In the same theme as the others in this series on "Making Me Believe", I am going to talk about my favorite tool that help me connect with the Lord and His opinions about me. It is no easy thing to begin to believe what the Lord says about you.
For years I had read the scriptures and heard sermons preached on our identity in Christ. I thought I believed it, but in a lot of ways I didn't live like I believed it. So now, is that really belief? If you really believe something, you should have the guts to live like you actually believe it!
That was the Lord's challenge to me! How can you walk in your God-given authority if you don't really know who you are? What if I say I know who I am, but I don't act like it 90% of the time? Do I really understand who I am then?
Read some scriptures that talk about who each of us is in Christ.
Psalm 139:13-16 - the one about being "fearfully and wonderfully made" by the Lord. How many of us actually live like that! Do we really believe it? Or do we constantly criticize the way we look? Do we focus on our weaknesses and failures?
1 Peter 2:9 - the one about being "set apart, a royal priesthood, a holy nation". Do we really live like that? I'm not talking about our nation right now, but do we live this as individuals? Or do we go with the flow of culture and allow our hearts and minds to be defiled by everything around us?
Jeremiah 29:11 - the one about the Lord has "plans to prosper you and not to harm you....". Do we live like that? Do we see the Lord that way? Or do we see Him as an angry God with a big fly swatter just waiting to hit us again if we get out of line?
There are lots and lots more. I pulled these few from this website that lists even more, check it out if you have time. Be honest with yourself too. We've all read these scriptures lots of times, but do we really live like they are true about US!
I include myself in the challenge. Believing the Lord is more than being able to recite these scriptures by heart, it is about living them with confidence before all men.
One of the ways you take the head knowledge (knowing the scriptures) and get it written on your heart (experiential knowledge?), is to fill your life with the truth that the Lord is highlighting to you right now!
I do that with songs.
To sing the truth over myself. It gets in me like nothing else can and touches something deep inside of me, helping me to believe that thing that I want to learn to believe. I can sing it over and over, as many times as I want and as I do it over a period of time, I find it gets easier and easier to believe the thing I've been singing about.
Think about it this way. God is a God who calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Romans 4:17). When the Lord highlights an area of your life and invites you to grow in that area, He already sees the fruit of the journey that you haven't yet begun. He doesn't just see the potential in you, He sees the perfected end product.
We do not see that end product in ourselves, but singing songs about what the Lord sees in you, is very prophetic and an active step of faith in the right direction. We are essentially calling forth those things inside of us that do not yet exist, as though they did. You are partnering with the Lord when you speak/sing over yourself things, qualities, and gifts that you don't feel you yet possess, as if you did possess them.
So ask the Lord for a song to sing to yourself in your current season. My songs in certain seasons change as often as every day, or I will sing 2-3 songs interchangeable for a few weeks, etc. Some of you have probably been experiencing this unconsciously for years.
You are in a hard season maybe? You hear a song that speaks to your heart on the radio, and you find yourself singing it all the time. It is just as powerful when you sing it in the shower, off key, as when you first sang it in the car. It is because the words have life for your current season, and singing them over yourself is a way to connect with the Lord in your current season.
Make sense? I hope so, because this is a powerful tool in changing attitudes, mindsets, or strongholds and also growing fruit and gifts.
Beware however, because songs work in the opposite spirit too. Feeling depressed? Feeling drawn to depressing/moody music? The words you sing have the power to bring both life and death (Proverbs 18:21). What we say and sing has power in the spiritual realm. If you are not singing words that bring life and connection with the Holy spirit, then what spirit are you connecting with, feeding, encouraging, or agreeing with?
I am not exaggerating.
So what you are singing? Sing words over yourself that bring life, but you can also sing words over your family and situations you are encountering. It is all so powerful in the Spirit!
POWERFUL!
What song are you singing in your heart today? Take a look at what song has been on loop/stuck in your head. If you like what you hear yourself singing. Good job! Keep singing it. Don't like what you are singing. Ask the Lord for a new song in your mouth (Psalm 40:3).
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