INSPIRATION (Giving direction to your day) - OLA AINA

KNOWING YOURSELF 1

Text: “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods...” Ps 82:5-6

I strongly believe that one advantage of knowing God is that it helps us to know ourselves. If you don’t know God personally and you don’t know yourself life will confuse you. It was easy for David to face Goliath because he knew this challenge was not bigger than God and obviously it was not bigger than him. His age and size were enough to discourage him. He also was not armed like the giant was. David knew God and he knew himself. He was small but God was big in him. David understood clearly that what defines his ability and what he could do was not necessarily his own size but the size of God.

Nothing in life should define you outside God. If you allow that to happen you will always find yourself inadequate, unqualified and unworthy. What defines your life, what you can do and how far you can go are the ability and the capacity of God in you. Don’t see yourself anymore based on your background, your level of education, your limited chain of connection, your country of residence. See yourself purely from the perspective of scriptures. See yourself based on the finished work of Christ on the cross.  Knowing who you are in Christ is a major path to the fulfilment of God’s destiny for your life. The circumstances of life will paint a wrong picture of you except you have deep convictions about who God made you.

Read the following closing statements carefully and clearly:

1. You are not what people say; you are what God says.

2. God sees in you what men cannot see.

PRAYER:

Thank you Lord for what you have deposited in me. Thank you for what you have made me.

LEARN MORE: Judges 6:11-14

KNOWING YOURSELF 2

Text: “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” Ps 49:20

In the next couple of days we’ll take our time to look at specific things that God says we are and made available to us as believers. From our anchor scriptures “...Understandeth not...” simply means “does not know.” If you don’t know what God says about you then you will believe what people say. You will also call yourself what circumstances say. This will be detrimental to your journey in life.

Today we are going to start from the most basic scripture that applies to every believer. 2 Cor 5:17 says “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” The first question you must answer correctly is “Are you in Christ?” Once this has been settled every statement in that scripture is applicable to you. I want you to note that the scriptures did not say “...He’s going to be a new creature once he does everything right...” read it again. It says “...he is a new creation”. This is a present hour reality. So I can confidently say “I am a new creation”. This is completely settled in Christ. That does not necessarily mean that we know it all or do everything right. But as far as redemption is concerned we are new creations. We have a life that is completely different from what we had before we came into Christ.  The old man that committed sin does not exist again. It has been nailed together with Christ on the cross.  The life we have is not a refurbished life; but a new one. It never existed before. It has no record of sin or any wrong doing. This new creation life is traceable to Christ. This life has no connection with our family background or where we were born. It’s not traceable to a particular church, its traceable to Christ. This life is purely the life of Christ in a mortal man. You are a new creation. Shout it everywhere. Tell everyone you meet.

CONFESSION:

I am a new creation. My life is connected to Christ. His life has become my life. His capacity has become mine.

LEARN MORE:  Ps 82:5-8, Eph 4:24