Who is God and Who am I?
These two questions seem so simple, but have been running through my mind for several months now and I have learned that how you answer these questions (not in your head, but in your heart) change everything.
I recently attended the Audacious Conference in the UK and what several pastors spoke about and what has been stirring inside of me for months now was summed up at this conference. So much so that the exact chapter of a book I read on the flight over, a podcast I’ve been listening to on the study of Exodus, the first message at the conference by Sophia Barrett, and two separate text messages of encouragement from friends back in the U.S. while at the conference about what they had heard from the Lord all revolved around these two questions so I think it is pretty clear what the Lord is trying to get through to me right now 🙂
what comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you
How you answer the second question is dependent on your first answer, but what comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. I have really learned over the past several months through more transitions than I can count on my hands and feet, is that if I truly don’t know and/or believe that God is who He says He is then I don’t know who I am therefore how I live my life daily from “finding my purpose” to how I feel about myself, to fears and worries, to choices I make, to how I act and react towards others, to dreams is all seen through the wrong pair of lenses. But when we see and experience who God is, then we will discover who we are. It is only out of His identity that we can see our own identity and walk in that identity. And I grew up in church all of my life so could tell you in words who God is and that He is good, and has good things for us, and loves us, and sent His son on the cross so we could have eternal life and so on, but to truly know down deep and have experienced His goodness, His heart towards me as a Father, His faithfulness to every promise and what His promises are, to how great His love for me and this world is, to the abundance and authority He has called us to walk in on this earth not just wishing for the day we get to heaven changes everything!
Glyn Barrett said at the conference: “The moment you realize who you are, you live free. It’s not who you are that holds you back; it’s who you think you’re not.” I have lived in the jealousy, comparison, not good enough mindset for years and especially when it comes to “spiritual things.” But at this conference, God spoke down deep to my heart: “ I am confident in you…you have to be confident in what I want to do through you.” When I began to look again at who God is and to focus on Him and declaring for Him to have His way, He began to download identity, gifts and dreams into me faster than I could write them down and tears began to flow because these weren’t gifts I thought I had and honestly, some were fears I had been living with for years or things I didn’t want to step into. But when my focus is on Him and who He is, the lens I began to look through, the possibilities I see, and the way I began to see things changed my reality because my perception was different. But it all starts and ends with the two questions…”WHO IS GOD AND WHO AM I?”