Who defines you? Your thoughts define me. Part 2

 I was scheduled to speak at our Riverdale campus. All morning I had been thinking about our identity and how important it is to be secure in whose we are and confident in who we are. As the worship progressed every song pointed toward this theme.

Danatta began to sing Abba I belong to you, As she sang, " Your thoughts define me"... heaven came down.

Abba
Jonathan David Helser

You're more real than
The ground I'm standing on
You're more real than
The wind in my lungs

Your thoughts define me
You're inside me
You're my reality

Abba, I belong to You
Abba, I belong to You

You're closer than the
Skin on my bones
You're closer than the
Song on my tongue

Your thoughts define me
You're inside me
You're my reality

Abba, I belong to You
Abba, I belong to You
Abba, I belong to You


When it was time to speak, I stood up and declared, "We've heard the message today. His thoughts define us; not our friends, family, culture, nation, boss, our selves, nor our church define us. He and He alone defines us. He is inside of us. He is our reality. Therefore, we can confidently say, Abba I belong to you. 
Well, we can all go home now."

The truth:
We can be fully who we are when we pay attention to His voice and allow His thoughts to define us. He is a good, good Father who loves to define who we are.

We are beloved, saved, redeemed, rescued, forgiven, called, anointed, and favored. We are His sons, daughters and much more. His thoughts define us. 

Our parents, our boss, our friends, our culture, our church, our selves and those around us may try to define us. They may try to squeeze us into their mold. However, His thoughts, what He says and thinks about us, are what we must focus on if we are to truly become who we are meant to be.

See... how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, 

that we would be called children of God;  

and such we are.
1 John 3:1 NASB

I love this statement...See... how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us." The question, "Do we see / experience His great love that He has bestowed, placed, lavished upon us?"

The statement, "and such we are" is truth, fact, reality, and the basis of our security as sons and daughters.

In the last post Who defines you? Part 1, I mentioned a story about my driving, showing off and my friend telling me, "Steve you don't have to do that any more." He was reminding me, "Stop it. That's not who you are now."

It was the truth, a voice of a caring friend. That one statement, "You don't have to do that anymore," began to set me free. 

Sometimes we listen to the voice of the stranger instead of listening the voice of our friend the Shepherd. When we do, we forget whose we are and who we are.

The good Shepherd always has caring words for His sheep, His words / His thoughts define me.

Mindset
Our battle is in the mind. We must chose who's voice we listen to. There are many voices fighting for our attention, but only one voice speaks consistent encouraging truth to our hearts.

Herman Melville author of Moby Dick stated, "Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending."

Yes, it's true, everyone is cracked about the head; we desperately need mending. 
Our minds do need a daily renewing, and sometimes we need to pause; stop the negative input; push the reset button to reboot our thinking. Sometimes we need to consciously  change our input system.

I've had to shift over the last eighteen months in so many ways. Change, shift, think differently, and learn to guard my heart and mind. I've had to position my self to hear His voice.

The battles in our minds, emotions: There is no future for you. You and your family will be begging bread. You have nothing to offer. Your children... Your spouse... No wonder this happened to you, you are so stupid. The sky is falling. We are all doomed. Quit. Give up...yada, yada, yada.

This voice, is the voice of a discouraged soul, or the voice of the stranger. Sometimes we need to discern whose voice we are hearing, the Shepherd's or the stranger's.

 Tip: words leading toward fear, are always the stranger's words; we need to flee from that voice.

 John 10:1-5 NASB
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.  

“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.

John 10:27-30 NASB
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.”

The Shepherd's voice says: I have a future and a hope. My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches. I have been young and old and have never seen the righteous begging bread. I will be with you until the end of the age. I am called a child of God and such I am. The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want, He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name sake, He anoints my head with oil and my heart overflows. He is the stability of my times. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

My decisions to whom I listen to do determine my destiny.

Who's voice are you listening to? In order to hear the shepherds voice we have to position ourselves to hear His voice. Hearing His voice is so important. Our identity and our sense of security depends upon it. His thoughts define you. He lives inside you. He is your reality. He is your Abba, and...you belong to Him.

For further help read. Victorious Mindsets.