Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
If that sounds familiar to Romans 12:2, you guessed correctly! This is the Message Bible translation, and although I do not recommend you memorize this version, I do encourage you to write these words on your heart. I like The Message because it directly explains what it means to renew your minds. I would like to briefly write on the importance of this and the pathway it paves to our true identity.
Renewing of the mind begins with a choice -- many choices, actually. Before you know it, one lie in your head can lead to another and you start to think about impossible circumstances you never want to find yourself in. Taking captive every thought and making it obedient to Christ is important because it directly effects how we see ourselves and the rest of the world around us. We have full control of what happens in us, but not always what happens around us. Before long, we start to become what we think the most important person in our lives thinks we are.
The next thing I would like to talk about is a true sense of our identity. Our actions and reactions to what goes on around us is rooted in our sense of identity, and I believe that is more important to target than the renewing process itself. To know who you are means to know Who you come from. Your identity is nothing you have made yourself to be. It is not an equation of gifts + passions + accomplishments. Everything comes from the cross and God's original plan for you. Something I have learned since being in Ministry School is that the biggest lie is "I am a sinner, saved by grace." No, I was a sinner, but now I am a saint. I am seated in heavenly places. The truth is that you are royalty. You are seated next to Jesus, and He wants you to live like it. Believe in the truth about yourself because the truth sets you FREE. You, as a royal heir, cannot afford to believe another lie about yourself. You wear a crown but you live like a slave. That ends today. Remember where you came from. People will only love you as much as you love you. People will only honor you as much as you honor you. You are a gem, a treasure to many, but most of all, to our King.
As you walk in this identity, you will see change from the inside out. You will readily recognize what He wants for you. You will lift others up instead of tearing down. Your eyes will be opened to the best in you and your mind will be made new. The most important person in your life will become Jesus and you will desire to become the way He made you to be. Pray this today:
"Father, I am yours. Everything from You is good and I find myself in You, therefore I am full of Your goodness. Today, I conquer fear and lies in the name of Jesus. I am built in Your strength and I declare a spirit of boldness in me. I choose to walk in Your fullness today. I find out who I am when I find out who You are. Thank you for loving me with an everlasting love. You da' best Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen." [The last part is for Robert Moody...:)]
Bless you Massive! My heart is for you all!
Charley Woodman
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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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What are your questions or reactions to what Charley wrote? Do you agree with what she said or disagree? Share in the comments.
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To print the artwork above, click here to open higher resolution image (may take a minute to download), save to your computer, then print out on card stock or paper of your choice! Tag Charley ( @charleyjwoodman ) in your instagram pictures to show her how you use her art!
|Author + Artwork >> Charley|