‘His’ Identity Series #4.

Welcome to session 4 of ‘His,’ Sis! If you’ve made it this far, I pray that you are beginning to feel confident, safe and secure in who He created you to be;

His.

In the past few weeks, we’ve discussed a lot! Here are a few of the highlights:

The deep need for an intimate relationship with Jesus and His pure heart toward us.

The soul weeds, or lies, that we believe, which may be keeping us from an unhindered relationship with Him. 

The importance of knowing the sound of His voice. 

Sis, stepping into our rightful identity as His, is a continual work in progress and a constant fight for grace as we choose to let go of the old and let Him make way for the new. It doesn’t happen overnight, but I hope that through this series, you are picking up pieces of truth that you can begin to integrate into your daily life. Remember, we are perfectly flawed, made beautifully whole by our Maker as we learn to sit at His feet and listen to what He has to say to us and about us.

However, my biggest heart’s cry is that you would live the rest of your life knowing the love Jesus has for you and begin operating out of it. That’s it, Sister, that’s our identity right there in a nutshell. Daughters of the King who are unconditionally and wildly loved by Him and who know it, feel it, and most importantly…

Believe it.

The Bible tells us in 1 John, chapter 4 that God is love; it isn’t merely an emotionally charged feeling based on His current mood… it’s who He is. Friend, He literally can’t help but love you! So when we learn how to draw closer to Him and receive that redeeming love, we can’t help but be changed. We can’t help but be shaped and morphed into strong women of God whose roots are planted deeply and whose soul weeds have been eradicated by the truth of His love-light. That’s when we become women on display for His splendor and glory. That’s when we’re able to throw kindness and grace around like confetti. Simply because its healing and redemptive power have touched us, and because we have come to understand our own intense need for His love.

Drawing closer to Him, knowing Him intimately, is where we find our identity. It’s where we allow Him the opportunity to speak it over us… loudly and profoundly. 

We’ve already discussed why it’s important to know His voice, but today we’re going to dive into how He speaks to us. The reality is that God always has and always will speak. It’s whether we have ears that want to draw close and listen that determines how loudly we hear Him.

There are so many avenues through which He speaks, and He speaks to each of us uniquely. The key is to tune yourself into practicing His presence so you can discern how He speaks to you. If you’re not sure how to practice His presence over your life, don’t worry, Sis… I’ve got you covered! That’s going to be our next topic!

I’ve made a list of three significant ways I believe He chooses to speak to us, all of which I have experienced in my own personal walk with Jesus. 

His Word. 

Sis, the Bible is the sweetest and fiercest love story you could ever put on your reading list. It’s filled with tales of trials and bondage, freedom, and redemption. It is the voice of Jesus directly translated into a written word, and its purpose is to spur you on in hope and feed you the truth you need to live freely in Him. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, tells us that the word of God is alive and active… sharper than any double-edged sword. Its job is to direct our steps and light the path for a life lived loved and governed by God’s grace. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for training in righteousness. How do we live righteous lives? We love fiercely. How do we love fiercely? We seek His voice through the sound truth of His Word. It’s where we get what we need from Him, rather than searching for our identity in the faces around us. Sis, I cannot tell you how many times this sacred book has drawn me back into the arms of His grace and reminded me that I belong to Jesus alone. God speaks loudly through the pages of Scripture, and when we ask Him to direct our readings, He is faithful in taking us to words, His words, that transform and ignite. 

Dreams and Visions.

I have gone through seasons of my life where God has invaded my dreams heavily. When I was seventeen years old, He spoke the loudest in my dreams by showing me what my life was going to look like if I continued to choose my own way. In His sweet grace, He revealed the destruction for which I was headed… and it completely changed the trajectory of my whole life. I am a firm believer that God speaks in dreams and visions, and there are several examples throughout the Bible that support this form of communication from our Heavenly Father. Joseph, referred to popularly as the King of Dreams is found in Genesis chapter 37, where God gives him a dream of his family bowing down to him. His dream would eventually come to fruition, through the hardship of betrayal and slavery, but made whole by forgiveness and grace. We even see God speaking through dreams in Matthew, chapter 27, to Pilate’s wife, where God revealed the true nature of Jesus to her in her dream before Jesus stood trial with Pilate before His persecution. Paul, in Acts chapters 16 and 18, is given visions from God urging him to continue preaching the Gospel in different cities. Friend, if you believe that the Lord has spoken to you in a dream or a vision, I encourage you to take it to His feet and ask Him to help you discern what He’s trying to say to you. Please also know that it’s so important to familiarize ourselves with His voice so we can distinguish between our own dreams and dreams that are actually being invaded by Heaven. 

The Holy Spirit. 

I believe Jesus speaks directly to us through the Holy Spirit. He’s that still, small voice we sense when we’re searching for hope and unexpectedly run right into His gentle grasp. The Holy Spirit is literally described as a “Helper” or “Advocate” in John Chapter 15, verse 25. He speaks to our souls, and it is Him alone that holds power to shape and transform us to look more like Himself. When we spend time in the Holy Spirit’s presence, when we sit in communion with our Creator, the scent of saving grace can’t help but linger wherever we go. I hear Him loudest in the quiet morning, with coffee brewing in the background and my pen racing across my journal’s pages. Jesus speaks directly to us; He nudges us to move forward or slow down so we can catch our breath. It’s Him that opens doors and then places the desire in our heart to walk confidently through. When we familiarize ourselves with our Creator’s voice, we open ourselves up to a daily relationship with Him, where we can hear Him speak sweetly to our souls. 

Sister, everything He does, every which way He speaks to us comes from a place of love. Your identity in Him is rooted in love and wrapped in grace. It begins with forming a relationship with your Creator and learning how He uniquely speaks to you. Once we pinpoint how He speaks to us, we can learn to listen and walk our lives to the tune of that sound voice. I encourage you to ask Him to give you ears that are tuned in to the sound of His Spirit. Ask Him to reveal loudly and boldly how He speaks to you. I know He will show up every single time.

Do you remember when we visited the home of Mary & Martha in week one in Luke chapter 10? The Bible tells us that Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to what He said. Mary was forming a relationship with Him by sitting at His feet, and then she turned herself toward the sound of His voice and drank it in. Martha, Mary’s sister, not understanding the significance of Mary’s stance at the feet of Jesus, becomes irritated. But it’s Jesus’ response to Martha, about Mary’s behavior, that validates everything we have been learning these past few weeks, Sis! Just look!!

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Our identity as His is found at the root of these two seemingly simple, yet mightily transforming acts of obedient surrender…

A relationship with the Creator.

A wide-open heart that listens to the Creator’s voice.

This is why it’s so incredibly important that we dismantle the soul weeds, and discover ways in which He speaks directly to us. Building a relationship with Him and learning the sound of His voice doesn’t come with a set of rules. It’s about letting Him draw you closer as you surrender your whole heart to the One who created it. 

I am praying on your behalf, Sis, that His voice would be the loudest one you hear this week as you navigate this journey of rooting your identity to the feet of Jesus. 

But now, this is what the Lord says—

    he who created you, Jacob,

    he who formed you, Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

Isaiah 43:1

Xoxo,

Celia