Chosen Grace

Hey guys! This is our first post for August and it’s very special! Happy Reading. Hint- take some notes because there is major tea in this post!

Last week I had Bible study with my friends and we were discussing how God can talk to us. I gave some suggestions such as through the Bible, other people, and our thoughts.

The conversation went on but the next day, the Lord reminded me of John 10. Let’s check out some of the verses from that chapter below:

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

– John 10: 3-5, NIV

In this passage, Jesus was letting everyone know that He is the one, true Messiah by likening himself to a shepherd. He asserts with full confidence that His sheep know His voice.

As I was studying this Scripture and enduring the week, it became clear to me why the Lord lead me there.

You see, on Tuesday I had a situation in which I sinned. To be honest, this sin was a heart issue (read Check Your Heart for more on that), meaning that the event to cause this sin was just a symptom of a deeper issue.

And while the Lord opened my eyes and I repented, I struggled all week to forget what I had done. All week, I lamented and felt far from God because I thought that He was still upset with me.

I’m being as transparent as possible in this post because I want y’all to really see and understand my point today: Even after I had repented and truly saw my mistake, I could only see myself as my sin.

Each day I would wake up, feeling peaceful but as soon as I had a thought – my sin seemed ever before me. When I ate, it was there. When I laughed, it was there. Shoot, even when I was talking to my family- it seemed to be the elephant in the room.

As I struggled to understand why I felt this way, the Lord reminded me of the passage above and one in Isaiah:

:But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.“

– Isaiah 43:1, NIV

The prophet Isaiah was speaking to the children of Israel in this passage above, but the Lord is currently speaking to us.

You see, God’s identity for us is rooted in truth, redemption, and love. Throughout the Bible, God calls his people by name just as He does in this passage:

• He calls Gideon a mighty warrior, despite Gideon feeling fearful (Judges 6).
• He renames Abram to Abraham (meaning Father of many nations) while He does not have a child (Genesis 17).
• He calls Mary highly favored even though she is just a teenager (Luke 1).

The examples above show that God’s way is clear: despite our physical conditions, age, and feelings- God see’s us as we were always created to be.

Upon learning this, the Lord reminded me of this quote I read awhile ago:

God calls you by your name, Satan calls you by your sin.

Read that again. And again.

You see, throughout this last week- Satan took every opportunity to remind me of my shortcomings. He flaunted it in my face and I took the bait by allowing what I had done to become a barrier between me and God.

Let’s face it- we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Each of us mess up, fall short, and wallow in the mud sometimes. But that is not who we are. We are chosen, loved, and redeemed.

Don’t let the enemies lies become truth in your heart. Satan is a master manipulator and as the Father of Lies, he uses every opportunity to keep us from seeing who we really are in Christ.

But I come today to remind you that God is not calling you by your sins, shortcomings, failures, doubts, fears, or physical conditions.

Your identity is rooted in the truth of Jesus Christ. Nothing more, and nothing less.

We can trust this truth because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we “…all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24, NIV).

This means that yeah, we as humans will fall short and be limited in some way. But because of Jesus’ atonement, God does not see us this way. Nope, He sees us as His beloved and freely gives us grace.

Once I understood this, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head. I no longer saw myself as a wretched sinner with no hope. I saw myself as Abba’s girl- loved despite my mess. I saw myself as redeemable and forgave myself for what I had done.

As I close this post- I wanna shoot it to you straight: You are not what limits you. You are who God says you are. Place your identity in that.

Walk in your true identity, friends. I’m a living testimony that you won’t regret it.

With a new appreciation for who God says I am,

Malaysia 🙂