Rags to Riches

Thank you so much for subscribing to Inner healing Ministries newsletter and blog post! We appreciate so much that you have chosen to partner with us and we pray that you are blessed with the content shared here. May you encounter the Lord's healing presence in every part of your heart today!

“Rags To Riches”

Who are you? Like, who are you REALLY? Deep, deep, down in the depths of your soul, who are YOU?

 If everything you own was stripped away, your job, your family, your status, your possessions, your accomplishments, even your talents, maybe your ministry, your reputation, your titles, your appearance, your body form, your disabilities, your injuries, your birth “defects”, your nicknames, all of it. Gone. What is left? Who are you at the very core?

We listen to a lot of voices. There are a lot of voices trying to tell us WHO WE ARE, and what our worth is. Lots of people, circumstances, traumas, hurts, wounds, disappointments, relationships, achievements, failures, all competing to try to make it known to us who we are. And more often than not, the voices we hear communicate a lot of lies. Lies that we aren’t enough, can’t ever be enough, are too much, need to attain more to be successful, don’t belong, are an outcast, can’t meet any expectations, worthless, not likeable, not lovable, weak, done too many bad things to be accepted, weird, tarnished, a fraud, need to try harder, be more important, be more seen, ugly, dumb, need higher status…and the list goes on….lies that compel us to STRIVE to be something we think we need to be, or lies that trap us into being something we aren’t. Either way, the end game and goal of the enemy is to steal our true identity. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  The enemy’s greatest feat is to steal the identity of his greatest enemy’s creation. He hates what God has created…YOU.

 True identity? The identity God gives His kids from the beginning. The voice of the One who knows us better than we know ourselves. In the end, the ONLY voice that matters. The voice of our Heavenly Father.  The One who created each of us uniquely and beautifully in His own image. You were created ON PURPOSE with a Purpose and FOR a purpose! The loving Father who has had a perfect plan for his kids before we were even woven in our mother’s womb. Who knows every single hair on our heads. Even the ones that will fall out tomorrow!  He knows you because He is the one who MADE you. Every part. Every cell. Every feature. Every characteristic. Every deep place in your heart. Every fiber of your being. Every dream your heart holds. And every part is a reflection of Himself because of His great love for us! He who is the essence and author of pure love, created YOU out of that pure love. That’s why His love for you is bigger, wider, and deeper than you could ever comprehend. A love that never stops. Like a giant waterfall that has no end. It’s not based on how well YOU perform or how many things YOU accomplish or how others view YOU. It’s a love wayyyyy bigger than that. It’s based on HIM. We fall short, but He never does!  It’s a love that doesn’t diminish if you mess up or “fail” or have a ton of friends or followers. His love can never ever be less than what it is right at this moment, and it can never be greater than it is right NOW. It’s an extravagant kind of love. It’s MORE than abundant. More than overflowing. It will never ever run out. (Romans 8:38  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.) He doesn’t know how to love you less because you are His greatest accomplishment. Creating you, His prize, His delight, His masterpiece!  That’s who you are to Him. So much so, that He was willing to give up His very own son to his death, in order to redeem and save you from the separation effects of sin. Our sin. His love stretched farther and wider than all our sin and shortcomings.(1 Pet 4:8 Love covers over a multitude of sins.)  It’s a love so big and so constant. It extends beyond time and eternity, and our human minds can’t comprehend it and our hearts can’t contain it all.

So…what voices are you listening to today? Are you listening to the lies? The ones that come from a place of Fear? Shame? Guilt? Hurt? Loss? Rejection? Abandonment? Unrealistic expectations? Betrayal? Insecurity?  If you choose to listen to these voices, you’ll always be a slave to them. These voices give no hope. And usually only bring condemnation. When we listen to the lies of who the enemy tries to convince us that we are, we need to cope or self-medicate in some way or another in order to survive. Unfortunately, that means we fall into striving, performance, some type of addiction maybe, unhealthy relationships for approval and acceptance, being a workaholic, shopaholic, TVaholic, foodaholic, friend-aholic, burying ourselves in a false reality maybe, succumbing to fits of rage and anger, depression, anxiety and more.   But the Truth will bring Freedom!

So, what is the Truth? Who does your Heavenly Father say YOU ARE?  Let’s take a little look….

Ephesians 1:4-6   For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. (We are fully accepted! Just as we are, not what we hope to be one day!)

Ephesians 2:4-6  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart.

Isaiah 46:1 Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name

Psalm 139:13-14 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:16-17 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God! How vast is the sum of them!

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for YOU, plans not to harm you but to prosper you and to give you a HOPE and a FUTURE.

You are chosen! You are His masterpiece! You are LOVED! You are accepted, adopted into His family, You are

Forgiven, You have a prosperous Future! You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, You are set apart, You are seen by your Father, You are seated in the heavenlies with Jesus, You are an Overcomer, You are the son or daughter of a KING, you are highly favored! You are Redeemed!  You are strong in Him! You are safe! You are protected!  You are never ever alone! You are Enough! He knows your name! You are created in His likeness! You are covered in His grace! These are the things the Father says about His children! These are the TRUTHS of His heart! For you! For me! For ALL who will receive Him!

When He looks at you and me and all who have received Him, He sees His perfect Son Jesus, who died for all our gross, filthy, tattered rags, so we could take those off and take part in His riches!  He robes us in His righteousness! And that’s one fancy, beautifully adorned robe! Not a “plain Jane” boring old thing! A beautiful, immaculate, highly decorated, top-notch royalty kind of robe! Because that’s how treasured you are to Him! We don’t have to be “perfect”, because Jesus is already that for us! The blood of Jesus covers all our shame, guilt, hurt, fear, inadequacies, rejections, self-doubt…we just have to release them to Jesus who comes and washes us clean and wraps that beautiful robe around His son or His daughter, and He says, “You are Mine. This one I am so proud of.”

So today, will you renounce the lies? Come out of agreement with what the enemy says about you. Align yourself with the Truth of God’s heart towards you. His words are forever true. He doesn’t change His mind about you. He loves with an everlasting love that never fails. Let’s do it together!

1. Remove the Rags:  Dismantle the lies. Take a few minutes and sit with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him, “Holy Spirit, what lies have I been believing about myself? What lies have I been listening to that were created out of fear, loss, rejection, doubt, hurt, trauma, betrayal, shame, abandonment?”  Write down the lies.

2.  Be washed: Let Jesus come and cleanse you as you release all the lies to Him.  Pray “Jesus, I come before you with every single lie I have believed was true about myself and I present them to you. Today I choose to lay every single lie at your feet. I come out of agreement with the enemy’s lies, and I release them to you today.  I surrender every lie, and every emotion, and every person that has been tied to that lie. I hand all of it over to you today and give you full access to every part of my heart. Every area that was wounded from words spoken to me, offenses done to me, or unrealistic expectations put on me. I give you every part and ask you to come and mend every broken piece and put it all back together the way you intended for my heart to be. Seal it with your healing oil.  I am yours Jesus.”

3. Let Jesus Robe You! It’s time to receive THE TRUTH, HIS TRUTH!  Again, sit with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to dress you with that beautiful robe of righteousness as He reveals His truth to your heart. Ask, “Holy Spirit, as I submit fully to you, would you speak to me and show me WHO I AM through your eyes? Who do YOU say I am?” Write down everything He speaks to your heart and let Him fully robe you. He will also want to crown you and put a ring on your finger and new shoes to wear! He goes above and beyond, because His love is extravagant!

4. Live as Royalty!  Time to walk out your identity in Him!  “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion!” Phil 1:6  One day at a time, walk in confidence and boldness of who He created you to be and who He says you are! His plans and purposes for you are to be His light to the world around you in order to advance and grow the Kingdom of God, that all may encounter His love and goodness and know the same King that calls you son or daughter. He wants His family to grow! Commit to allowing Him to use the giftings He gives you in order to walk your journey out in His strength and power that He freely gives you to speak life to the world around you, that others may walk in freedom too!  The TRUE IDENTITY that He gives us! Live fearlessly!