John 8:14 “Jesus responded, “Just because I am the one making these claims doesn’t mean they’re invalid. For I absolutely know who I am, where I’ve come from, and where I’m going. But you Pharisees have no idea about what I am saying.” This episode talks about who we are in the eyes of the Lord. It reminds us that we need to look to the Lord for our identity instead of looking to the world. It also has a link to an article with many scripture verses about our identity. I have also listed a few in the episode. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Do I Know Who I Am?
John 8:14 “Jesus responded, “Just because I am the one making these claims doesn’t mean they’re invalid. For I absolutely know who I am, where I’ve come from, and where I’m going. But you Pharisees have no idea about what I am saying.”
This was not the verse I thought I would be using this morning. I first went to look at John 8 for verse 12, which says, “Then Jesus said, “I am light to the world, and those who embrace me will experience life-giving lights, and they will never walk in darkness.” Is that a great verse, or what? I think we all know Jesus is the light of the world. We have probably even said that before. However, I am not sure we all know that means we will never walk in darkness. Some of us may feel like we are walking in darkness right now. However, this verse is telling us that if we embrace Jesus, we will experience life-giving lights and will never walk in darkness.
Why do we feel like we are walking in darkness, then? Is the enemy blocking out this life-giving light? Are we looking for this light in all the wrong places? Why isn’t this life-giving light shining through into our darkness? I know some people who are very close to the Lord, and yet this year has been really tough for them. They feel they are walking in darkness right now, and they feel like they can’t even pray. Maybe you are in this place too? If so, I want to assure you that the Lord is with you, even in this darkness.
I have studied something called the Dark Night of the Soul in depth this year as some of the women in my mentoring group really wanted to learn more about it. One big thing that I learned is that even though the Lord seems really far away from you when you are going through it, He has actually never been closer to you. I learned sometimes it is necessary for us to go through a dark period where we receive no consolation from the things that used to bring us consolation so that we can learn to rely only on the Lord and not on the feelings we get from Him. We need to continue to have faith in doing the things we are used to doing, even when they don’t bring us great joy, comfort, or even peace.
The people who have gone through a Dark Night of the Soul all have at least one thing that helped them: being faithful in their prayers and their spiritual habits, even when they received nothing back from them. People who are going through a Dark Night of the Soul feel extremely far from the Lord. They can’t feel His presence, they don’t hear His voice, they don’t feel any consolation. Yet, God is right there by their side, giving them the strength to persevere, and when they come out of it, they will be so much stronger and closer to the Lord.
I thought that was what this whole episode was going to be about. They I read on a bit further, and I saw the verse for today. When I read it, the words just pierced my heart immediately. Let me read it to you again. “Jesus responded, “Just because I am the one making these claims doesn’t mean they’re invalid. For I absolutely know who I am, where I’ve come from, and where I’m going. But you Pharisees have no idea about what I am saying.” the words that pierced my heart were, “For I absolutely know who I am, where I’ve come from, and where I’m going.” As soon as I read it, I heard that voice inside me say, do you? Do you absolutely know who you are, where you’ve come from, and where you are going?”
I knew those questions were ones that I needed to share with all of you because they are great questions. I was praying with some youth over the weekend, and identity seemed to be something they struggled with, too. There is so much confusion and chaos in the world today. That is from the enemy. God is not the author of confusion and chaos. He is the author of peace. The enemy wants us to question who we are. He wants us to question where we came from and where we are going. If we are looking to the world to help us define who we are, then, of course, we would be confused. Our identity doesn’t come from the world; it comes from God. He is our creator. He knows exactly who He created us to be.
We tend to associate our identity with our vocation or our jobs. For instance, I am a mom and a wife. I might think that is my identity. However, my most important identity is that I am a child of God.
There are so many songs out there that remind us of who we are in God’s eyes. They remind us of our identity. There is a Lauren Daigle Song called I Believe. The chorus of that song says, “ You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing. You say I am strong when I think I am weak. And you say I am held when I am falling short. And when I don't belong, oh You say I am Yours, And I believe (I). Oh, I believe (I). What You say of me (I). I believe. The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me. In You, I find my worth, in You, I find my identity.
As you can see in this song, God’s truth is contrary to most of what we hear from the world. God says we are loved. He says we are strong. He says we are held; we are never alone. The world tells us we are on our own. It tells us we aren’t good enough, and it tells us no one will love us unless we pretend to be someone that we aren’t. Those lies are not from the Lord. I bet it makes Him so sad when we believe those things about ourselves. Kind of like how we feel when we hear our kids say they don’t like things about themselves.
One of my sons used to say that he hates how he looks. He said he looks in the mirror and hates how the person looking back at him looks. He is now starting to love the way he looks. He has found a style of clothes that he likes. He has found out how to wear his hair. I am not sure if he likes it because others are starting to notice him more or if people are starting to notice him more because he is more confident in who he is. It makes my heart so happy that he likes who he is right now. I imagine that is how the Lord feels when we are loving on ourselves too. When we are secure in who He says we are.
One of my newest favorite songs is called The Truth by Megan Woods. The chorus of this song says: “The truth is I am my Father's child. I make Him proud, and I make Him smile. I was made in the image of a perfect King. He looks at me and wouldn't change a thing. The truth is I am truly loved by a God who's good when I'm not good enough. I don't belong to the lies; I belong to You. And that's the truth.” I love the song because it reminds us of the truth that we are children of God. He is our Father, and he is proud of us. He looks down at us and smiles. He made us in His image, and He loves us just as we are. He wouldn’t change a thing. God is good, even when we aren’t. He makes us good if we let Him.
We do not belong to the lies of this world. We belong to God. If we wonder who we are, we can look to the Bible to see who God says we are. You can search the internet with the key words who does God say I am in the Bible and you will find lots of scripture verses. I will put the link to one article I found in the show notes. (Click Here for the article) Here are a few to get you started.
I am a child of God. (John 1:12)
I am a friend of Jesus (John 15:15)
I have been justified and redeemed (Romans 3:24)
I will not be condemned by God (Romans 8:1)
I have been called to be a saint. (1 Corinthians 1:2; cf. Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)
I am a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I have been set free in Christ (Galatians 5:1)
I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God. (Ephesians 1:7)
There are so many others, but I don’t want to keep you here all day. I invite you to click on the link below and read all the different parts of your identity in Christ. It really is amazing. We think we don’t know who we are, but then, when we read the Bible, it tells us very specifically who we are. Can you imagine how different your life would be if you absolutely knew who you were, where you’ve come from, and where you’re going? You can find those answers in the Lord. He will show you if you just spend some time with Him and ask Him. What have you got to lose? I promise you will find better answers than you have been getting from the world.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to learn who we are to you. Help us to learn our true identity. Help us to know, like Jesus did, who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. Help us turn to you for those answers. We love you, Lord. We are tired of believing the lies of the enemy. Help us to believe the truth of who we truly are. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I felt convicted as I was doing today’s episode that next month’s theme for mentoring will be identity. Why not start the year off knowing who we truly are and who God created us to be? I hope you will join us as I think it will be amazing to finally be able to replace the lies of who the world says we are with the truth of who God says you are. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in June 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Leave all behind that is troublesome to you. I will heal it. I will fix it.”