Finding Your Identity in Christ
There is victory in knowing who you are in Christ. That is why there is an attack against women to prevent us from embracing who God made us to be. It’s not a coincidence that we battle comparison, doubt, insecurity and more every single day. There is an agenda to strip women of their power in Christ by causing us to lose our identity in Christ.
This is because if the daughters of God choose not to follow the pattern of this world and embrace who God made us, the world will see more of God through us. Of course this is not always easy but it is worth it for ourselves, or sisters, and our daughters.
In today’s video I want to share with you 3 battles every woman will encounter when it comes to embracing her identity in Christ and how to overcome each one.
Have you ever caught yourself trying to act or be like someone else? A while ago I was shooting a YouTube video and when I got to a certain part of the script, I felt like my delivery was not strong enough for my audience to really get my message, I felt like I needed to deliver like another female minister I admired on the internet. As I tried to imitate her approach, I gently felt the Holy Spirit’s nudge to stop and just be myself. I remembered that God made me and my delivery the way it is for a reason and realized that being true to who God made me was just as important to Him as it should have been to me.
Often when we think of our purpose, we think of what we’re called to do, but I think it is just as important to God who we are, from the way we speak to our very personality and character traits. He’s using it all for His glory. But how can He if we allow doubt and insecurity to cause us to hide who we are or act like someone else?
Today’s Bible study is called “Wonderfully Made” and we’re going to look at a brief yet significant moment in the life of David where resisting the temptation to be like someone else and embracing who God made him, brought him the victory he desired.
It’s from one of the most popular stories in Sunday School where David defeats Goliath. Maybe you’re familiar with the story. The Israelites are fighting the Philistines who’s greatest warrior, Goliath, comes forth with a challenge. Any Israelite who can challenge him and defeat him will win the entire battle for their nation. None of the Israelite soldiers take Goliath up on this offer as they are intimidated by his giant-like stature. Well except young David who has traveled from shepherding his sheep to the battlefield at the command of his father to bring supplies to his brothers. When he finds out what is going on and why everyone is so afraid, he says:
“And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26 ESV)
Have you ever seen one of those movies where they show you the end of the movie at the beginning of the movie and the rest of the movie is explaining how the characters got into that final situation or scene. In storytelling or movie making, this is called reverse chronology. And for today’s study, I want to use a little reverse chronology and start by telling you how the story of David and Goliath ends. In 1 Samuel 17:48-50, we read:
“When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.” (1 Samuel 17:48-50 ESV)
So now you know, the story David and Goliath ends with David killing and defeating Goliath with a rock and a slingshot. Talk about a plot twist because no one was expecting that. Right? Now we know the ending, but what we don’t know is how did we get to this ending? See, even with reverse chronology, although we know how the story ends, we don’t know how the plot developed to get to that ending. How did David, a young shepherd boy end up fighting Goliath in the first place over all the soldiers that were there and how did he then win the fight without a sword like a traditional soldier?
David didn’t fight like a traditional soldier because he wasn’t one at the time. He fought like a shepherd because that’s who he was. And staying true to who he was brought the victory his nation needed.
God made you the way you are for a reason and who He made you does not disqualify you for battle but qualifies you for victory. Still, embracing our identity in Christ doesn’t always come easy. Even David had obstacles to overcome and internal battles to win before he could defeat Goliath and so will we.
In this study, I’m going to share with you 3 internal battles David had to win to stay true to who God made him so that he could have this victory over Goliath. And these are the same internal battles we too will have to fight to embrace our identity in Christ.
Fight Comparison
First, David had to fight comparison. You know why none of the Israelite soldiers stepped up to fight Goliath? It was because Goliath was so much bigger than them in size. As they compared themselves to Goliath, they automatically assumed they would lose. Not David though. David understood that Goliath may have been bigger than him in size, but he was not bigger than the God who was with David.
Comparison is one of the greatest temptations we’ll face to cause us to want to doubt who God made us and it’s so prevalent today. Within a matter of seconds, we can look at our phones and know what everyone is doing, when they are doing it, and how they are doing it. And we start to wonder, should I be doing that like her? Should I be at that point in my life like them? We’re the same age, but she looks further along in life than me. Am I behind? When we give into comparison, we disqualify ourselves by not even giving ourselves a chance.
But like David, we too must fight this temptation. Because how someone else achieves success may not be the same way we will.
In track and field, when you are running a race, you have to stay in your own lane. You can’t say oh her lane looks faster and let me scoot over into her lane. If you do that, you’ll be disqualified. And that is exactly what we do when we compare ourselves to other people. We disqualify ourselves by forgetting how God has uniquely equipped us. We forfeit the strength and power God has uniquely given us by thinking we need to be like someone else. The first step to being true to who God made you is to stop comparing and focus on how God has uniquely equipped you, hone in on that strength, and use it like only you can.
Fight Insecurity
The second internal battle David had to overcome to defeat Goliath was insecurity. If we give into comparison, we will birth insecurity. This is where we know how God has uniquely strengthened us, but we fear it’s not enough or worse, we think that what God has given us or who he’s made us will be to our detriment and not our victory. So we try to cover up who we really are. But we have to realize that what often is seen as a weakness in man's eyes, God will use as a strength. God tells us:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
When David inquired of the soldiers what was going on when he came to the battlefield, he was confronted by his oldest brother who said:
“Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” (1 Samuel 17:28 ESV)
Can you hear the resentment dripping for Eliab’s words. “Those few sheep,” he said, downplaying David’s job as a shepherd. Questioning why David would even be on the battlefield, let alone fight.
Had David not been secure in God, this encounter with his brother would have deterred him, but instead the text tells us he turned from his brother and continued to talk to the other soldiers.
And it’s interesting because the very thing his brother ridiculed him about, being a shepherd, is the very thing that prepared David to win against Goliath.
When David told King Saul that he would fight Goliath, Saul told David he would be unsuccessful not only because he was young, but because he was not a warrior. To which David responded:
“But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” (1 Samuel 17:34-36 ESV)
David owned his role as a shepherd and didn’t see it as something that disqualified him but actually qualified him for battle. Oftentimes, God is preparing us in the most mundane and unseen ways for greater battles, but we’ll be prepared like David nonetheless.
Insecurity blinds you from seeing the true strength God has gifted you. When I was younger, I was very sensitive. It didn’t take much for me to be in my feelings. And I hated that about myself because I felt like it made me weak. And I remember praying fervently to God one day, asking Him to make me less sensitive and as I was praying, I felt the Holy Spirit very gently say “no, I made you this way.” And it was then I realized that if God made me sensitive, He had a reason for it. And when I thought about it and the ministry and work He called me to, I realized I needed to be sensitive. God was using that part of me to minister to others. I didn’t need to become less sensitive, I needed to learn how to use my sensitivity within the guidance of the Holy Spirit and not my flesh.
Embracing who God made you is not about using the excuse “well God made me this way let me act in the flesh” or using our personality as a reason to sin. As believers, no matter your character or personality, we have died to sin in Christ. Instead, embracing our identity in Christ is rooted in God's truth and always led by the Holy Spirit.
With that in mind, I want you to think about what you don’t like about yourself and wish you could change? How can God be using that for your good and His glory?
Maybe you’re insecure because you’re a single mom, but this season has empowered you to find God-given strength you never knew you had.
Maybe you’re insecure because you didn’t finish school because you had to work to support your family, but that empowers you to have a work ethic that’s unrivaled and entrepreneurial in spirit.
Maybe you’re insecure because you grew up in a broken home, but that has empowered you to fight for your family and be a better mom for your children.
Maybe you’re insecure because you’re single, but that has empowered you to give laser focus to your relationship with God and service to His kingdom.
What you see as a disqualification is the very thing God will use to qualify you. That’s certainly nothing to be insecure about.
Fight the Expectations of Others
The third and final internal battle David had to overcome was the expectations of other people.
You may be secure in who you are and who God made you. However, others may not be and project their insecurity on you. This is a battle you will have to fight too to embrace who you are in Christ.
King Saul agrees to allow David to fight Goliath, so he puts his armor on David. You’d think the king's armor would be exactly what David needed to defeat Goliath but it wasn’t. We read:
“Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:38-40 ESV)
Saul clothed David like a soldier but remember David was not a soldier yet, he was a young shepherd boy. David was not used to the king's armor, so instead of equipping him for battle, Saul's armor would slow him down. He took off the armor and used what God gave him in the pasture.
As he approaches Goliath, David is once again ridiculed for being who he is: a young shepherd boy. David responded to Goliath:
“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Samuel 17:45 ESV)
Goliath had strength but David had God. There’s just no comparison. No need for insecurity.
David didn’t try to be something he wasn’t or who others expected him to be. He used the tools God gave him, not what man expected of him.
When we forget we are made by God and purposed by Him, we also forget that we are enough and we also have enough. We’re not living and fighting for purposes for everyone but an audience of One.
David’s brother didn’t think David could defeat Goliath because he couldn’t defeat Goliath. Saul thought David needed battle armor because he needed battle armor. But David knew that even as a shepherd boy, all that mattered was that he was made, called and equipped by God Himself and that’s all he needed.
When you take this same approach to life, you will free yourself of the expectations of others and insecurities projected on you and find true power to embrace who God made you.
Conclusion
Before we close, I want to point out David’s motivation. When David approached the battlefield and realized what was going on, the soldiers told him that any man who defeated Goliath would receive money from Saul, marry one of Sauls’ daughters, and not have to pay taxes. Even that was not enough to cause any fighting man to want to fight Goliath. But David was not motivated by these riches either, he was motivated by His God.
David didn’t think he could win because of who he was but because of who God was through him. In Psalm 139 David writes:
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:14 ESV)
So often, we ignore the good qualities God has given us and the strengths He’s empowered us with because of insecurity, fear, and doubt, but also a false sense of humility. It is not prideful to know you are fearfully and wonderfully made when you know and praise Who made you that way.
I want to encourage you to boldly step out as the unique and beautiful woman that God made you to be and let your light shine so that others can see your God through you.
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