But he had to actually present himself as I am this. I am this. Well we don't agree with that, we don't see any kids. I don't care whether you see any kids, I am this because God said so. The Bible says in Romans 4:17, God calls things that be not as though they are, so before He was physically a father God called him a father and he agreed with God and he called himself a father. This is part of the way faith operates; you don't try and work hard to become something. You find out what God says you are and begin to embrace that until you actually grow into it. There's a huge difference; one, people are striving to become something, and the other, you're beginning to understand who you are and then embrace how you live that out. You'll see this is incredibly important when it comes to your Christian walk, because you're either trying to become someone - I ask the question how are you doing? I'm getting there. I think you've got a problem, because you've got some imaginary place you're wanting to get when actually what you need to know is be rested, I am already acceptable in Christ. I'm growing up and working it out.
I'm discovering more and more about who God called me to be and what He called me to do, see? So Gideon, Gideon, you mighty man of valour! He said what? What? Where? Listen, I'm only the youngest in the family. So you understand that over and over again in the Bible God spoke to people according to what He had called them to be and to do. Simon - Simon, you're going to be called Peter, the rock. James and John, it says Jesus called them another name, sons of thunder because you're going to up heave the place everywhere! So sometimes in the Bible God renamed people in order for them to get fixed in their mind this is who I am as I walk with God. Otherwise you're living out of who everyone else said you were as you grew up and that's where most people live. They live out of their background, their past, their concepts, their beliefs, instead of actually making it a life pursuit to discover what does God say about me. Who am I?
Only the One who made you knows who you are and what lies inside you, what dreams are in there, what hopes are in there, what possibilities are in there. There's no one around you can tell you that. The One who created you can tell you that, but you've got to stop trying to be someone else and actually discover what does God say about me. That's what is going to be the foundation of my life. This is who I am. I am who God says I am. I am forgiven. I am loved. I am redeemed. I am blessed. It's got nothing to do with anything outside me; this is what God says. I'll live out of what God says - and that's how Jesus said you've got to live your life. The devil came to Him; if you are this then prove it, do something. He said man shall live not by bread alone, every word I live by what God says. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. You understand, because I live out of what the Father says about me. That's a really important thing to get a hold of, a major, major thing.
Now when you embrace your identity in Christ you become free then to actually connect with people, because you don't have to build a mask around you. You can be who you are. When you become secure in your identity who you are, you can actually then become quite creative because you don't have to copy anyone. You can be an original. When you become free in your identity and who you are you can connect with people without a mask; you can be creative and you can be quite confident because you're not being someone else, you're being you. What a liberating thing that is! Not trying to be someone else. One of the big pressures young people face is trying to be someone else, so the Bible says a lot of things about us. Let me read you a couple of scriptures, then I want to show you who we are in Christ and how we establish it in our life. Here's a couple of scriptures.
In 1 John 3:1-2, Beloved, now we are the children of God! See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God! Now beloved we are. Who are we? We are the children of God. It does not appear what we shall be. In other words no one can see what you're really like - but when He appears we shall be like Him, but we shall see Him as He is. So clearly it tells me I'm a child of God, I'm growing and I will come to a place of maturity just being like Christ. That's what God has in mind, wants you to actually have the character in life of His Son, being a true Christian [laughs] instead of a copy. Okay, so there's a simple scripture. Look at 1 John 4:17. The Bible says as He is - what is Jesus like right now? As He is, so are we in the world now. I pray that one over me regularly; Lord, as You are, so I am in the world now, so I begin to declare what He's like. His nature, His characteristics are in me and flow through me, because the Bible says it. As He is, so am I now.