Unveiling Identity: What the Bible Says About Who You Are

Have you ever paused and asked yourself, “Who am I?” or “What am I supposed to be doing with my life?” If you don’t know your identity in Christ, those questions can be hard to answer. In this episode, we explore how knowing God brings clarity, purpose, and truth about who you are. When you know Him, you begin to know yourself.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back everyone. This is Alyssa, and I'm here with Janae. Today we don't have Mike, um, but that's okay. It's the girl pod today. So you're listening to Saved and Sanctified. Today we're gonna be going over identity, which is an important topic, and I think we've learned as studying a big topic and something that God really wants us to understand. Um, and He wants us to really put our full identity in Him. So yeah, I'm excited for the pod. I'm excited to talk about this and just see where the Holy Spirit leads us, because I think preparation even sounded really good.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

So me too. I mean, I feel like identity is one of those topics that I used to feel like was over talked about. Or, you know, like every women's conference that came up and every like girls sleep overnight, you're talking about your identity. But I also feel like it's one of the most important things to be talked about. Yeah. And now as a young adult, like I realize that, and now I'm like, okay, no, this needs to be talked about. I don't care if this is the hundredth time someone's heard this same like four points or whatever it is, like these verses. It it needs to be remembered. It does. And heard. Yeah. So I'm excited. Let's jump on in. Lord, we just thank you for this day. We thank you for this time that we just get to open your word, Lord, and just hear what you have to say about us, God. And we just ask for a new revelation today, in that you would just reveal to us who your word says that we are, God, and why you're I you are important, and why us knowing who we are and you is important, God, and how that just sets us up for what you want to do in our lives. God, and so we just thank you and praise you for who you are. And in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Okay. I know we had a couple questions that we were thinking of answering, but I don't know where we went.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Yeah. So like I feel like every time I think about identity or I go to like explain it to someone, it's always like, let's start with the opposite, like what the world says. Okay. You know, the Bible talks about this enemy that comes to still kill and destroy. And I always think, well, I think that's why it's important for us to know our identity in Christ. Because the enemy is gonna try to make us seek our identity in worldly things. You know, he's constantly trying to discourage us, and I feel like it could be the most random word or you know, something we've heard so many times that we start to take that on as our identity. We start to wear that, you know. I was bullied a lot growing up, and so it's like you short, fat, smelly, like whatever the labels are that we hear day in and day out from broken people in the world, that starts to become how we think about ourselves. Yeah, that's true. You know, we start to question who we are and what we're doing, and you know, that's how we get into such a dark place. And the way I think about it is like a grenade. You know, you don't you've seen you probably haven't seen a grenade. I hope you haven't seen a grenade. My goodness. But I mean, I've seen them like in movies and stuff, and they explode and they cause fire. And if you throw enough of them at a building, it'll probably collapse, right? And I feel like we're the same way, you know. The enemy's gonna throw things at us, and the longer we let it sit on our minds and the more it builds, it starts to distort our vision of ourselves, yeah. How we view ourselves, how we view other people, how we view our life, the world, everything. And now we're just this collapsed building, you know, because those words are like the fire. If you let them sit, the flame is just gonna grow and grow and fester and branch off into other things. And now all of a sudden you're questioning, who am I? What am I doing? Why am I here? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

That's no, that's good. Yeah. And I think it even like, I think he, gosh, there's so much I could say about that. But um, yeah, I think what you were talking about just shows how I think um the enemy really wants us to focus on the outward things, like our appearance or what others say about us and stuff like that, and really take that to heart. And I think it starts at a it could start at a really young age too. Because um, like I think of even little kids, like I was working with a TK group today, and they were even like what they wanted to choose and what they liked was based on what other people like liked as well. Like they didn't want to be alone, so they wanted to make sure they fit in. And I think that's the kind of naturally what we do as humans, and I think the enemy knows that. Like he you say he's there to steal, kill, and destroy, but he's also like prowling, like they say, the prowling line, like watching, yeah, like wanting to see. He knows what um what can work in how you can attack people's identity and how that really can affect people a lot. Because even when I was younger too, I feel like I was called like certain things like hairy or just like ugly and stuff like that. And that really like took years of me to really not believe. Oh yeah. Um, and it totally like made me super insecure and not confident at all, and just like feeling just not good about myself, and um I think probably not um able to understand how God sees me. So yeah, for sure he he focuses a lot on the things of this world that can in a way easily be taken away too, because even if a person is just basing their identity on what they look like or what others say about them, you know, we all get older and we age, and then what happens there? Like it says in the Bible, like beauty fades or vanity, um something about vanity, I know, but just like how like we all get older eventually, and if we put our worth in how we look, we're gonna look older and we're sometimes we won't age well, and then what? Like then our word then we don't feel worthy, or then we um start thinking certain things about us that are not right at all, or that are not um healthy, or that just bring us down and keep us in our head, or for sure, or make us feel even isolated, feeling like we're the only person that looks that way, or um is thinking this way, or you know, we're just like in our head.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Yeah, you start picking yourself apart. Yeah. And then it's like all of a sudden you don't think you're pretty, you don't think you're worthy, you don't know like what is happening. You're like, how did I even get here? Like, what is going on? And I think of the verse where it talks about the power of life and death is in the tongue. You know, some of these people like I and I think about this frequently in sixth grade. One time I was called Bucktooth Billy because I had some crazy like front teeth. And I will like just be randomly sitting in a restaurant, like doing normal day-to-day things, and all of a sudden I'll just like flash back to that moment. I'm like, uh no, that's that that's a lie from the enemy, straight from the pit of hell. But it's like I don't think the person who called me that realized how much that would affect me going forward. How insecure I would be about my smile, about my teeth, and you know, it's like that verse is so powerful because it really is. If you affirm someone, if you say that she's worthy, if you say that he's a mighty man of God, it's going to encourage them and uplift them. That's true. And the same with the opposite. I mean, you say it, you have to hear it one time, and if you let it sit, then now you're stuck with it and it's growing and it's festering, and now you're like, well, what do I do? And that lie will just continue to grow, and then it's harder for you to like counteract it. Yes. And be like, no, this is what the truth is about me.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Mm-hmm. Because then we don't really know the truth about us. And I think like, um, I feel like what we say, what we learn about the enemy is he just tries to um what is it? Just twist the truth just a little bit, even or change things a little. So then um if there's power in the tongue, like life and death, then of course he wants people to use their tongues for death more than anything, for saying mean things to each other, for bullying or calling each other names and stuff, instead of uplifting one another, especially I feel like when we're young, like it starts so young where if you deal with that for so long at just like at school, just so the peers around you, then it can easily like he doesn't really have to do a whole bunch. He just gotta kinda let the kids do it, and then there you go. Oh yeah. Um and yeah, and that's what I'm sure it's what he wants. He just likes to be able to do that. And um Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

And it we make it easier for him when we're basing our identity on people's unstable views. You know, the world is constantly changing, culture is constantly changing, and if that's where we're getting our identity from, if that's where it's planted, then that's who's telling us who we are, what we should do, how we should act. And we're stuck looking at this distorted version of ourselves. You know, we're just here grasping for things when it's like the word of God tells you exactly who you are. There's so many scriptures.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

I'm sorry. I felt it in my throat. No. You good? I think so. I feel really hot though, but I just gotta cut that out. Okay. I'll just restart. I didn't even say sorry, you were going though, you were talking. So I don't know how that's gonna work. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

The Bible is full of scriptures that describe who we are. You know, we are chosen, we are loved, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And I think it's easier for us to have it as a cute little lock screen, or you know, you have it written down on a bookmark or something written on your binder folder, whatever it is, but it's so much more to believe that than just know, like, oh yeah, that's what the Bible says about me. Or oh yeah, my mom always says that I'm beautiful, like my dad makes sure to tell me I'm handsome and blah blah blah. It's like, but is that just knowing, or are you believing? Are you walking into a room as if you are chosen, as if you are handsome, as if you are loved, or are you kind of carrying yourself for the slouch? Like, oh, I don't, I don't really know. I'm very unsure, I'm very unstable. Like, that's where the enemy wants you. He wants you to be unstable, he wants you to have a distorted view of yourself. Because all of the power comes when you stand up and you're like, no, this is what God says about me and who I am and what his plan is for me.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

That's true. And it's like declaring that truth over us too. So I get that. I think um there was times where I like knew what God said about me, but then I didn't fully believe it. And there's even times now where sometimes I'll like doubt, but then I'm like having to like rebuke that and be like, nope, nope, God would not, like whatever it is, like I'll be like, I rebuke this spirit of whatever out of your like if it's jealousy or if it's like comparison or whatever. Um and I think that it's important for us to not only know the word, but believe it and allow it to like really penetrate our hearts. And like he calls us the pre more precious than rupees or fearfully and wonderfully made. Like that was on my cap. Did I know that back then when I actually graduated college? No, uh nothing at all. Like I didn't believe that truth at all. Now I believe it a lot more, and I know it's true. Uh-huh. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

I know I would always laugh at the girls that would have, oh, you know, the verse on their caps, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Do you actually know the plan that he has for you? Have you ever opened the word of God and read what his plan is for you? And they're like, uh no, but it was cute when I saw it on Pinterest. Okay, they so the and that's the difference between knowing and believing. You know, they knew of it and they would, you know, remind it to themselves and whatnot. But if you don't believe it, if it hasn't moved from your mind to your heart, then it's useless, essentially. If it's just sitting in your mind and you know it and it's just knowledge, it's not gonna affect the way that you act, the way you carry yourself. You're not gonna fully step into that authority saying, I am a child of God.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

You know? That's true. And you can see that, I think, even in people. I even think, I mean, since I'm around kids so much, I feel like I observe them a lot. Where you could see that, like, do they truly believe um that they're fearfully and wonderfully made, or that they are a child of God, or that their worth comes from Him, or like even if they seem confident, you could still tell there's there's like a persona of them feeling confident. Like maybe they're extroverted and loud and they can talk, but it's still like their identity still comes from being accepted more by people than actually by like God. So and you're I think there's people that are able, I mean, in general, I think um there's people out there that can see it like the truth, like if we're really confident, if we're not, and they'll go after you. Like, I just think of even relationships that some of my family members have been in, or even I was in, where it's like I was insecure and felt very not confident. So then I found myself in these relationships where I wasn't treated nicely, or they were trying to go past like boundaries that I set, and I just kind of let it happen. And I think they they made me knew that I was not gonna set these boundaries because my worth came more from this person accepting me than it did about fearing the Lord and really caring about obeying God and like trusting in his plan and his um what he wants for me, not what I want for myself. Um yeah, and I think even like the enemy really wants us to be so to get our identity from like ourselves, from who we see, um, like caring about ourselves more, like being self-reliant or independent or focused on ourselves more than anything. Um, like even people who are like I'm sure since or right now or record like a new year and stuff. Um people are like, oh, new year, new me. I'm I'm cutting this and this out, and I'm gonna be this whole new person, and them choosing, like, I'm choosing me this year, and just you know, stuff that I mean I said years ago, maybe, but like, you know, but it's just like that, then it's relying on yourself, and even then we're yeah we can't even we says we can't even lean on our own understanding, like so. God's telling us that for a reason because we are we can be unstable and and um can become prideful, and then I think it says pride's before the fall, and then of course when we become prideful, we think we can do it on our own, but then after a while we learn that we really can't like can do anything on our own without God.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Yeah, we just end up confused and searching and looking in all the wrong places. You know, I always hear like, oh, I'm bettering my mental health or I'm getting my mind right. I always hear like, what does that even mean? Like to me, I'm hearing you're having an identity crisis, first of all, because what what does that even mean? Like you're they're like, I just I need to get myself in check. And I'm like, why? And and that was huge during COVID. Mental health became like a huge thing. Like, I don't, I don't even know, just an outbreak of crisis.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Well, I think it's because people had to be with themselves or be with their families or just that. Yeah, and they were like, oh, or you couldn't easily busy yourselves with um doing things and going out. You had to really sit with yourself and be like, who the heck am I? And yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Yeah, because they're they're just looking in the wrong places, they're asking the wrong questions. Yeah, you know, they're evaluating their self and their values and their beliefs and their life. But are you doing that from the world's perspective, or are you looking at the word of God and being like, okay, what does this, what is the truth about who I am? You know, like I feel like the Bible should be the root of our values, our beliefs. Like it should be at the core of everything because it's our roadmap to life, to handling situations, and to looking in the mirror. Like, this is the only mirror you need, yeah. Is the Bible you know? You don't even need the physical mirror, don't even look at yourself. Something I like to do with my students, my little high schooler ducklings, is ask them to describe themselves in three words, and a lot of them will start just describing themselves physically, and they're like, Oh, well, I'm tall and athletic, and it's like okay, but not a single one of you quoted anything from the Bible. And then it just starts to pose the question of do you even know what God says about you? And a lot of them are it's just blank stares, and they're like, Well no, and it's like, I mean, you there's so many scriptures you can flip to that will tell you and you just have to look for them. And so that was one of the things that like kind of jumpstarted me when I first got into ministry, was okay, this needs to be talked about more, especially with the younger generation, because their generation is the one that's having the crisis, you know, they're lost and confused and they're searching. And I think it's just because they've never gotten in the word of God, they've never learned what it is to be a man under God's standards, they've never heard who God created them to be. You know, and that's how a crisis begins when people don't know who they are. So they start searching and it's like, where are you searching?

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Are you searching for good vibes and positive thoughts? Or are you praying and asking God who you are?

unknown 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Asking him to show you, because he will.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, that's true. And there's and then they're searching from um and getting answers from things that are not that are also broken or not perfect in a way, like whereas God is perfect and just and um he knows all and sees all and can do and is all powerful. Um but I think even oh man, I had a thought that came up when you were talking what was it? It'll come back to me. But I think even just with with all of that though, of what you were saying, man, now I can't even know what was like. Would you like us to come back to you?

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Let's come back to Okay. I feel like it's important for us to remind ourselves daily what the Bible says, what God says about us, because that's where our strength comes from. That's where our confidence and our authority and all those biblical words, that's where it all comes from.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

You know, even if no one says anything negative about you that day, I still feel like it's good to just continually remind yourself. You know, and during COVID, this was a whole thing of like daily affirmations will like improve your mental health. But I think if we put a little Bible spin on it, it actually is effective.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

It is a beautiful thing when you're affirming the right things to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

If you're, you know, I've had for years, I've had this little card that my mom gave me, and it has all of the things with the little verses, you know, you are blessed, you were loved, you are courageous. And it has the little verses next to it. You know, Ephesians 1.3, John 3.16, Deuteronomy 31.6, so that you can go read that scripture, say it over yourself, let that be your morning routine before you wake up and start doom scrolling on TikTok or whatever it is that gets you in a funk that makes you confused and searching all the wrong places. Start telling yourself, in accordance with Romans 3.24, God says I'm redeemed. Remind yourself of that so that when people do start trying to lie to you, you can already have that in the back of your mind and be like, no, but God says that I'm beautiful, so you calling me ugly is gonna do nothing. Because I'm gonna counteract that with the word of God. Yeah, because you know, we have to fight off those lies. You know, the Bible talks about lies as arrows, like flaming darts that the enemy's gonna shoot at us. Yeah, you know, and even if there isn't anything coming at us, we still need to stand firm in that identity.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Well, yeah, because I think when we think of our identity and like the enemy really trying to get us down, and like a lot of it, I think ties into like how we view ourselves. Um if we don't view ourselves the best, then we also don't feel like we can even sometimes do things for God and um that he can use us or that he wants to use us or anything like that. And the enemy wants us to think that God can't, and that um that he won't use us, but that's not the case at all. Like I think he he doesn't want us to share with others or to uplift others even. Um and the best way to do it is by kind of going at us too, shooting those arrows, saying those things, letting them sit. I don't know how that started of the whole um words don't hurt or but stick or something about sticks and stones will be both. Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Bro, words hurt. They hurt. I'm like, throw throw me throw a stone at me, okay? Please, I'd rather be stoned than have you talked back to my face. Yeah, because it's just like you remember what people say. I don't remember as much of like the physical things. Like me and my sister fought all the time. I don't remember those physical fights. I remember the words. Everything they ever said. And I think that um I would always say it, but I'm like, it wasn't actually true. Um, and I think that's what made me become like less confident and just more quiet and not speaking, especially like in high school or middle school. Um, and I think the Lord gave my confidence back for sure. Yeah. Um and it's because I learned that I was redeemed and that I was chosen and that He um even just like the Isaiah 43 when it says, like, you are chosen. I've called you by name, like you are mine. Like it's like I chose you. And I think a lot of times people can go through these identity crises or like stuff with like mental health and things like that because of trauma and things that have happened when they were younger, um, and where how they felt, maybe how their relationship was with their parents, even. So I think it's important for us to um to get support if we need that, but if we're doing it on our own, like a lot of people self-diagnosing on from TikTok, things like that, okay, like you know, let's go to a like a person who's gone to schooling for it. Um, but also like I think that what I've learned is um our past, the enemy wants to use it as like like our past still can um I can still be our identity, but I think God wants us wants us to see it as your past. I've redeemed it and I am healing you through it. Like, like you can still bring what's happened to you to the table to God, but he he may not tell you why things happened or help you really understand it, but he will heal you through it and he will comfort you in it and show you like you were resilient and I got you through this and I was there with you. Um, and he still loves us even though we've been through that. Because I think sometimes we can then we can want to put these lies in our heads of like saying we're like damaged goods, like if something happened to us when we were younger or things have happened to us in general when we were um younger, then we just see it as like, well, no one's gonna love me because this happened to me. And God's like, oh yeah, that is a lie. Like it's like, oh no, no, no, my dear. It's like I love you. And I think I think what the thing about like identity is like we have to, it has to come from the maker, the one who created us, the one who formed us. Come on. Isaiah um 39, like he formed us in our mother's womb. Like he he knows. I don't know if this is from the same psalm, but it's like he knows like our tears, he knows the numbers of hairs on our head, like he knows everything. He knows every thought we have. Like, um, why wouldn't we want to gain like have our identity from him compared to the world or the enemy or even what we think because our thinking isn't even fully um it's not perfect, like we're not, we weren't Jesus. Uh we're never gonna be made complete until Jesus comes back again, until the second coming. Um and I think sometimes we get caught up in thinking we can uh reinvent ourselves and you know, do all these things and but it can crumble eventually. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Yeah, and I love everything you just said. It was so one point. Because it is like, how are we gonna let the world define us when God is the one who created us? He's also the one that makes us a new creation. You know, you know, when we're saved and trying to be sanctified, he's the one that does all that. Our purpose comes from him, and I feel like we can't step into that purpose until our identity is solid, until we start to see ourselves in alignment with his word and what he says, then that's all that's gonna matter. Everything else is gonna fall into place. Yeah, but that's like the first and most important thing with us, whether you're starting out in your walk or you've been in your walk for 30 years, yeah. Like you still that's what you have to remind yourself daily. Like you gotta stay in that mindset, you gotta stand firm in that, yeah, so that you don't fall away, so you don't depart from it. You know, it's like um one of the things that I think of is like the woman at the well and how you know she was basically an outcast. Everyone in the town was labeling her unclean, and so she started to think that of herself. She started to shut herself away from the city and the town and everyone in it until this man named Jesus comes roaming in, and she maybe she I think she like had heard the stories or something, but she went to touch the hem of his garment, and he turned around, and she was the only one in the Bible to be addressed as daughter, and I just thought that was so cool. Like, cause you know, you shared the verse where like God calls us by name, yeah, but he also calls us by our identity, that's true, not how we think of ourselves, what the world's labeling us, or whatever it may be. He looks at who we are through him and is like, Yes, I'm gonna call you that. Yeah, and so Jesus saw her as his daughter, and that's why he addressed her as such. Instead of seeing her how the world was labeling her and all the townspeople around her, because they were probably they probably noticed her and were shouting, yeah, and they didn't know. And Jesus was like, My daughter, stand up. Yeah, you know, like why are you lowering yourself? Why are you hanging your head? Like, stand up, you know, and it's like all about the way that we carry ourselves, and when we know that identity, we're able to carry ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

And I was like reading through Genesis, because like you said, I was thinking about like creation and like how did God create us? What does that mean? And you know, every time I feel like I'm struggling for my identity, I'm like, okay, how did God create me? You know, because he created me wonderful. So what's wonderful about me? You know? And when I was looking through Genesis, I started realizing like God would straight up change people's names to match their new identity because they're now a new creation according to Second Corinthians Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Wow. You know, but it's like Genesis 17, he changed Abram to Abraham, which means father of a multitude. And if you've grown up in church or gone to one Sunday school, you know father Abraham has many sons, and many sons said, Father Abraham, father of multitude, yeah, father of many nations is what the Bible calls him. You know, and then his wife, Sarai, became Sarah, which means princess. Because that's how God saw her.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

And in Genesis 32, Jacob became Israel, which means contender with God, or he prevails with God. So God was already telling him that he was gonna have a triumph in his future. That was his purpose, yeah. And God was like, your identity is gonna become that purpose. Yeah, and that's just something so beautiful, and why I think it's so important for us to know how to identify ourselves, yeah. You know, not with our pronouns. Do you know that you're loved? Do you know that you're chosen? Do you know that you're righteous, that you're accepted by a loving God, by the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords?

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Yeah. Even just him knowing, like, I think a lot of times in the Psalms, he's like, he's knowing our thoughts, he knows our ways, he knows when we sleep, when we lie down, like every tear we've ever shed. I think it says he's like saves it too. Um, but yeah, it's peripheral. I wonder if nowadays, like in the culture we're in, I like whenever I have kids, I'd want to like name them something that meant something, but obviously I think God's the one who names, so I'm like, Lord, give me a name. Um cuz it nowadays, like there's got kids name like some wild things like Apple and Diamond, yeah and sky.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

Just like and some of them I can't, some of the names I can't pronounce, like they just oh my gosh, and the spellings yes, my dad apostrophes, and the things my dad comes home, and the spellings are we just sometimes you just have to laugh because it'll be a kind of a normal name. It'll be like Michaela, but it's you got like a W thrown in there, like a silent L and then the apostrophe, and he's like, What?

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Yeah, and then the kids know that there's an apostrophe in it somehow, and I'm like, oh my land. But I don't, yeah. Um, that's a whole other topic. But I think that um, yeah, it's true that like it's just important that God does call us by our name. I think also he calls us, I know there's something where it's like the enemy likes to call us by our sin, but God calls us by um is it our name or our identity more? I think even like who we are compared to like I feel like God calls us who he knows we are meant to be. Like in I think Ephesians, um, it talks about how we're his handiwork. We're created it to do good works, but he prepared in advance for us to do it. So like he already called, he already knows what we're gonna do, he knows how we're gonna do it. It's just a matter of us trusting in him um and believing that. Um so I think he's always he's always calling us um, I think more by our gifts than anything. And it's making me think of like when I explain myself to people being like, oh, I'm like my gifts. So I'm like, uh, I think if I had to describe myself, I'd be like using more of what God calls me, like I'm redeemed and restored, or even now when I talk to my students and I tell them who I am, and like I show them a presentation of like Miss Alyssa so they can get to know me. Yeah, and a lot of it's all about Jesus, and then I'll even be like, Do you guys know who Jesus is? Some of them are like, Yeah, some aren't. And I'm like, Well, I love Jesus and he saved my life, and and then you know, like he loves me back. I'm like, oh, but um I think it's just really powerful and even just God calling that the woman um daughter, like him even doing that, or me just like being able to realize like he calls us his daughters as well, too. And I know that's something that I think the Lord's really had to work on and on me, on and like especially my relationship with my father a little, of like him calling me a daughter, and I'm like, God, like it has more worth than even unfortunately sometimes our earthly like family. I think because he doesn't want us to get our worth even from like those that we love and care about and who have good intentions toward us. Um, he wants us to really get our worth only from him. Um, because when we start getting it from outside things, then that can just really um distort our view or make us think things even if we feel like it's right or it's not bad necessarily, but it's still not what God wants, then it can totally lead us astray. And he doesn't want that either. He wants the best for us. Um he loves us so much, and I think it's just really important for us to understand that and understand that our identity and our worth and everything that like it all comes from him, yeah. Nothing else. And exactly, yeah, and slowly he'll be sanctifying and changing us and allowing us to see the mirror of like really seeing Jesus reflected in us more than anything, and others being able to see that too, like being able to see like, oh, you are a Christian and you're a disciple of Christ, and because of the fact that they see um maybe that our we don't put our worth as much in people, but we put it in God and what he says about us and what he wants us to do, where he wants to lead us.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yeah, yeah, and that goes along with like one of the last things I wanted to say was like I heard it probably like fifth grade. It was like speak it until you believe it. And so it was like once I started to learn like how to like speak the word over myself, like I would do that, even if I don't even really know what it meant to be righteous and redeemed, but I sure was gonna speak it over myself because whatever it was, it sounded good and I wanted it, you know, and so it's like you start you just keep saying it over yourself, keep affirming yourself with the word of God, telling yourself that you're chosen and you're accepted, even if you're in the middle of being bullied, yeah. Like, you know, at least if you stand firm, because people are gonna start to see that confidence growth in you, in the way that you carry yourself, in the way that you step into a room. You know, I think if I went back to fifth grade, the way I would step into that classroom would be so different than when I actually was in fifth grade, in the middle of being bullied, in the middle of hearing all these lies every day. It's like me now, it's like, oh, you can say whatever you want about me because I know what the word of God says about me. So whatever you say, it's just a lie.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

And I'm just gonna throw it on the ground where it belongs. You know, it's not gonna penetrate. It I'm not gonna let it fester. I'm not gonna let it take over my thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

Because it doesn't matter. What matters is the word and what the word says about me and how God sees me.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Micro. Should I Okay? Before we leave, I'm just gonna pray us out and then yeah. Okay. Um, thank you, Lord, so much for just allowing us to have this conversation about our identity and how it's so important for us to put our full identity in you, Lord, and just what you call us. I thank you so much for calling us your children and calling us your daughters, or if there's sons on here listening as well, too, Lord, um, and calling us redeemed and chosen and preparing us for work that you've allowed us to um be able to do for your kingdom. I just thank you so much for allowing us to do this even and record this podcast and just share um the difference of what the enemy says compared to what you say, Lord. And I just uh rebuke any of these lies that the enemy has put on those listening as well as us. Um, and I thank you so much, Lord, for the confidence that you've given us. And I pray that those who don't have the confidence are able to just go through your word and find scripture that really shows them what you say about them, Lord. And I pray that they can continue to speak it and pray it and allow that to penetrate their hearts so that those truths really continue to dwell in their minds and their hearts and just become their new truth, Lord. I thank you for making us a new creation and allowing us to really just be redeemed and restored and in relationship with you, Lord. Yeah, I just pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Bye.