What determines the size of a building is the foundation. No matter how beautiful, big or how fast you want to build, there must be a foundation first. Once there is a foundation then you are free to build. Your identity is your foundation. When you know who you are, you are free to build the best kind of life you want.
Scripture says, “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3 NKJV). If you do not know that you are righteous, you would not be able to achieve much in life. You will keep on saying one day I will do this, one day I will do that. Why not now? You are afraid and doubting if it will work. It will work as long as you are actively conscious of the new life you have in Christ.
Picture this, someone who has forgotten the password to his email account cannot access his mail anymore. Now, if the person logged in every day, the person would not have forgotten the password. So also you should not be “…a forgetful hearer.” (James 1:25). Your access to the God kind of life is in not forgetting who you are. I will never forget how to drive because I have practised enough times. Stay in the word so you can practice it and you won’t forget who you are.
Some believers keep forgetting who they are. They go to church to hear truths about who they are in Christ, get stirred up and want to make things happen. But once they step outside the church almost immediately they forget who they are. The reason is this, much hearing with little doing.
We need to act more. Stop creating a boundary of ‘what if ‘and start creating a highway of ‘I will.’ In the Old Covenant, it was all about you shall not, you shall not. In the New Covenant it is God saying I will, I will. Remember “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13). Stop quenching God’s fire by being inactive, in doubt or fear. Act out your faith.
More people are acting out the devil’s wickedness and hate then believers acting out God’s goodness and love. It is time to shuffle things up. Paul and Silas were tagged at Thessalonica as turning the world upside down. We should have that same zeal in expressing our faith.
So there are three things to have in mind when living the way God created us to be. We have talked about being word minded and vision minded. The third one which will be talked about here is being Father minded.
Father Minded
To be father minded means you know God is with you. The devil told Jesus, “…If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus gave an awesome reply “…It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” (Matthew 4:6-7 NKJV)
To tempt the lord means you are wondering or questioning if God is for you. (Exodus 17:7 NKJV) That is what the children of Israel were doing anytime they face a challenge. They kept making statements as if God was not for them (Exodus 17:3 NKJV). If you going through rough times and all your saying is, ‘Does God not see what I am going through. Is there not a God in heaven? Lord, are you going to leave me like this? You will not come out of that problem victorious. You are tempting God. Don’t you know God lives in you? All that he has, he moved in with it. He is with you in that situation. As a son, take advantage of what he has given you.
He has given you all you need to be always triumphant. Don’t be like the elder son in the parable of the lost son who complained to his father, “…Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends” (Luke 15:29 NKJV). The father was probably in shock replying ‘…Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours” (Luke 15:31 NKJV).
The father was simply saying if you wanted to eat the young goat you could. It is yours. You do not need permission to use what is yours. God is not the one closing the door to success, it is you.
What would you do if you knew that God is for you? What would you do if you knew that God is on your side? If your answer is not what you are doing now, then you are not father minded. You feel God is holding out on you when He is the one giving. You are just not receiving. When people say ‘Lord can’t you see I am sick.’ God is saying ‘can’t you see that I have made provision for your healing?’
Jesus always looked at what his Father was doing and did in like manner (John 5:19 NKJV). Stop waiting, start doing, start living. God is living through you. Be conscious of the fact that our Father God is backing you up. Live according to His truth about who you are.
