Our Identity is in Heaven

A huge suffocator for a lot of people comes from a false identity. People believe that their actions define who they are. Therefore, when they make mistakes, they let their mistakes define them. Their mistakes become their identity and they may even believe that they are a mistake! Often times people look to their past for identity too because they believe that their past will determine their future. But we must open our eyes, we MUST! Because the world around is full of mistakes and past failures, but as Christians, we are not of this world so the faults of the world do not define us.

We live in a fallen world. We come from fallen people, broken and full of sin. That is who we are in this world--broken and fallen, but we are not of this world. We are not condemned by our sin. We are covered in grace. We have risen up with Christ from the grave and we are made new. Even better is we are with Christ in Heaven. Just because we live in a world of brokenness does not mean our identity is brokenness. Our identities are in the Kingdom of Heaven, because that is where God has placed us when we were covered in grace by Christ; He placed us in the Kingdom.  

Since we are really a part of the Kingdom then we are merely passing through this world. Who we are is spoken over us by our King in Heaven. He has the omniscient perspective; He is the Alpha, Omega and Creator of All. His perspective tells us who we are and we are His children. And He has invited us into the Kingdom of Heaven (spiritually) to be with Him. If we just ask He will reveal to us the way He sees us, as opposed to seeing ourselves through the brokenness around us. 

Matthew 7:7-8 "7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened," when we ask God for His perspective He shows us! And oh man! It is a great perspective! Now I can tell you a surplus of general identity statements; like you are His child and you are the redeemed, but you should ask Him yourself. Because He will give you specific words that name you. He will reveal to you not just an identity, but a unique identity because he crafted each one of us differently for a special purpose. Do not be afraid to ask, for you are His child and He longs to hear your voice, "14b Show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely," (Song of Songs 2:14b). 

What is "Suffocating"?

A young girl walking home late at night is never a rational or wise choice. Nothing can justify this. This however, was her only way home, or so she thought, and so she continued to walk home. The young girl took all the same short cuts she would have during the day and found herself in an alley way with a man lurking in the shadows. As unaware and naive as she was, she was the perfect target he thought, for all the torture he could instill upon her. She continued walking through this alley with no suspicions what-so-ever when the man made his leap. He had two things for his torture, he had a plastic bag to suffocate her with and a knife to take to her skin. Let me mention though, that this man had no intention of death, only the intention of torture. I'll tell you too, he succeeded. So with the bag over her head and knife against the back of her neck, he would let her suffocate while gently cutting the back of her neck. Then he would suddenly give her a short breath and remove the knife right before repeating the same abuse again. This momentary freedom and false hope provided just as he had hoped--torture. The young girl was so close to death, yet so far in the midst of mere torture and only torture--the torture of suffocation and a sharp pain to accompany it. 

        She woke up form her nightmare in a sweat. She opened her eyes to find she had woken up to her own nightmare as reality once again. She was in all actually still the same young girl suffocating in her own thoughts and negative rhythms just as much as she was the young girl in her dream suffocating in a plastic bag--so close but still so far from death in both realms. She had discovered this place of suffocation when she landed upon the wretched shore of her parent's divorce years ago. This "island" was not a physical reality, but actually an understatement of her mentally reality. This was not a typical island however, because it was not a good vacation spot. And it was not romantic or adventurous; it was torture. Her boat had crashed ashore here in a sad, wretched, and treacherous way, She was not lying out, tanning in her pink polka dot bikini because she had an amazing body to show off. It was not sunny out and her boyfriend was not jumping in the ocean saying, “Come on in Honey, the water’s fine!” because the water was far from “fine”. And it was not sunny out. Perhaps it was raining?

         She did not think of her mental isolation as an island because it was tropical and pleasant or peaceful. The simple fact is that islands are isolated just as she was stranded in her own negative rhythm of thinking. She was completely lost and submerged in her own thoughts, ways, and problems. She was surrounded by all four sides—perfectly trapped. When she tried to swim away, she drowned. She would drown in more thoughts, specifically thoughts of the realization that she was truly trapped. It was all her mind and her own reality and there was not, and never would be, a way out, at least that is how she believed. Yet worst of all, as said before, it was not a sunny island. In fact, it did often rain. The storm clouds would come in at day break and last until her last blink before sleep. It was just a consuming sadness. Like your own skin. Can you peel out of it? No. So she could not get out of her own sadness. However you would like to look at it; being at the bottom of a deep hole and trying to climb out, drowning in an ocean and only continually bobbing up and down completely out of breath--or just trying to peel out of your own skin. Regardless, she was stuck, as simple and horrible as that.

         

So Much Grace, Like Soooo Much.

A girl's parents are away for the weekend and she decides to invite a guy, whom she is some-what interested in, to come over and watch a movie Saturday night.
This day and age we all know well that two people of opposite sex watching one movie together at night time and especially while parents are not home is just a bad way to start things off. And you'll see that holds true that it was a bad way to start things off in this story.
As most stories go, one thing leads to another--so this story goes that way too. One thing did lead to another which lead to, "No, please stop". This request was not respected. That request of "No," was not anticipated by the young man because he was not the one who had instigated this evening in the first place. This young girl, who had only had the intention of merely leading this young man on through manipulation for the sake of power, was now actually a victim of her own manipulation.
You can guess from here what I mean by victim, she said no, but he said yes. This society would blame the young man. This society says the young man raped this poor, innocent, and helpless young girl. So my question is this--if the young girl is so poor, innocent, and helpless why did she invite the young man over to a house where there are no parents, when it is night time to be alone with him. Surely this "young" girl is not so young she is simply naive. Even if she is naive, surely naive does not justify any of this story.

From here on out I want to just answer my own questions. My intention of this blog is to make you think, but not by asking you questions. I want to ask and answer my own questions to make you think so that I can prove a point, so that this can resonate on your heart, so that you can ultimately have grace for each gender no matter which gender you are.

This story is not played out by one person who played only one role. No, the girl played her role and so did the boy. No one is to blame, but both are at fault. There is power in manipulating a young-man to come over to your house late at night by urging him with the knowledge that her parents will not be home, and they're "going to watch a  movie". The girl is given the upper hand by manipulating the boy to come over, when he may know deep down it is wrong, and she attempts to continue to hold the upper hand when she says "No, don't go that far." The girl who was once the manipulator and held the upper hand then becomes the victim of her own manipulation and seduction. As this scenario plays out, the girl becomes bitter towards this boy and towards all boys. The boy becomes ashamed and feels condemned. There should not be bitterness or shame for either gender at any time.
This becomes a mad cycle of a girl feeling victimized then trying to become powerful again and a boy feeling ashamed and then repeating what made him feel ashamed because he feels he can not do any better. I believe I serve a God who forgives murders. I believe I serve a God who has more than enough grace for all the young men and women suffering in these cycles.
Girls: What if a man across the street whistles at you while you walk by? Should you feel victimized or disrespected? Perhaps that is disrespect, but you should know your identity is not based on young men around you trying to figure the same stuff out, but your identity is found in the kingdom of heaven where you sit by the throne of God who is enthralled in your beauty.
Men: I am a girl with a mad amount of grace for you. I have looked at men as monsters because of what some young men have done to me, but I repent and I apologize. Y'all have got society against you just as much as society is against women.

I basically believe God calls us to all have grace for each gender, because he has grace for each gender, like so much grace, sooo much.