I pray you have a fruitful and fulfilling walk with the Lord. You are called to follow Jesus as his disciple. It’s pretty simple, a disciple is someone who follows a teacher and applies their teachings. Jesus said following his teachings (yoke) is easy, and his burden is light. Yoke and burden are euphemisms for his teachings and the requirements of those teachings. He said it this way…

Nothing “outside” of you has the authority to tell you who you are. You have given your life to God, he “owns” you, and he alone has the authority to define what and who you are.

So what does he say?

God says you are at peace with him by faith in Christ, and he says you’re in right-standing with him the same way. He defines the terms, and he enforces the rules. Righteousness is by faith, not works.

Also remember that God has placed his spirit in you, and his kingdom is in you, so essentially God is in you. If God determines your identity, he does it from the inside, not through external circumstances in your life.

Righteousness is not by works, holiness is not by works, and identity is not by works, it’s all given to you in Christ. Your actions do not define you. Nothing anyone does to you, defines you. Not even your DNA defines you.

Unfortunately, we can go through things in this life that are so traumatic we allow them to define us because they’re so overwhelming. What do we do in traumatic situations?

Have you ever heard the idea that you can't know God's ways because they're higher than our ways? It's usually applied when a difficult or confusing thing happens. Well, you don't have to be confused, you can know His ways.

God was actually angry at the Israelites in the wilderness for not knowing His ways. God expects you to know His ways. God has shown us His ways, and His spirit continually teaches you His ways. Click for more.

Did you know you can hear from God anytime you want? God is never silent! We may be more focused on the physical world’s circumstances and ignore His voice, but he is without a doubt speaking. If you can’t hear him in your heart in prayer, you can go to his written word and listen to Him. Whether He said it 3000 years ago or 3 seconds ago, His logos can give you life.

In this message, I walk you through the first chapter of Colossians and show you how to read in such a way that His word will come alive in you. The key is this, can you look at His written logos and appreciate what’s there.