Have you ever been to a gathering or party where you didn’t exactly feel like you fit in? Or maybe a friend had you tag along with them and you didn’t know anyone there? That feeling where you aren’t exactly sure how you got there or why you are there, you feel a bit insecure and even alone? Well I had a very similar experience this last year but mine wasn’t at a “get together” but rather I felt this exact way in the Kingdom of God. I knew the truth that I was a daughter of God and I was part of this amazing family and body of Christ. I knew the truth about who God said I was and the identity I carried as a daughter but I sure didn’t believe it. I felt this need to work for my place in the Kingdom and to be someone I wasn’t. I felt out of place, unlike myself and unsure of how I got there.
It wasn’t until I was recently in a Leadership training program through YWAM, called DTS EQUIP, when a speaker pin-pointed why I was feeling that way. He said, “You are not an illegitimate, snuck in son or daughter of Christ.” It hit me right in the heart, and opened my eyes to see the lie I had been believing. I had come to this belief that I was only a daughter because of things I had done but God reminded me that I was a daughter because of what He has already done on the cross. This idea of truly learning to believe and walk as a daughter of God has been a huge theme of the last two months of my life.
In DTS EQUIP, we spent six weeks learning so much about what it means to be a disciple and then how to disciple others, specifically through the DTS program. We had the privilege of learning and gaining new tools and so much insight into how to lead and disciple those God has placed in our lives. On top of all that and I think the most impactful thing God taught me was the importance of walking as a daughter and disciple of Christ first. That through out my life there will be different roles and positions I will step into but that the most important one is the role and identity I carry as a Daughter. Not an “illegitimate, snuck in” daughter but one that has been chosen and adopted into God’s family through Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made, not of my own works but simply by grace through faith.
Ephesians 1:5 says, “He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will.” Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba Father!’
He has adopted us into the family and body of Christ, and our identity is forever found in the truth that we are sons and daughters of the living God! This identity is only found through Jesus, and we cannot sneak or work our way into it. It is a beautiful freedom to walk into, knowing that no matter what season, role or challenge we are faced with, we have a secure role and identity as children of God!
BY ABBY ELMORE