Do you ever have "what if's" pop into your mind?
Recently the devil tried his hardest to keep me from the Father's loving embrace by causing feelings of insecurity and inferiority to come at me. "What if I don't fit in when we get to Australia? What if I'm left out? What if...what if...what if...."
UUUUUGH. What a punk.
I knew the Holy Spirit was telling me that these thoughts were indeed incorrect, but the devil took it one step further by trying to convince me that something was indeed wrong with me for feeling anxious, insecure and nervous about the future.
Over the past two years, I have learned that in this type of moment I have to stop, turn to Holy Spirit and ask for a word from His heart to mine instead of continuing to engage with the lies that the accuser (the devil) is throwing my way. When I paused and invited Him to speak to me, it was as if I was fine tuning a radio. Suddenly I heard the sweet voice of the Father say to me:
"These 'what if's' are the devil's language, Mandy. But MY 'what if' is this: What if the only thing 'wrong' is not you, but how you are defining yourself in this moment, and what you believe about yourself? What if there's nothing wrong with you, just something missing in your thinking?"
WOW!
What if we learn to partner with the Holy Spirit immediately instead of engaging in the devil's tormenting lies? Anxiety for example - I am not an anxious person - I am a new creation in Christ who partakes in the divine nature of Christ, and I know that Jesus is not anxious (2 Corinthians 5:17; 2 Peter 1:4). Therefore, what's missing from my thinking is peace. Anxiety is already dead and buried with Christ (Galatians 2:20), and peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Peace is my inheritance in Christ, so rather than engaging with the spirit of anxiety I can work with Holy Spirit to gain greater access to what is already mine in Christ Jesus.
What if being "alive in Christ" really is as simple as just fully engaging with Christ who lives inside of me? Holy Spirit reminded me that this looks like knowing and believing my identity and agreeing with the Spirit's prompting to access the things that Jesus died to give me. It looks like partnering with Him to fill the gaps that are missing in my thinking. I can envision anxiety on the cross with Jesus, dying with Him so that it is no longer a part of my nature because I was crucified with Him. This means that I am no longer enslaved to it, or any other sin: We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6, ESV).
If I am feeling anxious, I can access peace. If I am feeling insecure, I can access full confidence in Christ because I know that I am accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). If I am feeling an unrighteous anger, I can ask Holy Spirit to come and remind me that I am actually a gentle person now and I can partner with the sufficient grace that He has given me to be a person of gentleness (2 Corinthians 12:9). If I feel overwhelming sorrow or grief to the point of despair, I can walk in the joy that is already paid for by Jesus, simply by coming into the fullness of His Presence (Psalm 16:11).
No one who is born-again is ordinary. And there is certainly nothing "wrong" with us if we are in Christ. We have a real enemy who wants nothing more than to kill, steal and destroy us (John 10:10), and sometimes we are actually unaware of everything that Jesus actually did for us and who He made us. The truth is, John 8:36 says that whoever the Son sets free is actually FREE INDEED.
What if I really AM as extraordinary as God says I am?
What if our worlds are waiting for us to fully understand this truth?
Much Love xoxo
Mandy
