Identity Crisis: Part 2
Pastor Adalis Shuttlesworth
I want to take this opportunity, right in the beginning to provide you with this reminder. Don’t be a circumstantial Christian. Be a Bible-believing Christian. If you don’t fully understand and captivate the true essence of who you are, your life will resemble a rollercoaster.
You have to be keenly aware of the tactics of the enemy and how he operates and not only aware, but ready to fight them. Some of you are acutely aware of the enemy’s tactics. You even can recite scripture, but you're still struggling.
Joseph: An Example For Us All
If anyone had a reason to complain, it was Joseph. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers. Despite his circumstances, he kept a faith-filled spirit. His focus was on his future. Wherever he went and whatever he did, he dominated. Why? Because he knew who he was. He knew what God told him to do and he knew where he was going.
I’m going to make a harsh statement, but it’s from a place of love. If you continue to have problems and find yourself struggling over and over again, it’s your fault. You have to make the decision to see things differently. The eyes of your understanding need to come into effect. You need to be enlightened. How? By habitually staying in the Word of God. There are no days off. You must continue to fight the good fight of faith, daily. Put to death any thought that comes into your mind that's contrary to what the Word says.
North Americans complain so often. No one is content. But the truth is, many of the issues you’re dealing with are caused by you. Deflection and projection are powerful forces. They cause you to relinquish your power to change your situation. Instead of creating change you blame others and do nothing. If you’re not willing to fight for what you want, you don’t deserve to have it.
Why do you feel that joy belongs to you if you’re not willing to fight for it?
Learn to perfect the art of gratitude. You can constantly strive for increase while also being happy where you are. If that sounds counterintuitive for you, you need an attitude adjustment. Ask yourself, why aren’t you happy?
Discontentment is often rooted in a spirit of entitlement. That’s what’s stealing your joy. You need to come to the realization that no one deserves anything and no one owes you a thing. The fight looks different once you’ve accepted that reality.
Imagine someone hitting you in the face repeatedly and you just let them. All you did was complain as they continued hitting you saying, “I don’t understand. I’m a good person. I was raised in church. Why is this happening to me?” At some point you have to fight back! Rise up and look to possess the land.
The #1 Tactic Of The Enemy
The number one tactic of the enemy is manipulation. In Genesis, the serpent sought to make Eve agreeable. He offered her the opportunity to see things in a different light. A way contrary to what God said.
“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman (Gen.3:1-4).
The serpent knew exactly what God told Adam and Eve. He manipulated Eve into a conversation that led her to sin.
When you’re suffering from an identity crisis, it’s because you don’t know who you are as a child of God. The world is in the state it’s in today because parents haven’t done their due diligence in instilling these truths into their children and they become prey to the enemy. All it takes is one text to completely crush them. They don’t know who they are. Manipulation and deception causes you to think differently that how God wants you to think.
The enemy uses the truth and perverts it. Just like he did with Eve in Genesis. “You’re not going to die.” It’s true when Eve ate the fruit she didn’t physically drop dead, so she gave some to Adam.
Dake’s Bible has a profound note on this part of scripture.
“The serpent is cunning; in a bad sense. He illustrates craftiness. The method was no doubt agreed upon by Satan and the serpent as the best way to cause the fall of man. There was nothing said at first to awaken suspicion or to shock the moral sense, merely a sly insinuation calculated to incite a natural curiosity. Then there was a direct lie combined with just enough truth to give it plausibility.”
All it takes is one inroad. The devil doesn’t start out blatant. He’s very subtle. If you don’t recognize who you are in Christ, any truth will seem like the truth. You have to know that the old you is dead. You are a new species in Christ. That reality will allow you to let go of any toxicity you may have experienced growing up. It will allow you to let go of the negative comments and expectations and you’ll begin to speak the opposite over your life.
It’s not enough to cut out all the negative aspects of your life. It’s not good enough to get rid of all your ‘bad’ friends. You have to get new friends who will build you up and support you. Whatever you remove you must replace. As the Lord leads you to pluck people and things out of your life you need to start sowing seed. Do something to fill in those gaps. A seed holds incredible power. Every word written in the Bible is a seed. Jesus likened the Word of God to seed (Mark 4).
Be Willing And Obedient
If you want to live a beautiful and fulfilling life you need to be willing AND obedient in order to eat the good of the land. You have to stop looking at yourself the way you think people are looking at you. Your willingness to let go of those things determines what God can do and how His Word will germinate in your life.
If you’re unwilling, that seed of the Word will be robbed by the enemy, just like it was with Eve. All it took was for the serpents to ask, “Did He really say that?” for her to sin and eat the fruit.
The determining factor is you. Are you willing to let go of those lies in your mind? Some people wear their shortcomings like a badge of honor. “I’m shy. I’m stoic. I don’t feel joyful. I’ve had a string of bad things happen to me.”
Enough!
I know it’s taboo to tell people to snap out of it now, but you have to snap out of that mindset. That’s where being willing and obedient comes in. You can’t just be obedient, but in your heart you have no desire to follow God’s instructions. God looks at your heart.
Be Careful Of The Seeds You Plant
If there’s anyone who’s equipped to tell you these things, it’s me. I struggled with insecurity my entire life. Try growing up and weighing 90 lbs with a huge snoz and big ol’ ears. I was made fun of by my siblings and my classmates. It got to the point where I started to believe the insults. I believed it, received it, and eventually it came out of my own mouth. I began to talk to myself the way other people spoke to me.
“I am ugly.”
I am worthless.”
I can’t do anything.”
What am I good at? I’m not good at anything.”
“I’m not smart.
“I don’t have any talent.”
I planted those seeds, until I reaped a harvest. A seed doesn’t produce just one fruit, it produces a whole tree with more fruit. That’s the power of one word.
There has to be a willingness to accept the Word of God into your heart. If you don’t recognize the things that you’ve come to believe about yourself that are flat out lies, you will receive it. Once you’ve received it, the seed is planted. Then you will reap a harvest of bad fruit based on that seed. You have to be ready to combat the lies and replace them with the truth found in the Word of God.
For years I was insecure. I didn’t do what God called me to do because I was shy. I was always comparing myself to others. I bought the lie. I was looking for any excuse to pacify the hurt and pain I experienced. But if you dig deep you identify the toxic behavior in your mind. I can see it clear as day now. I had a complaining and murmuring spirit. We were escalating quickly in the ministry. I had Camila. We didn’t struggle financially. Yet, I was dissatisfied because I wasn’t doing what I was called to do. Because I bought a lie.
To this day when I see someone who’s insecure, I recognize it as fear. When I see that kind of fear in them, I despise it. I get enraged by it because I know what’s behind it. I know the possibilities are limitless if you’d just snap out of it.
Personalize The Word Of God
If you continue to struggle you need to ask yourself a tough question. Why don’t I trust God in this area? When you break it down you’ll find that you’re returning to a point in time that you experienced something negative and it continues to cripple you.
Many times we can see things in the natural that are not the truth. Maybe you think that because you’ve had multiple sexual partners you won’t make a good wife. But you’ve been made a new creation in Christ. God made you squeaky clean. All those old things have dropped off of you. So why are you still carrying them into your future? Is God doing that to you? Is the devil? Who’s doing it? It’s YOU.
Most people don’t have a problem believing God’s Word, but they’re not convinced that His Word is true for them. You have to be convinced that these things are true and that they’re true for YOU. You can’t simply believe that God can heal. Believe He will heal YOU. Don’t just believe God delivers. Believe He will deliver YOU. You know God makes people brand new, but you think you’re too broken. No, that’s not what God’s Word says.
That’s why it’s crucial for parents to do their due diligence and sow good seed into their children. The only way to do that is by getting intoxicated with the Word of God. That’s the only thing that helped me. I had dozens of people praying for me and nothing changed.
Sometimes things don’t happen in the timing that you feel makes sense because a change needs to happen in you not to you. A change in your physical circumstances won’t change you. You would be exactly the same on the inside. God doesn’t cause negative things to happen to you to teach you a lesson, but there are times when God wants you to find the remedy for yourself.
I had powerful men and women of God praying for me. They were speaking the Word of God to me and I received it. But what I needed to do was get in the Word and see it for myself. I needed to see scriptures like Galatians 2:20 with my own eyes.
“I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Read this every day. If you’re not adhering to, relying on, and confident in the Word then what are you doing?
Did Jesus die for turtles?
Did Jesus die for oak trees?
Did Jesus die for hamburgers?
No.
He didn’t place value on those things. He died for you. Think about the fact that Jesus died for you because He saw value in you. Don’t simply skim through this scripture as if it’s some religious saying that you should memorize. Put yourself in this scripture, because when you do, there’s no way you can still question your worth and value.
An understanding of what the Son of God did for you will bring the revelation of how much He loves you. Selah. God thinks you’re precious. He thinks you’re valuable. He thinks you were worth dying for. How many people in your life would die for you? Even when you were still in sin He still decided that you were worth dying for. He knew all the good, bad, and the ugly parts of you and He still died for you. He saw past it and saw that you were worth it.
When you begin to look at yourself through the eyes of Jesus, everything will change. You are the righteousness of Christ. Tell yourself that before you pick up a prostitute. Convince yourself of that truth the next time you pick up a blunt. I am the righteousness of Christ. I bet you won’t do it.
Jesus brought justification. That means that according to God, you are just as if you didn’t do that thing that you want to hold on to.
I dare you to start telling yourself the following:
I am justified through the blood.
I am God’s righteousness.
I am His beloved.
Print those things out and start saying them everyday and watch your life completely change this year. You’ll begin to walk differently after just three weeks! Your demeanor will change. You will see value in yourself, which is what God wants.
If you carry yourself as royalty people treat you differently. If you see yourself as a prized possession people will take notice. If you understand that you are incredibly smart and the world can benefit from what you know, you’ll begin to be treated accordingly. That’s not arrogance, that's the truth. We are God’s remedy for the world. That’s why He commanded us to go and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15).
The devil can’t just attack you. He can’t just have his way in your life unless you let him. It all begins with you. You have to cast down vain imaginations (2Cor 10:5). If you don’t find it in God’s Word, don’t accept it. You are at war with what happens in your mind. That’s your battleground. Change your view on who you are and everything will change.
You Are The Problem
I know this can be a lot to take in. In the past, I've had to self-reflect and figure out what my problem was. The Word says nothing will by any means harm you (Luke 10:19). So if something is harming you, what’s the cause? Is God’s Word not true? No.The Bible says, let God’s Word be true and every man be a liar (Rom. 3:4). So who’s the liar? It was me, for believing lies about myself. Me, for allowing myself to be in the wrong spirit and mindset. Me. I was the one at fault and if the Word of God is not manifesting in your own life, the problem is you, because God’s not a liar.
I had this realization a long time ago, but I’ve waited too long to teach it because people don’t like to hear it. They’d rather blame the devil. They’d rather blame God, or their grandfather, or some coworker. But the reality is, no one has the power to rob you of your joy and peace except you. Those things are in you. No one can access them except you. If you allow someone to rob you of your peace and joy, you’re to blame. You handed it over, so take it back. Don’t allow your mind to wander down ridiculous rabbit holes of dying early or imagining a traumatic event happening to you. Let go of that and get intoxicated with the Word of God. It’s the only thing that broke fear off of me.
I saw the revelation in the Word. God spoke to me through the Word. The words were jumping out at me. That’s the point of the Word. It is spirit and it is life (John 6:63). If you want spiritual things to happen, you need the word. If you keep facing defeat, death, perpetual plateaus, you need an infusion of life. The good news is the Word is spirit AND life. When you become hungry for the Word, life will be infused into every area of your life. That’s why the Bible says, those that hunger and thirst will be filled (Matt 5:6).
Learn to be more than just a hearer of the Word.
You have to appropriate the Word by faith. In the same way you can’t eat a steak without cooking it, you can’t just hear the Word and expect it to work in your life. To prepare a steak you add seasoning, then cook it and it becomes nourishing to your body and a delight to eat. I’m teaching you how to prepare your steak. The meditation of the Word is like marinating your steak. It’s getting your heart and spirit prepared to be nourished by the Word.
It’s Not Easy, But It’s Simple
You may look at my life now and see a wonderful marriage, and a beautiful daughter who loves God, and a thriving ministry, but you don’t know what it took to achieve it. There were many days I was up till 5am because I was in the Word studying like an addict.
I used to pull out cards with scriptures. I put the cards everywhere, all over my walls, in my pockets, in my purse. When I had thoughts of fear, insecurity, or condemnation, I had to be ready with the Word to replace those thoughts.
The Word says God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear, but of love, peace, and a sound mind (1Tim 1:7). A sound mind means control over your thoughts. So when thoughts of fear would pop into my mind I would combat them with scripture. When I became intoxicated with the Word, I knew right from wrong. I no longer accepted any truth. I now know the truth from a lie and I replace the lie with the truth from God’s Word.
Once you know the truth, things that never used to bother you will begin to irritate you immensely. Statements like, “I’m so broke.” or “It’s flu season, it’s going to be a tough one.” Statements like that will become nauseating to you. At Revival Today, we’ve been so trained in the Word of God that any statement that is not in line with the truth of God’s Word will cause something in your spirit to bubble up and you’ll start asking questions.
Where can we find that in the scriptures?
Where does the Bible say I’ll have a down season?
The Bible says in every season my leaves will be green and I will bear much fruit (Jer 17:7-8). If you don’t have that truth hidden in your heart, if someone tells you you’re stupid, you’re going to believe it. If someone calls you ugly, you’ll believe it. You won’t think, I’ve been fearfully and wonderfully created because you don’t have the Word. The Word of God says that He knit you together in your mother’s womb (Ps 139:13). The person you are right now, the way you talk, the way you think, He put that in you and He loves it. God loves who you are. He loves that you’re a geek. He loves the way your mind works. He loves that you think out of the box. He loves your sense of humor.
God has purposed for you to be amazing. God has purposed for you to be excellent. The head and never the tail, above and never beneath (Deut 28:13). Blessed going in and blessed going out.
If you are still plagued by your thought life, or by the traumas of your past, there’s only one way to become victorious over those things. You have to actively pursue the Word to get rid of them. YOU are the only one who can uproot those things. If you attempt to combat the fear in your mind without the Word of God as your weapon, it won’t work.
I spent three solid months brainwashing myself in the Word. It was a complete immersion of my thoughts.
Your Perspective is Everything
Your perspective is everything. The way you view yourself and your future is absolutely everything. Do whatever you have to do to keep yourself in faith. Wake up in the morning and tell yourself you look good, even if you don’t feel like it. I’ve done it.
I have a twin sister. We were raised in the same household. We have the same family. We’re the same age. We experienced the same things. We shared the same womb. But I bought into the lie and she never did. When my sister was 15 years old she did a six week Bible study on love. Every night she found something new in the Word of God about how much God loved her and it would bring her to literal tears. From that point on, her perspective changed. She saw herself how God sees her. She is the apple of His eye. God found something in her worth dying for. She felt honored to be chosen by God. That changed her perspective. It changed the way she viewed herself.
Her perspective was the only difference between us. I had to change my perspective. My sister couldn’t do it for me. My husband couldn’t do it for me. No amount of prayer could do it for me. I had to do it for myself.
I feel sad for people who don’t understand this. There are people who leave their Bibles in church every week. How are you not reading this book daily? If only people knew what they were leaving behind!
You can spend an entire lifetime plagued by traumas from your past, or you can take three months and get obsessive about the Word. Your whole life will change. You have to be hungry. Don’t rest until you get what you’re looking for. The moment you get it, you begin to meditate on it and get it in your spirit.
Make the Word of God your reality.
You don’t have to be bitter.
You don’t have to know financial struggle.
You don’t have to have a failed marriage.
Time goes by so fast. I wasted so much time being lazy. I had no idea what God had in store for me. I could have never imagined the life I have right now. Don’t waste anymore time. Get in your Word. Find the truth you need. Meditate on it and live a victorious life.
Start today!
