Be Who God Called You To Be (Declare This Prayer Every Day) | A Blessed Morning Prayer

I want to issue a heartfelt plea to you today. I want to ask you to take some time to consider this. Before life mishandled you, before disappointment delivered that gut punch, before trauma shaped you, before survival actually turned into your personality, God had an intention for you. Before your choices, before their choices, before what happened to you, there was a decision made in heaven regarding you. You are not some accident. You weren't just sent to earth to figure it out. You are not someone's reaction to pain. You are not a product of dysfunction. Listen, despite what someone may have said to you or even what you've told yourself, you are so much more than you know. God sees something beautiful when he thinks of you. He sees himself in you. He sees his intention. He sees his decision. The Bible reveals this truth clearly in Jeremiah 1 verse 5. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Before Jeremiah ever spoke a word, God already knew exactly who he sent. Before Jeremiah ever struggled with fear, rejection, or opposition, heaven had already made a decision about him. And I need you to hear me. That same God knew who he was sending when he sent you. But this brings us to a question. It's a question that's both confronting and free. Are you showing up as who God sent you to be? Or are you showing up as what life and your choices and other people's choices have shaped you into? Because those two things, they're often in opposition. Now we all have to travel this road called life. But on this road, we must realize that there are forces at work. Life, it has a way of shaping us, but not all shaping is formation. Some shaping is actually distortion. And trust me, there is a difference between the two. You see, God forms, but life pressures. God speaks identity, but pain teaches defense. Some of us learn to be quiet, not because God called us to silence, but because speaking once cost us safety. Some of us learn to be strong, not because God called us to leadership, but because weakness was not an option. Some of us learn to be agreeable, to be guarded, invisible, loud, funny, detached, angry, hyper-independent, or emotionally numb. Not because God sent us that way, but because that was what helped us survive. And listen, yeah, survival can keep you alive, but it can't keep you aligned. Scripture reminds us of God's original intent. In Romans 8 verse 29, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Notice, God's goal is conformity to Christ, not conformity to culture, not conformity to trauma, not conformity to coping mechanisms. No, his goal for us is conformity to Christ. The danger then, please recognize, the danger comes when we start calling coping character. Let's be clear, the coping mechanisms that you've employed, that's not your character. Let's take a trip back to the beginning and let's look at Adam as an example. God placed Adam in the earth as dominion. Genesis 1 verse 26 says, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Adam wasn't sent as fear. He wasn't sent as insecurity. Adam wasn't sent as shame. No, he was sent as dominion, authority, stewardship, God's representation in the earth. But Genesis chapter three shows us what happens when deception begins to speak louder than divine instruction. The serpent started issuing questions that caused Eve to have question marks where there used to be periods. And then Eve infected Adam with that same doubt. Genesis three verse one says, now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? That question has God indeed said is still being asked today. Has God really said that's who you are? Has God really said you're called? Has God really said you're chosen? Has God really said you're free? What makes you think you're all that? You see, the enemy wants you to believe that you're none of those things. The same way he did Adam. Adam's issue was that he allowed deception to move him out of alignment. And suddenly the man placed in the earth as dominion began showing up as fear. In Genesis three verse nine, God issues a question that still echoes through history. The Bible reads, then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you? Genesis three verse 10 records Adam's response to God. So he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Do you see what happened? Adam's fear replaced authority, hiding replaced dominion. And know this, when God asks a question, he's not asking because he doesn't know he's asking so that you can find the answer. God wasn't asking about Adam's location. He was asking about Adam's alignment. He was saying, Adam, man, where are you? Because I can't the authority I sent you to be. Now, when we talk about who we are as Christians, we often talk about the fruit of the spirit and rightly so. Galatians five verses 22 through 23 says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such there is no law. Those are characteristics of God. And every believer is called to carry that character of God, but beyond godly character, there is also a personal calling beyond fruit. There is function beyond being like God. You've been sent to express God in a very particular way. You see, think about it. Moses didn't express God the same way David did. And David didn't express God the same way Esther did. Esther didn't express God the way Elijah did. And the way you express him, it'll be different same God, different calling, different expression. So then who did God send you? So let's check out a couple of examples. Moses was sent as deliverance. He didn't accidentally become a deliverer. He was sent as one. Exodus three verse 10 declares God's words clearly come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses was sent as deliverance, but life tried to shape Moses into something else. Moses had a target on his life from the beginning. He was actually slated to be killed as an infant, but his mom heard the Lord and came up with a plan. Moses was then adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and he was raised in a system that actually oppressed his identity. His purpose tried to show up as he came to the rescue of a Hebrew brother one day, but his methods were off when he killed an Egyptian. Then the rescuer and him showed up again the next day when he tried to keep two Hebrews from fighting, but he found out that they knew he killed an Egyptian the day before. And so what happened? In Exodus two verse 14, it says that Moses feared. Does that sound familiar? Remember Adam? Moses stepped out of the will of God and he became afraid as well. So now is that the enemy's plan of attack for you too? Is he pulling you out by your emotions and then speaking condemnation in your ear? Is he causing you to walk in fear? And then when that fear rests on you, do you run and hide from God and thus end up hiding from your purpose as well? By the time God spoke to Moses in the desert in Exodus three, by the time he told Moses his plan to use him to deliver the Israelites, Moses sounded exactly like someone that life had shaped. God told Moses what he called them to do and Moses presented one argument after the other about why he could not fulfill his calling. Exodus four verse 10 says, then Moses said to the Lord, Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I'm slow of speech and slow of tongue. That is not the person God sent. Moses was showing up as the man life tried to convince him he was, but notice God doesn't argue with Moses's weakness. Instead he reframes the source of power. Exodus four verses 11 through 12 says, so the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say. Translation, Moses, I sent you as deliverance and I will supply everything necessary for you to show up as who I sent. So we've seen the example of Adam and we've seen the example of Moses, but now for our perfect example, let's look at Jesus. Jesus never wrestled with identity confusion. He knew exactly who he was and he knew exactly why he came. Luke 19 verse 10 says, for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. John six verse 38 says, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Now you need to know life was lifing from the womb to the tomb, but Jesus didn't allow life to change his identity. Jesus never allowed the rejection, the betrayal, the suffering, or even being misunderstood. He never allowed any of that to redefine him. He stayed in tune with God and thus he stayed in tune with his purpose. When people tried to crown him prematurely, he withdrew. When people tried to kill him, he stayed obedient. When people misunderstood him, Jesus remained anchored. Why? Because when you know who you were sent as, when you know who God's called you to be in the earth, you don't let your circumstances rename you. God has already known you and named you according to his will. But life, life will try to rename you. Pain will try to define you. Failure will try to label you. But God still names his people. Revelation two verse 17 says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone, a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. God gives names that restore, not labels that confine. Isaiah 43 verse 1 declares, but now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. So then once you examine yourself and you come to this place of self-reflection and self-awareness, and you realize that you're out of sync with who God's called you to be, then how you might ask, can you move into alignment? Well, first of all, you've returned to God's voice. Because if you tell the truth, other voices, including yours, have often drowned what God has said about you. In John 10 verse 27, Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You need to ask God the question you've avoided. Ask him, who did you send me to be in the earth? Ask him what he called you from the beginning. Ask him what representation of himself did he intend you to be before skin covered your bones, before life happened, before you began hiding, before you learned how to cope. Abba Father, we come to you right now, thanking you for your love and your patience, your kindness and your grace. You are the almighty, the only true and living God. And we thank you for accepting us into your presence. We come before you humbly, yet boldly, because you have invited us to come. And as we come, we lay down every distorted mirror, every false label, every voice that has tried to define us apart from you. Father, we confess that too often we've seen ourselves through the lenses of failure, fear, comparison, pain, or past mistakes. We've seen ourselves that way instead of through the truth of your word. But today we ask you by your spirit to realign our vision. Teach us to see ourselves as you see us, Father. Your word declares in Psalm 139 verse 14, I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. So today, Lord, we choose to agree with you. We praise you for how you formed us, for the way you wired us, for who you called us. Where shame has spoken loudly, silence it with your truth. Where insecurity has taken root, uproot it with revelation. Lord, let our souls know very well what you already declared to be marvelous. Father, remind us who we are in Christ. Your word says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. According to 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. So then we declare that we are not our past. We are not the sum of what happened to us, nor of what we did. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Father, renew our minds to walk in that reality. Give us the courage to stop rehearsing and wallowing in what you have already redeemed us from. Lord, awaken us to our purpose. You have not made us randomly, nor have you made us carelessly. Your word says in Ephesians 2 verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We declare that we are your workmanship, your masterpiece, your intentional creation. Open our eyes to the good works you prepared in advance for us. Give us faith to walk in them, grace to sustain us in them, and obedience to say yes when you call. Father, we admit that we cannot do this in our own strength. We need your grace, not just grace to save us, but to empower us to show up as who you intend us to be. Father, we agree with your word. We need you. So here we are, coming boldly. We receive mercy for where we've missed it, and we receive grace for where you're taking us. We declare that grace is not distant, nor is it reserved for others. Your grace is available to us right now. Lord, when we feel weak, inadequate, or unsure, anchor us in this promise found in the beginning of 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. We declare that your grace is indeed sufficient. It's not just barely enough. It is fully sufficient. Let your strength be perfected in our weakness. Where we have tried to hide our flaws, teach us to surrender them so your power can rest upon us. Renew our thinking, God. Break every pattern of self-sabotage and every mindset that would contradict your truth. Your word commands us in Romans 12 verse 2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Transform us, Father. Renew us. Align our thoughts with heaven so that our lives can reflect your will on earth. And finally, Father, anchor our hearts in hope. When doubt whispers that the future is uncertain, delayed, or even tries to tell us that it's a lie, remind us of what you have spoken. Jeremiah 29 verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. We trust your thoughts toward us, Lord. We receive your peace. We embrace the future and the hope that you have ordained. Today, this day, we declare that we will see ourselves as you see us. We will access the grace that you freely give, and we will show up. We will show up boldly, faithfully, and surrendered as who you created us to be. In Jesus' mighty and matchless name, we pray. Amen.