Do you feel like you have to perform for God or others to be accepted?
In the early stages of my personal STILL JOURNEY, the Lord gently impressed these words in me:
You are My BE-LOVED,
not My DO-LOVED.
My response: Ugh. I want to believe this. Help. There is NO REST for a life who must perform for love, acceptance, and value. There is REST in being Your daughter and letting that be enough… but You’re going to have to help me believe this!
Have you ever felt that something the Lord said was not just for your information, but His invitation? This was undoubtedly an invitation to climb out of a false identity based on DOING and adopt my true identity of BEING.
What Does a Performance – Based Identity Look and Feel Like?
Here are a few examples:
- I feel that God looks more fondly at me when I read my Bible and do spiritual things like attend church, attend or lead a bible study, etc.
- I feel that God disapproves of me or distances Himself from me when I’m not consistent in my bible reading or church meeting attendance.
- I feel better about myself when I “out-perform” others, whether that be reading more books, waking up earlier than others are willing, attending more church services and spiritual functions than others, or even when I earn more money than others. And when I don’t do these things, I feel inferior to those who do.
- I feel that God wants to listen to me only if I’ve done enough spiritual things to get His attention and affection.
- I feel guilty or insecure when other people appear to be working harder than me.
The Journey:
I wasn’t quite sure how this transition from DO-ing to BE-ing was going to happen, but I did know that what we focus on becomes our reality. I had to clearly define where I was currently, what new belief I needed to focus on, find this new truth in the Word to drive it deep, and then ask God for a practical strategy to get the new belief fully adopted in my being.
Step 1: Clearly define the current false belief system about my identity, as well as define the new & true belief system about my identity
Step 2: Find this new truth in the Word to renew my mind (Rom 12:2)
Step 3: Ask God for additional strategies to empower this new belief (as described in the podcast episode found here)
STEP 1: Identify Where I am and Where I’m Going
Current Belief System / False Identity (Human DO-ing):
My identity and value is based on what I do for God and others.
God sees me and evaluates me based on my PERFORMANCE.
New Belief System / True Identity (Human BE-ing):
My identity and value is based on what Jesus did for me.
God sees me and evaluates me based on his PLEASURE for me as his BELOVED, His own.
STEP 2: Drive it Deep with the Word
Mark 1:11
“… and a voice came out of the heavens: ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’”
Now, this is just a marvelous scripture! Guess what?! FATHER GOD AUDIBLY DECLARED HIS PLEASURE OVER JESUS, CALLS HIM BELOVED, AND JESUS HAD NOT YET PERFORMED A SINGLE MIRACLE. He was thirty years old when God said this after he was baptized by John The Baptist, which was before his ministry started.
God was pleased with Jesus and had no inventory of healings, miracles, signs, or wonders that Jesus performed to merit His pleasure. He was pleased because Jesus was HIS. If you’ve put your faith and confession in Jesus Christ, you are also His. He is pleased because you’re His. Period.
If you are a parent, you can grab this revelation rather easily. My children, for the first several years, are 100% demanding and self-focused on their own needs. They’ve not said at two years old, “Mom, I won’t wake you up in the middle of the night. You need your sleep.” Ha! No, they are fully self-focused and yet, they have captured the affection and pleasure of my heart! I don’t have any inventory of behaviors to merit this affection. They were immediately valuable the moment I discovered they were in my womb because they were MINE!
There are several more scriptures to prove God’s love for us is completely separate from our performance. I’ve listed 10 scriptures for you (although there are many more.) If you want REST in your identity in this area, look these up, write them down, meditate on them, and you may even want to journal a conversation with God using these scriptures as conversation starters.
- John 3:16
- 1 John 3:1
- 1 John 4:7
- 1 John 4:16
- 1 John 4:19
- Galatians 2:20
- Jeremiah 31:3
- Psalm 86:15
- Psalm 136:26
- Romans 5:8
STEP 3: A Practical Strategy to Drive the Revelation Deep
In this week’s podcast (Episode 2: A Rest Revolution) I discuss a 30-day meditation focus that the Lord gave me that is 100% duplicable to anyone wanting to disconnect from religious and performance pressure and find the place of REST.
Be sure to listen to this very simple strategy He gave me. He resounded in my spirit “BE LOVED. That’s your job, that’s your focus, that’s home for you. Receive Me. Receive My Love. BE LOVED.”
My very good friend, Heather Rose, wrote a song that is on the Her Voice Lavish album. This song is called “Receive.” There is a big Kingdom key behind these lyrics!
You can listen to “Receive” here.
There is REST in being a daughter or a son.
There is NO REST in being a slave who must earn love & acceptance.
The strategy I explain in the podcast will lead you to downloading a playlist of music for your spirit to drink in. Choose the worship songs that your soul feels moved by God’s love and be sure to include “Receive” from the Her Voice Lavish album.
If you’re not living in this revelation that your BEING is more powerful than your DOING, there is more REST for you to experience!
Steps 1 – 3 are easy, but they take intentionality! They take time! They take focus! They take your courageous “yes.”
I can wholeheartedly say the journey is worth it!
Jenny
PS – I dive deep into this on this week’s podcast and you aren’t going to want to miss it! Find it below and be sure to subscribe.
