Combing Out The Tangles

Hi friends! No Alive Wednesday night so no re-cap. We went over to the SNAEXP Tour with Passion Band & David Platt and well, if you missed it, I hate it for you. My bro-in-law explained it perfectly by saying that he can't imagine what Heaven will be like if it gets better than that. Agreed!

So, since there's no re-cap, I thought I'd share a little bit of what's being revealed to me during my personal QT. Sometimes my QT causes me to literally laugh..out loud. Why? Because He knows me so well.

*source

In Romans 8:1-2, there's that passage that "I know" ("know" meaning I recognize the verse...not "know" as in I have instilled it in my heart and live by it daily). You know the one, the one that says that if we claim we are in Christ then there's no condemnation ...for we are now free from sin and death. It's a good one.

I condemn myself a lot. Actually, I like to make up things that I THINK people are condemning me for. So, in reality, I need more of the "no condemnation...you are free" part ingrained in my head on the daily. Just so we are clear here...condemning words are not from God. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our tangles (I'll explain in a minute), it reminds us of God's promises to us using words such as: bought (1 Cor. 7:20), Holy (Gal. 4:19), or Justified (Romans 5:1) If you are unsure of your identity in Christ, scripture is full of His promises to you to remind you that you are not who people say you are but you are who HE says you are.

Occasionally, I'll read an excerpt from Jesus Calling during my QT. She used an illustration that hits home for me. Tangles. She states that the Holy Spirit works at "combing out tangles of deception". "YES! HAIR! Speakin' my love language and getting on my level!" Now, she wasn't necessarily talking about hair but this is where you buckle up your seatbelt and ride along with me and my brain. Tangles can be a multitude of things: sin, condemnation, an identity crisis, etc. I don't know about you (girls) but I probably have the.most.dangerous.set.of.knots.ever in my hair. My poor hair girl whom I love dearly. I feel so bad for her. It takes an intense conditioner and brush to get my tangles out. Sometimes I feel like that with the condemning words I speak over myself. It's a lot of work to comb through those tangles of deception and condemnation but if I don't do it, my identity becomes rooted in the world and not in Him.

As much as we wish we could just "brush things off", it's a little more work than that to combat condemning words. It's like trying to comb through my tangles with Brooklynn's comb. Not gonna happen. It takes daily speaking God's promises over ourselves. Knowing who He says we are. Letting HIM have His way with our minds, souls, & bodies. Not people. I'm always working on not letting people have that kinda power of me. He's a promise maker...promise keeper...(enter song)

Mirror, Mirror

I think it's safe to say that a lot of us avoid mirrors. When we wake up in the morning and walk into the bathroom, the first thought that comes to our minds is not, "Wow, God sure did bless me in the good looks department." And if it's not our looks we are focused on, it could be our emotional scars that we see every time we look at ourselves. Mirrors are not forgiving, they are honest whether we like what we see or not. Most of us have been to a fair or a funhouse and have looked into one of those mirrors that distort how you look, whether it makes you look short and fat or tall and lanky. Thankfully, these mirrors are not an accurate picture of who we are. And, thankfully, the mirrors in our bathrooms are also not an accurate portrayal of who we are. So if the reflection we see of ourselves in a mirror are not accurate portrayals of who we are, then who are we? Where do we look to find that accurate picture of ourselves?

Most of us run to people to identify who we are. While sometimes people that know us the best can give us a picture of who they think we are, we often times let those who know us the least define us the most. When we let others define who we are, we become their slaves. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, you learn that God paid a high price for you, therefore we shouldn't be enslaved by the world. God created us with only a need He can meet. We've all been to that place where we've put the thoughts and opinions of others about the Lord's. We've allowed the expectations and criticism of others to wreck us.

Here's the good news about yourself that the Lord wants you to know...

You are good enough through Christ (Romans 5:1)

You are called (Romans 8:30)

You are God's child (John 1:12)

You have been bought with a price, and you belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

You have been chosen by God and adopted as His child (Ephesians 1:3-8)

You are assured that God works for your good in all circumstances (Romans 8:28)

You have been established, anointed, and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

You are confident that God will complete the good work He started in you (Philippians 1:6)

You are a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)

You are God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)

You can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13)

When you look into the mirror, this is what God sees. When you look into the mirror, you should see Christ in yourself if He lives in you. You should see God's definition of you, as His child, not you as other people would define you. You're worth never decreases like that of your cell phone, your house, your car, etc. Your worth is of such great value that God was willing to pay for it in full and then promises to never take it back. You're worth way more than just "a life". You're worth God's sacrifice and never ending love.

Pursuit,
Don't forget to "Go Fish" and invite someone to Pursuit next week!
**First 10 people to text Hux or comment "Go Fish" on Facebook will receive a free item from the Cafe on Wednesday!

Miss you guys!
Huxs 

Identity Theft 2 -- Finding Freedom

This has been one of my most favorite series that we have ever done in student ministry! Why? Because I have seen first hand the fruit that has been produced through it. I've witnessed the "light switch" being turned on in students' hearts as they come to the realization that they truly are God's masterpiece. Last night's service easily fell into the top 3 services I've ever been apart of in student ministry. ever. A friend of Husband and I's from Greenville came and shared his story of how God has set him free from being labeled as "gay". As a young student, because of this label and the comments made to him and about him, he started on a path believing that he was in fact, gay. If you missed last night, you can read a more in-depth account of his story here and how God has put him on a journey to freedom.

I've been humbled over the past two weeks from hearing stories of students that have been set free from eating disorders, set free from looking to others for approval or disproval, set free from homosexuality, and set free from carrying labels that others have given them. Let me tell you, it's a cruel world out there and labels stick. The more that we can instill in teenagers (especially) that the Lord is the only one allowed to label them, the more they will start to seek the Lord for their identity and not seek ways to take their own lives and dispose of their identity. Here are some lessons learned from last night.

• Every person on the planet has their own unique fingerprint. God didn't create you to be someone else.
• We are trying so hard to be someone that God has not called us to be.
• In order to understand who we are we have to understand whose we are.
• We let others that know us the least define us the most.
• The only person allowed to label you is the One who created you.
• Your value and worth does not vanish because you've been through stuff.
• Jesus was tempted by ALL things! All means ALL! (Heb. 4) But He never sinned because he patterned His life after the Father.

"Words bring life or death." 

"Always speak words of LIFE over someone's life. Not death.

You never know what they're going through."

Thanks, Caleb, for your transparency and your authentic testimony last night. Your words spurred LIFE into our students and a hope for freedom! Keep patterning your life after the Father!

There's freedom in Him,

Identity Theft 1

"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

2 Corinthians 3:16-18

Last night was the beginning of our new series, "Identity Theft". Normally this post would be an easy one for me because I get to just repeat all the good stuff my husband said from the night before. This week was a little different. As you may see I haven't posted anything on here since last Wednesday night because I've been hunkered down preparing for this week's message...that's right, I had "got" to speak last night! If you know anything about me, you'll know that speaking just isn't my thing. I'd rather write than speak any day but I knew that God had placed in me things that people really needed to hear concerning their Identity in Christ and the insecurities that they face daily. So, if you missed last night, here are some things I tried to hammer home and hopefully they'll stick :)

We showed this video that has gone viral and came to the conclusion that the way we see ourselves is not they way that God sees us!

And just for fun, check out the guy versions on YouTube, they're pretty histarical!

• When we look at ourselves, often times, we see a mistake while God sees a masterpiece.
• A lot of our insecurities stem from the fact that so many of us are focused on the way that others approve or disprove of us.
• We all have veils of insecurity that we walk around with that cloud our vision of God and who He says that we are.
• It scares me that Christians are some of the most insecure people. God doesn't see us as insecure or inadequate.
• We tend to stare in the mirror long enough to start hating what we see.
• We need to lay down our worldly self-image and replace it with God's view of us.
• God's truth about you is way more powerful than other's opinions about you! 
• God will take the pain of your insecurities and use that to accomplish His purpose for your life.
• We can't find freedom from our insecurities in our culture but in the only unchanging factor of our lives, Christ.
• We are co-heirs with Christ. Just as we have inherited very specific traits from our parents, we have inherited very specific traits from our heavenly Father. When we criticize ourselves and wish that God had made us differently, we are insulting His work. 
• God has given you everything you need in order to fulfill His purpose for which He created you for.
• We need to focus less on ME ME ME and more on HE!
• We will continue to struggle with insecurities until we become more inwardly focused on Christ and less outwardly focused on ourselves.
• God will often times take our insecurities and write a story that portrays His glory. His power is made perfect in our weaknesses!
• God died for your insecurities, we continue to carry them, and He's asking for them back! Let Him carry them and use them.
• Guys, I beg of you to be careful how you talk to and about girls. Your words carry a powerful weight on the way that a girl looks and thinks about herself. Talk to them how you would want your sister or your future daughter to be talked to. After all, she is the daughter of your King.
• Girls, we all want to be told we're beautiful and treated as though we're the only person on this earth. But if a guy never tells you those things you want to here, we have to be okay with that! Guys don't want nor do they need the pressure of keeping you propped up all the time. We have to look to Christ for affirmations about ourselves and let the words that people say about us not make or break our day.
• God doesn't make mistakes, He doesn't make junk, and He didn't screw up when He created you.
• You are not who others say you are, you are who the King says you are!

'Til next time,