We read books and tackle Suduko to stay sharp, yet we do little to arm our mental and physical selves from invaders?
THE BEST LIFE IS LIVED BY SEASONS and RHYTHYM
This is true for all of creation.
It is imperative to look closely at the seasons and rhythms that Jesus lived out.
With vision, we can begin to understand more clearly what an ABUNDANT LIFE can look like.
The closer we look at him, the closer we get to Him. The closer we are to him, the more clearly we see the image of Our Creator, the very same Image WE Were Created In, the very same Image we are created to radiate
Knowledge is Power! Knowing Sets the Standard. Knowing Strengthens the belief in who we truly are. Knowing HIM is the pathway to Becoming HIM.
WE MAY FEEL STUCK, but you are Not Stuck!!! YOU ARE JUST NOT INFORMED.
Confidence and Clarity are the result of PRACTICAL (Practice) experience.
Taking One step at a time ultimately transform a life.
A Transformed life in turn, Glorifies our Heavenly Father.
Our experiences, and our stories of transformation, are the witness that leads others to consider the possibility of a better life for themselves.
To Live Out a life of authenticity encourages others to ask HOW? WHO? IF? WHEN?
LET’S FIGURE OUT HOW??
EPHESIANS 2:10
EPHESIANS 5:21
JAMES 1:19-20
MATTHEW 5:16
GALATIONS 6:10
COLOSSIANS 3:23-24
PROVERBS 16:3-9
IF IT’S SO EASY THEN WHY DO WE STRUGGLE SO MUCH???
GALATIONS 1:6-10
GALATIONS 5:7-10
GALATIONS 5:13-15
GALATIONS 5:16-18 (THIS ULTIMATELY FORMS A PRAYER)
GALATIONS 5:23-26 (THIS ULTIMATELY FORMS A PRAYER)
THE TRANSFORMATION AFFORMATION -
1.LIES THAT HOLD US BACK;
Who and What do you listen too?
Whose opinion matters to you most?
What authority do they to define you????
2.What are the battles you are fighting? WHO CALLED YOU INTO BATTLE??
GOD or the ENEMY?
Or has the enemy figured out ways to keep you drained and tied up in lots of little battles which drain you and keep you from victories in thos battles you are actually supposed to be victorious in?
WHAT DOES YOUR NAME TAG SAY vs. WHAT NAME SHOULD YOU BE CALLED?
Unworthy
Unlucky?
Unwanted?
Unknown?
Undecided?
Unloved?
Unappreciated??
Unremarkable?
Unqualified?
Unsuccessful?
Under Achiever?
Un-remorseful?
Uncommon?
misUNDERSTOOD?
Etc……..WHO FILLED OUT YOUR NAME TAG?
How we view ourselves and what we think of ourselves daily, permeates every little thin we do.
WHAT IS YOUR NEW NAME IN CHRIST JESUS???
ISAIAH 43:1
“He Who Created YOU…..FEAR NOT, for I have REDEEMED YOU: I have CALLED YOU BY NAME, and YOU ARE MINE”
What Story are you living out? Which story in your life defined you and gave you the story that you are living out today?
What receives the most of your Energy and your Time?
Who you hang out with and spend time with, are those who knows you best.
HE CREATED US. NO ONE KNOWS US BETTER THEN HIM. Ask for forgiveness and lean in.
WE ARE CREATED IN HIS IMAGE SO THEN, WHO ARE WE? WHAT ARE WE REALLY CAPABLE OF?
THERE IS POWER IN A NAME!!!!
WRITE OUT THAT STORY, HOW IT DEFINED YOU AND IDENTIFY THE LIES.
If you are like me: Take those lies mixed with your tears and lay them at the cross. Ask for forgiveness for having believed them and for carrying those burdens which were already taken to the cross for you by your Savior, Jesus Christ.
And His truth shall set you free!
NO ONE has power and authority to define you except for the ones who created you. (NOT YOUR PARENTS!!)
The Savior’s Voice should be the loudest answer & the most familiar voice in EACH DAY.
YOU must see yourself through His eyes, and HIS EYES ONLY.
Confess the urge to replay the tapes of half-truths every time they restart. Give Thanks that they are now obsolete.
MATT.11:28,29
“Come to me all who are weary and burdened…..find rest for your souls”
JOHN 10:10
“….I have come that you may have life to the full”
ROMANS 8:31
“ What should we say then in response to these things?…..”
ROMANS 8:37 (37-39)
“In all these things we are MORE than conquerors…”