Who are you?

If you answered with wife, mom, business owner, teacher or something else that you do, then this episode is for you! Today we’re talking all about your identity.

Resources Mentioned:

Walking In Confidence Bible Study: https://ashleyvarner.com/confidence
I Am Statements (Free): https://ashleyvarner.com/free 

Highlights from the Episode:

Who are you?

If you answered with wife, mom, business owner, teacher or something else that you do, then keep reading.

Change doesn’t happen without growth. Remember, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Our identity flows from him.

That’s great news because that means our identity and our confidence isn’t dependent on us.

A seed doesn’t automatically become a flower. A worker doesn’t automatically become a CEO.

The seed and the worker have to grow into those positions.

You are not what you do, you are not what you think.

You are who God created you to BE.

TWO TRUTHS:
Your position is not your identity.
Your identity isn’t affected by your circumstances

Who are you deep down at your core? Who are you and who defines that? What kind of outside circumstances help you to decide who you are?

Today I’m going to be talking all about your identity in Christ.

When I was gathering all these verses together, I really searched the scriptures about verses that not only told me who I was in Christ, but they helped me to live that out every day.

YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE CLUB : 1 Corinthians 12

The first passage I’m sharing comes from 1 Corinthians 12, and in these verses Paul talks about how we are all part of the body of Christ. The first truth that I want to remind you of is that you are a member of Christ’s body.

Now, clubs usually revolve around everyone being exactly the same. You have to prove that you are a valuable member. You have to prove that you are the same as the rest of the people in the club.

For instance, country club might require that you show your income statements or show your status in the community. Even gangs have initiation, where someone has to prove that they belonged there.

Even as simple as high school cliques revolve around being similar to each other. The requirement might be that you are part of a sports club or you need to be dating a certain kind of guy.

I want you to let go of the way that the world thinks about being a member of Christ’s body and really consider how God sees you.

Because truly, God doesn’t want you to be just like the next person. He sees you being a member as less like a club and more like a body.

When I think of some of the verses where Paul shares how we’re all members of Christ’s body and he says, “if everyone were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? And if everyone were an ear, where would the sense of taste or touch be?”

God loves to have diversity in his body. He loves to have people who have different strengths and different talents. People who are different from one another.

Anytime that you find yourself feeling like you don’t fit in because you don’t sing like the pastor’s wife or you aren’t gifted like a worship leader, or you don’t teach a certain way, realize that God loves to have diversity in His body.

And you have talents that others don’t have.

The only requirement that God has is for you to be a “member” is to accept His love.

YOU CAN BE SECURE DESPITE THE CIRCUMSTANCES AROUND YOU Isaiah 26:4

Our second verse comes from Isaiah 26:4, and it says, “Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord, the Lord Himself is the Rock Eternal.”

I want to tell you a story of two moms. The first mom put her focus and the core of who she really was into outside circumstances. She was secure when she found a good husband and got married. He had a good job and so she was able to stay at home and raise her kids. She was secure because she had that suburban American dream like we hear about all the time.

She set up that foundation and overnight, tragedy struck and that dream (and her security) was gone.

The second mom set up her foundation on God’s truth and who He says that she is, and she taught her children that way. She raised them in confidence.

She showed them how to take God at His Word and apply His truth to their lives. And so even if those same struggles came, maybe a house fire, God forbid, something happened to like that. She still had a firm foundation because her security and her focus wasn’t on external things.

It was about who she was in Christ.

This is an example of the story that we hear about what the wise and the foolish builders, in Matthew 7, Jesus says that you need to build your foundation on the Rock and the Rock is Him.

We see that in Isaiah 26, he is our Rock Eternal. You can know from this verse that you have a solid foundation.

COMPARISON DOESN’T HAVE TO BE YOUR STORY : 2 Corinthians 10:12

Our third verse comes from 2 Corinthians 10:12.

It says, “when they compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” As a woman who’s walking in the truth of who God is and who God says that she is, you do not have to compare yourself with anyone.

Comparison is the thief of joy and there is nothing good that comes from comparing ourselves to other people. I want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that someone else’s beauty or someone else’s talents do not take away from your own.

There’s nothing that comparison is good for. It only fuels our discontentment.

It causes us to be more insecure.

Comparison is ultimately taking our focus off of the Lord and putting our focus onto someone else.

Maybe it’s the person that you feel is so much better than you and you feel horrible about yourself whenever you’re around them.

Maybe it’s the person that you think you’re better than…

Either way, those feelings of comparison can be like a rollercoaster. If you really want to walk in the knowledge of who you are in Christ and you’re ready to have confidence that doesn’t waver, then comparison has to be a thing of the past for you.

PERFECTION WON’T BRING CONFIDENCE : Philippians 1:6

The fourth truth that I want you to know is that you do not have to wait until you’re perfect to be confident, and our verse for this truth comes from Philippians 1:6 and it says, “I am confident that the God who has begun a good work in me is faithful to complete it.”

See, the world has a view of confidence that doesn’t match the way that God sees confidence. The world thinks that in order to be confident that you have to already have achieved a bucket list of things. You have to have:

• a nice house
• a fancy car
• money in the bank
• a perfect body

And once you have all those things THEN you can be confident, but that’s not what God’s Word says.

God doesn’t do things the way that the world does. He doesn’t expect perfection because it’s not possible for us. He wants us to be secure in the knowledge that we’re in progress and that He will complete the work that’s being done in us.

At the end of the day, our confidence doesn’t come from doing a checklist of things that are that we think will make us a good Christian, it comes from an authentic relationship with Him.

It’s always going to be a process and a journey for you, so it’s okay to not be perfect.

YOU CAN STAND IN GOD’S STRENGTH : Romans 8:37

The last truth that I have for you is that you can be strong in God’s love. This truth comes from Romans 8:37.

Paul tells the Romans, “you are more than conquerors through Him who loved you.” We can draw strength from the knowledge of who we are in Christ.

We can be strong in the truth that nothing can separate us from His love, and that right there – knowing that you’re accepted by God, that you can be secure in who you are in Him is really what propels you to live out your life in strength and in beauty because you know that you’re significant and that nothing can separate you from God’s love.

This reminds me of a quote that I heard recently and the gist of the quote said, “don’t carry the mountains you were meant to climb.

So often we get stuck in this idea of insecurity or fear or failure, rejection, and these are mountains that God always meant for us to climb in His strength.

We can be strong in His strength and overcome. You are more than a conqueror through the struggles that have been in your life.

So if you struggle with insecurity, I want you to know that is a not a burden that God ever meant for you to carry on your back.

Are you stuck in insecurity, fear of rejection, or failure?

Sometimes, especially as moms, we feel like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders. We are burdened because we don’t:

• have the perfect healthy meals for our child’s lunch
• take them outside a certain amount of time each day
• plan enough play dates for them to be more social
• read them five chapters in their Bible every night
• mark off the checklist of #allthethings

Those burdens add to our feelings of inadequacy, but whenever we know that we were meant to climb this mountain with the Lord’s help, that means that as we grow, we are in a process and a journey of knowing Him.

As you grow ever closer to Him, you can overcome the things that are in your life with God’s help and we can help our kids do the same thing.

Recommended: FREE I Am statements!

If this is something that really speaks to your heart and you want to know how you can walk in confidence please check out the Walking in Confidence Devotional.

This devotional is 21 days of verses and truths that help you to know who you are in Christ.

And that confidence will ripple out to everyone around you. As you walk in confidence, as you know who you are in Him, that extends out to your family, that ripples out to your coworkers, and it’s going to change the way that you live.

It’s going to change the way you spend your money, it’s going to change the way that you speak to other people and the way that you speak to yourself.

So please, take a moment to check that out and I’ll see ya next time!