I Know Who I Am

Just As I Am is one of the great hymns of the church.

Just as I am without one plea
but that thy blood was shed for me 
and that thou bidst me come to thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come, I come

Written by Charlotte Elliot, a single woman who was deemed an invalid due to illness, she found her identity in writing hymns.  She'd felt useless and struggled with her faith and then she wrote a prayer entitled Just As I Am. She became a celebrated hymnologist by finding security in her faith.  She went on to write 150 hymns that we still sing today.

If you're going to be successful you've got to learn to be secure in who you are.
When you're not secure you allow the views and perspectives of others about who you are, what you're worth, and why you matter become internal values.
Scripture already said that "He who is in you is greater than he would is in the world. "Don't let just anyone tell you who you are!

Moses was insecure about himself but not in who he is in God. Exodus 3 and 4
In Exodus, God saw the persecution of his people and planned to send Moses to deliver His people. God was calling Moses to a greater calling and take a bold and courageous stand.

Moses, of course, doesn't initially see what God sees in him. Moses's mistake in Chapter 2 where he killed an Egyptian and he ran away, define his life in his own eyes. His life was currently characterized by a mistake but God showed up in his life at that time. God still had Moses on his mind and He has us on his mind too. God still cares about you even in your mistake.
Despite your past God brought you through and He brought you out. <-- Initially I had big issues with the leadership role I was taking within IME at UNC because I didn't go there. I'd never been admitted to UNC, my #1 school, despite having applied 3 times in my life. I felt it was a lie. But God.....He saw fit that I go to the place that rejected me and be lifted up. He already had the infrastructure in place for me to be great and people who wanted me to be. They treated me and continue to treat me like I belong. For all intents and purposes I'm an alumni. I'm going back to give a few talks on being a minority PhD in the coming months...Won't He do it?

So many people suffer from "low I sight". It blurs your view of yourself and has you telling yourself that the world would be better off without you and that you can't do anything. It causes people to blame themselves for everything that goes wrong in life. It can be a deadly perspective to have. Make sure you check your thoughts about yourself against the Word of God.

The way we see ourselves determines our behavior in life. If you see yourself as uncreative, you'll never innovate. If you see yourself as a loser, you'll never win.
God doesn't want us to be self loathing or arrogant..... God wants us to walk in "I can do all things through Christ."
He wants us to have a self worth based on our identity in Christ. <--The process of getting one for myself was grueling but oh so worth it.
God is trying to perform a major work in your life. You can be all the things God's calling you to because of God in you. 

When you know who you are in God it frees you from critics.
Moses didn't have to worry about his past or his qualifications in Midian. This call from God was going to raise all types of opposition. This happens today.
When people begin to pursue their dream, all the sudden there are issues. Once you get out of "your place", people get mad. If he'd let what others said about him define him, he'd have missed his ministry. He let what God said to him be what was true in his life. Moses discovered that what God says is the most important thing in his life. <-- That's a rough one because people who love you might not be in alignment with what God is saying is true about you. You've got to know and knowing for me meant lots of time alone, in my prayer closet, with my Bible letting God tell me exactly who I am and what He's called me to.

Romans 8:31 says "What then shall we say to all these things? If God is for us, who can be [successful] against us?

Once you're clear about the fact that God is literally the keeper on your team, go on ahead and do that audacious thing God put on your heart! I did....I'm getting another doctorate!

Insecurity takes the temperature of the room to determine how to be. Insecurity goes with the flow. Insecurity will have you do things you wouldn't do on your own just to fit in. Insecurity will lower your standards. <-- This is a big one for me. My standards are often questioned as being too rigid. People will say they're the reason I don't have fun or don't get to "experience life fully" and sometimes I do struggle with FOMO big time but then I remember that my standards keep me safe. Refusing to compromise your convictions because of what other people say or believe is a maturity of identity and faith that changes the game and its one I try diligently to walk in.

Pres. Obama was secure enough in who he was to not listen to the critics. They said all types of things about Barack....they insulted, derided, degraded, and assaulted more than any other president in history. But Obama has swag. He just brushes them off.
Michelle Obama said "Doing the work is going to get you through Its not what other people think of you its doing the work." <-- This is so me. I'm "I don't care what you think....I'm doing the work and the work will show for itself."

When others look at your race, gender, class, identity, and try and tell you what you can't do or can't be....brush that off. The glory God wants to get our of your life is at stake and dependent on your ability to be secure in who you are.

Being secure won't let you be swayed by others. He prayed, considered God's word, and used the gifts God gave him. He told God He was afraid of what people might say. He was honest with God, bringing his insecurity to God in prayer. <-- That's me all day. Its one of the most freeing things in the world to be able to say to God "I'm afraid," "I don't get it," "I want to believe but I don't." God responded to Moses and gave him what he needed and He'll meet you in that place too. So many times I've said "I want be believe but I don't" and so many times God has confirmed the same thing again and again for me to build my faith. He'll do it, if you're bold enough to say help my unbelief. 

Take it to Jesus....take him that promotion you want, that miscarriage you had, that financial hardship you can't figure out...He's got it. He'll handle it and He'll get the glory. It almost brought me to tears at the end of my defense when I put in a huge picture of a stained glass window with a cross on it and gave credit to God for my degree because I KNEW that there was no way but God that I got that degree.

FOUR times we read the words "the Lord said." He actually talked to God. <-- Let me tell you who's opinion I want on something serious....God's. That's who I want to hear from. That's who I talk to. That's where I'm going. And sometimes I just know within me, in the small quiet place that's always there leading me and guiding me, what it is He'd have me to do.

He also considered the Word of God. He went to the word. <-- The Word will blow your mind. It astounds me. I've gone to God about how to hand a situation and He's taken me in scripture to something about war and in that whole passage I'll land on "and they dealt peaceably"  towards the end of their dispute and that stands out like a beacon. God will show you if you want to see.

Psalms is one of the greatest sources of wisdom to be found in one place. In Psalm 1:1-3 God literally says If you want to know and be holy and upstanding, sit with the Word. Seek the Word.

God is constantly tell us who we are.
1 Peter 2:9 says you are a royal priesthood and a chosen race. You are God's own possession, called out of darkness into the light.
Romans 8:1 says that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.<-- this is a great scripture and one of my entry points for sexuality and Christianity. It was also one of the many places God took me when I asked Him about suicide. If there's no condemnation and nothing can separate your from the Love of God.....that just about covers everything now doesn't it? I always say "If you can conceive of it, God's grace is bigger.
1 Corinthians 6:19 You're worth so much that God lives IN you.
1 Corinthians 12:27 You're vital to the body of Christ. Don't spend all your time trying to be someone you're not and miss who God made you to be. That's a gift in and of itself. Don't undervalue yourself as a creation of God.


Moses prayed.
He considered the word.
He also uses the gifts that God gave him.
Though he's questioning, he's got something ordinary in his hand and God makes it a miracle. Moses's confidence was found in what God had given him. That's how he got the confidence he needed. He learned to use what God had given him.<-- One of the greatest things I've ever done in my faith is this blog. This is what I've got...the ability to write and the ability to think and those two things, ordinary skills taught to me in school, have opened my relationship with God in a way I never could have expected. I'm so thankful for this ordinary thing that has made an extraordinary difference in my relationship with God.

Knowing who you are keeps your from compromising your standards, frees you from critics, and keeps you on the right course.