Episode 77: Worship: The Anchor of Your Identity

Jacob Paul: Welcome to the Truth in Love podcast with your hosts Kimberly Faith and John Mac. The Truth in Love podcast seeks to present God’s timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love.

Kimberly Faith: Well, okay, dad. Are you feeling confident about this topic this morning?

John McLarty: I think this is a great topic. It’s always challenging when you dig into the word and

Kimberly Faith: Yeah.

John McLarty: You know, that points back to us and our attitude and behaviors.

Kimberly Faith:  It does. It always does. Well, we’re going to today, we’re going to tackle this subject about how worship shapes our identity. And, you know, this has been a very, very hard convicting subject for me, just because, you know, I’ve always felt like I needed to be somebody. You know? And what that typically has translated to is manifesting itself as a mother or an attorney or a singer or a teacher or whatever that looks like.

John McLarty: Focusing on some self contrived or self made goal, self made man, the self made woman. I’ve got to become this

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Got to become this or else I’m nothing.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: And something that I think, it was actually sparked by something you said in an earlier podcast when we were talking, I don’t remember which subject it was, but you said thankfulness. Oh, it was about righteousness. It was about true righteousness.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: You were talking about how important thankfulness was to becoming, taking that positional righteousness and making a practical righteousness because it causes you to manifest the fruit of the spirit. You can’t be unthankful and also have peace. You can’t, you know, the dichotomy between those two things.

John McLarty: Right. Thankfulness is kind of intertwined with humility, understanding where our true blessings come from.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. So God used that to focus me on this thing called worship. You know, I think when I actually looked this up. I think the Bible has in English, the English translation, over 150 references to either the word worship or worshiping in the context of worshiping God.

John McLarty: Right. Old Testament and New.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. And so the question is, you know, what is worship? Because I think, conventionally, I have always thought of worship as you go to, you know, when you’re at church, you’re maybe raising your hands or you’re singing 

John McLarty: Right. 

Kimberly Faith: Or you’re, you know, you’re collectively, you know, giving God praise. Maybe you’re worshiping in the woods and singing to God. But I really think that just scratches the surface of what worship actually is and thus helps us understand whether our identity is rooted in Christ or rooted in something much more fragile.

John McLarty: Yeah. That’s a good way of thinking about it.

Kimberly Faith: It was kind of eye opening for me because

John McLarty: It’s not just singular as in we only worship when we specifically go to church and have a worship service.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.

John McLarty: Or, you know, some people, you know, myself including, I love nature and we go out and hike and we can focus on God then.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: But, yeah, those are just

Kimberly Faith: Single

John McLarty: Yeah. Small amounts of time in a given week.

Kimberly Faith: Right. And so when I was asking the Lord to just kind of teach me about this, he kind of led me to this idea that really worship is what dominates our thoughts, our words, our passions, and actions, and defines who we are. And it’s so important because when our worship and using that definition, our thoughts are, you know, what we worry about is dominated by something other than God that’s called misplaced worship. And unlike our career, our achievements, our roles, and parenting, then we are setting ourselves up for crisis, our identity crisis.

John McLarty: Well, we use that word in, you know, today’s English. You know, you might worship your wife or you worship sports. You’re devoted to it, your life’s centered around it. But that’s kind of where we’re going with this is what is your life centered around is what you worship.

Kimberly Faith: And it’s not, just to be clear, it doesn’t mean that I can’t practice law. I can. It’s just putting it, I think it was CS Lewis who talked about reordering your loves, which is an excellent way to think about it. And so kind of the verse we’re going to use is our theme verse is out of Exodus 20:3 that says, you shall have no other gods before me. And, you know, this is I think in the context of the old testament, when I typically have read that verse, I’m thinking of the gods they used to worship like Asheroth or Baal or, you know, these foreign pagan gods. But it’s so interesting that we really create gods all the time that are just like these gods, and they’re mentioned specifically in the Old Testament. Because it goes back to what are we thinking about the most, what are we worrying about the most, what are we focused on, what do our actions reveal about who we’re actually, or what we’re actually worshiping.

John McLarty: Well, I just thought of an example of that. You said it’s okay  to be a lawyer if that’s in the proper perspective.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: And I was just thinking about sports. For some reason, I just thought, well, it’s okay to be a sports fan. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: Like, you know, we’re both U of A graduates, so I follow the Razorbacks, and I want them to win. 

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: However, I know of others that all their whole life might revolve around

Kimberly Faith: They wear the Razorback shirt.

John McLarty: Razorback game. And then if the Razorbacks lose, their whole week is destroyed. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: And they’re just in a bad mood.

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: And you know? So, where does that spill over into worshiping rather than just, okay, I went to school here, or I might have known some players, I like the coach.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: But yeah, that’s very interesting. So it doesn’t mean worshiping as we’re about to discuss doesn’t mean you can’t follow a sports team.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. That’s right.

John McLarty: But it’s, you know, are we worshiping that sports team? It says, you shall have no other gods before me.

Kimberly Faith: Right. And Jesus, he echoed that in Matthew 22:37-38. He said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. You know, we’ve talked a lot about renewing our mind and transforming ourselves by the renewing of our mind. And the number one thing we need to review in our renewing of  our mind is to train our mind to love God with everything we have. That alone, like I mentioned CS Lewis, will reorder our loves. Because then if we’re a Razorback fan or we’re a Dallas Cowboys fan or we’re a Kansas City Chiefs fan or whatever, we don’t displace our emotional well-being. We don’t displace, it doesn’t train wreck our whole day if our team doesn’t do well. 

John McLarty:  Right. Or a money fan. We’re all focused on

Kimberly Faith: Earning money. I think it comes back to, does something that you have your identity in, like we call them sub identities. Okay? Does it affect your joy and your peace? You know? Or if your team loses, are you like you just said, well, you know what? That’s, better luck next time. You know? And then you go on. Because what’s our purpose in this world? It’s whatever whatsoever you do, whether you eat or drink, whatsoever you do, give, do all for the glory of God.

John McLarty: Right. And I think it’s really worth reading that verse again, Matthew 22:37-38. It’s so foundational. But it’s I mean, we read it and we’ve you know, some of us have memorized it. We’ve heard it so many times if you go to a good church. But you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. We talked about in a previous podcast, the renewing of your mind.

Kimberly Faith: Right

John McLarty:  So a mind focused on God. This is the first and great commandment. Just one of our great associate pastors, Pat Briney, this is really foundational. He says, if you have a problem in life, you probably don’t love God enough.

Kimberly Faith: That’s really good.

John McLarty: And it’s the solution to almost every dilemma.

Kimberly Faith: It’s not

John McLarty: Do you really love God? Do you really love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind?

Kimberly Faith: Well, and just to clarify, that doesn’t mean that Christians don’t have problems. It’s do you have a problem that you can’t seem to

John McLarty: That you yeah. That’s getting the best of you.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. That’s derailing you because we all have problems. But yeah, no, it’s 100% right because, I mean, I’ll just use some examples from my own life. When sports was my god, because I loved it, I was a competitor, you know? And for years I played volleyball, softball, and I would structure everything around my sports, my family life, everything. And I really loved it. And when I was injured, I felt like I’d lost a part of my identity. And what’s interesting about that is that when I had my third shoulder surgery and the doctor was like, You don’t have a rotator cuff anymore. You need to figure something else out.

I feel like God was so merciful to me. He had actually been working me into a place where that was not my primary identity. And I was shocked actually at how little I missed that identity. And it wasn’t because I did anything. It’s because I had been allowing God to transform my love for him you know, into now I will be the first to admit, I don’t even want to go see anybody play volleyball because then I’ll start wanting to do it again. You know? Which is terrible. But, like, you mentioned money. You know? When money was my god, I was working fifty hours a week and my children were thrust aside. When falling in love with a man was my god. It controlled my emotions. My whole day was devastated if I didn’t have, you know, the attention I thought I needed or if I’d been hurt. You know? And I mean, I’ve seen myself become a slave to these lesser gods.

John McLarty: Yeah. That’s interesting because the world does enslave us. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: These other gods. And, you know, that’s kind of like Satan’s MO. He wants to enslave us to whatever. And that’s so interesting because it could be sports. 

Kimberly Faith: Right. It could be losing

John McLarty: It might be drugs. It might be alcohol. 

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: It could be wealth. It could be your job, your career.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. We often look

John McLarty: Recreation.

Kimberly Faith: At a drug addict and say, oh, well, they obviously are enslaved to their drug. 

John McLarty: Right. 

Kimberly Faith: But then our children leave home, and we’re devastated because our greatest identity was in being a mom or a dad. I just cannot emphasize this in my own life for my own benefit enough. And for those who are listening that worshiping or making anyone or anything more important than God is an intensely destructive force. It will destroy your joy, your peace, your identity, and it’s so important. I mean, we always talk about this podcast, I am learning this. I am learning how much I have placed my identity into things besides God and given them priority over God. And, you know, it’s I mean, when my grand my first grandchild was born, and I couldn’t get enough of her. And God just like, well, you better be careful because if you’re going to spend all your time with your grandchild, you’re neglecting your ministry, your opportunities, and you’re going to rise and fall on how she’s doing. Right? Whether you’re with her or not. And so this study has helped me recognize when I start to love God less. And that’s beautiful to me. You know?

I don’t know if you, I mean, I don’t know if you remember. I’m sure you do Michael Phelps, the, you know, amazing swimmer, Olympic swimmer. And, you know, I mean, this happens especially in athletes that are very, very successful. But, you know, I heard this quote from him, he gave an interview in Swimming World magazine. He said, I used to hate who I saw in the mirror. The only thing I saw was a swimmer. I never saw myself as a human being. And as he transitioned out of, you know, the swimming, the level  of swimming, he says, now I’m able to see myself as a human being. It’s a completely different outlook in life. And I love myself. I like who I am.

John McLarty: That’s really interesting.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. It is very interesting because of course, that’s a more secular view. But I can tell you from experience that the more that I love God, the more I love who He made me. And that is phenomenal. I don’t have to be anyone else.

John McLarty: And we talked about this in the earlier podcast. Is the real you, who is that? 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: And we make that at points in our life, it’s the super lawyer or the super student or the super volleyball player. 

Kimberly Fatih: Right. 

John McLarty: But who are we in Christ?

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: And that’s a fascinating, I think we cover that up. But as it’s revealed, that’s the perfect us. That’s the in Christ us. And it’s the part of this that’s going to be the eternal us. And I think you said this, I’d like to discover more of that part of me, that central aspect of me in this life. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: And not have to wait till with the resurrected body to have it fully revealed.

Kimberly Faith: Why not just 

John McLarty: That’s really fascinating.

Kimberly Faith: It was funny. This morning, I took my first barre class and, never done barre before. And I’d signed up for the 8:30, but then I figured out I did the 9:30 and I got there. I was like, I’m sorry. And they went ahead and got me the 8:30 class. And it was such a God thing. I was next to this lady who was also from out of town, and, and we were talking, and her daughter runs track, NCAA track. And she was talking about how, I guess they’ve changed the NCAA rules where you have to apply for your scholarship every year. I didn’t even know that. And how much anxiety that was causing her daughter.

So this discussion for this podcast actually came up when I was doing this crazy workout. And I was asking her, I said, do you think that her strongest identity is in sports and that that is something that has the control to take away who she is. And she was really like, wow, I’d never thought about it. And I come to find out she’s a therapist. And so she actually teaches, you know, like married couples, she does married couples therapy, how to find an identity in a relationship together so when their kids leave, they’re not kind of drifting, right?

And so we got to talking about this, and it was very exciting to me because she was, you could tell as licensed therapist, she was actually thinking about this and said, You know, this podcast that we’re about to do is about anchoring our identity in the only thing that doesn’t change, and that’s God. And so anyway, this is a very organic discussion you can have with anybody. It doesn’t matter what you’re, I mean, we’ve talked about sports a lot, but I have clients who have been career military for thirty years. They get out and they’re drifting. They’re like, oh my gosh. I have just anchored myself for thirty years through mission, through brotherhood, or sisterhood. And retirement triggers this, who am I now? Big loss of community or sense of worth.

John McLarty: Well, that’s interesting. I was just thinking of a retirement example of what we’re talking about from our own life. It’s like, when Michael Phelps wasn’t a swimmer anymore, he had to readjust and he actually liked who he was. 

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: So before retirement from my day job, regional planning, which has now been about, let me think, yeah, almost ten years, actually ten years.

Kimberly Faith: Wow, dad. You look so young.

John McLarty: Of course we had A plus Mini Storage. Well, thank you. I eat healthy like my daughter has encouraged us to do. But, Lynn and I had, we were going to, one idea was to see all the national parks. And Lynn had two knee replacement surgeries, I had one, and we realized we’re not going to do that. And it was a little, that had become in a sense a god or something that we were going to focus our life around. And we had to adjust that we’re not going to do that. And the Lord just said, no, you’re not going to do that. And what we do with that time that we would have spent, and there’s nothing wrong, somebody wants to go visit every national park in their first ten years of retirement. But we just stayed here and went through an adjustment. And the Lord has just opened up so many ministries right here, not that we don’t do any traveling, but we had to adjust. And it’s kind of interesting that the Lord didn’t, we didn’t just like, you know Kim, we’re not so spiritual that the Lord could’ve, he could’ve, I guess, just shown us not to do that. 

Kimberly Fatih: Right.

John McLarty: But he kind of used limitations

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: That, you know, you wouldn’t even enjoy that, you know, all that traveling. So, you know, for people that have a goal and a lot of these, you talked about retirement, oh, when I retire, everything’s going to be great. Well, get ready, see, you say get ready for disappointment, but if your life is focused around God, it’s just open to what God has for you.

Kimberly Faith: You know, what you’re saying

John McLarty: And the plans of man are often overturned.

Kimberly Faith:  Well, and they’re made better.

John McLarty: And made better. Yeah. 

Kimberly Faith: I think this is the idea. It’s not depriving yourself of something 

John McLarty: No. 

Kimberly Faith: That you thought was going to be great, but it’s, it’s coming back to that verse in Ephesians that I love so much where Paul prayed that the Ephesians would have, you know, greater than they could ask for or imagine. And when I keep coming back to this C. S. Lewis quote about the, it’s from the book, The Four Loves, and it talks about, one of the quotes is, the rivalry between all natural loves and the love of God is something a Christian dare not forget. God is the great rival, the ultimate object of human jealousy. And this is why it is of such extreme importance to order our loves.  In other words, the tragic dilemma of choosing between God and a human or a career or whatever, that is a choice we make every day. And we tend to give our human love the unconditional allegiance that only belongs to God. And the thing is, I don’t want to present this as a bad thing. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s when we fall when in love with God so that he is, when we wake up in the morning, the first thing that we think about is, God, how can I glorify you today? Help me desire you today, which is one of the prayers I pray almost every day. Because I know my flesh. I know my tendency is to drop into like this whole fleshly love of, I say fleshly love, I’m talking about careers, our own children, our families, all the things that are not God, right?

John McLarty: Recreation.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. We tend and there’s nothing wrong with loving family, with loving children, with loving our job, with loving, you know, going to a workout, playing sports, whatever. It’s are those things subjected or subject, subjected? Subjugated. There’s the word.

John McLarty: Subjugated.

Kimberly Faith: To our love for God so that we’re willing to give those things up at a moment. If God says, nope. Today, we’re not doing this. We’re doing this. And the reason we are able to make that switch is because we know what, we know God well enough to know that what he has planned is better than what we have planned.

John McLarty: And there’s not one size fits all. I just thought of the example of Lynn and I’s desire to go see all the national parks. God could very well lead somebody to do that.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: And they’re ministering all along the way. They have these incredible ministries to fellow campers. But God clearly led us in a different direction. I think that the key is God has a better plan.

Kimberly Faith: He does. We talk a lot about knowing God for who he is, not who we’ve made him. And if we know that God, God’s plans you know, the book of Jeremiah, I know the plans that you have for me, right? And we talk about that. I love Psalms 16:11 that says, you will show me the path of life, in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. You know, when we, you mentioned my earlier comment about wanting to know who God made me now, and this is the key. If you are struggling with anxiety and feeling like you’ve been thrown off kilter because maybe all your children have left home, maybe your career is just, you feel like it’s a dead end, right? I’m going to just reassure you because this, and I don’t reassure you from a position of knowledge, I’m reassuring you from a position of experiencing it myself. The Bible is clear that when God’s presence is our greatest desire, he takes even the most, quote, dead end job, and he uses it for his glory and brings us the fullness of joy, the pleasure of the moment because we know who we are in Christ, and therefore, we know, that means we have to know him. And then he shows us, like you were talking about, you guys are living the fullest life ever, even though you’re not seeing all the national parks, right?

John McLarty: Correct.

Kimberly Faith: Why is that?

John McLarty: Number one, he showed us the path of life, and it was different than what we had thought. But in his presence is the fullness of joy. It’s just so full of joy to do what God called us to do. And it’s more home based, it’s more staying more around Northwest Arkansas and really focusing on our church family and our 

Kimberly Fatih: Ministry. 

John McLarty: Yeah, and our family family.

Kimberly Faith: Right. 

John McLarty: And, you know, we make trips to, you know, see you in Missouri and we go to Houston, but God just showed us, he shows us our path.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: That’s really interesting just for our listeners. He doesn’t want to hide that from us.

Kimberly Faith: Oh, that’s a great point.

John McLarty: He doesn’t want to make the path

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: He doesn’t want to hide it. If you want it, ask him. 

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. 

John McLarty: And he won’t make you like, it’s something you can’t find.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. That’s 100% true. And I think that, you know, we often are deluded by the false promises of the world that if we accomplish this goal or, you know, beat you or whatever, fitness goal, a career goal, a having children goal, whatever, that we’re going to have it all, right? But I just want to, you know, my personal experience is that these lesser gods poison us. I compare it to taking a viper to bed.

John McLarty: Good example.

Kimberly Faith: You know, if you’re sleeping with a viper, you’re going to have a lot of anxiety. You are not going to have a good night’s rest. You’re going to be wondering now what exactly am I doing with myself right now? Your joy is not, it’s going to be tied to the circumstances more than you know. And I think about when I have disordered my loves and made, I’ll just use my career as an example. When I have made my law practice, you know, what I’m thinking about the most , and I’ll just tell you the way I test myself is what am I worrying about? What am I worrying about? If I’m worrying about starting a business, if I’m worrying about, you know, how I’m going to accomplish a particular goal, how I’m going to win a case, how I’m going to, you know, deduce even a related project to gofaithstrong. How am I going to, you know, get better recording equipment? If I am worrying about those things, then I need to stop. Stop right then and say, okay, Lord, whose ministry is this? Whose law practice is this? This is yours. I’m going to just do what you want me to do today, and I’m going to drop that in your lap. That’s what it does, and the anxiety leaves.

John McLarty: Yeah. And one of the signs of worry is just excessive thought over something that, you know, I deal with this a lot, that you can’t even change right now.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: Even if you wanted to change something, you can’t right now. So why are you even thinking about it at 11:00 at night?

Kimberly Faith: Right. Or why are you waking up at 2AM?

John McLarty: Yeah. And that’s a good gauge. I think a lot of people can relate to that. But that’s an indication of just not giving everything to God. It’s a good mental checkup.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. And it also applies to things like somebody who’s offended you. You know, if that’s what’s waking you up at 2AM, then that’s creeping in, that thought, that inability to forgive is what’s becoming predominant. And it will destroy your identity. It will destroy your identity in Christ, not your salvation, of course, but just, it will rob you of who you’re supposed to be. Because then you’re going to be falling into a thinking pattern that is super unhealthy, bitterness and envy and strife and all those works of the flesh instead of the fruit of the spirit. So it’s so critical. And I just want to, let’s just go through some of the scriptures that we’ve kind of looked at about how God’s alternative, worshiping Him, satisfies and restores us. These are promises from God Himself. And I just want to start with, I think, Psalm 107:9. It says, he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Now think about that. That’s not the body. That’s the deepest part, that’s the real us.

John McLarty: And I think this is all a good contrast. We were just talking about somebody us being filled with anxiety and worry.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: And just, you know, because of the cares of this world. But the alternative is worshiping him satisfies and restores, and he satisfies the longing soul.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.

John McLarty: Psalm 107:9.

Kimberly Faith: It’s so interesting too how Jesus said in John 6:35, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. You know, obviously, if you’re not, if you’ve never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that’s going to have to be the first step to finding your true identity and your true object of worship. We’re incapable of really worshiping God and loving him with all of our heart, soul, and mind unless we first have been, our soul and spirit have been regenerated because we are dead. We’re dead to God. You know, the law of sin and death says the soul that sins shall die. And a dead person, a dead body cannot love anybody, cannot do anything to manifest love. A dead soul and spirit, that’s dead to a relationship with God, is not capable of worshiping God.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: That’s the first step. But then Jesus promise, he says, I’m the bread of life. You’ll never hunger and you’ll never thirst. Your soul, when we have our loves disordered, when we’re worshiping the wrong thing, then we’re starving ourselves of the only bread and water that satisfies our soul. That’s profound.

John McLarty: And a good question to ask ourselves is what’s our anxiety level?

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: So number one for a lost person, their anxiety level can only be resolved by that relationship with Christ. But then as a Christian, we fall back into, that’s renewing of the mind. But our anxiety, that life worshiping God, it’s not this terrible. Oh, I’m doing this out of duty and I hate it, but it’s the abundant life. It brings relief from anxiety. 

Kimberly Faith: It does. We’ve used this example before that certain things are created for certain acts, right? My vehicle is created for driving on a road, a little bit off roading maybe because it’s four wheel drive, but it’s not created to go in the ocean. You know? And so when we think about what Ephesians

John McLarty: Designed for a certain function.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. And Ephesians 2:10 says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Oh my gosh. I just think about, I wonder what good works God has prepared for me today.  I mean, I need to think more that way. Like, okay, God, what have you got for me today? I don’t want to miss a thing, right?

John McLarty: And then that brings us joy when we come across that.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned how when God is the center of our worship and thus the creator of our identity, it takes our anxiety down to a very manageable level because we all have some level of anxiety. I’m not saying I walk around without anxiety. It’s manageable because God never gives us more than he can handle. You know? It’s so amazing to see. I cannot even tell you how many times during the day when I put God in charge of my life, I see him handle things. I’m learning to thank him for things that didn’t happen. Like, you know, I drove back from Fort Campbell, Kentucky last weekend, and I was laying in bed saying, God,  I thank you I didn’t hit a deer because I think I hold the record of killing deer with my vehicle.

John McLarty: I think you do too.

Kimberly Faith: I mean, it’s like, you know, what am I up to? Ten now? I was like, Lord, you know, you I thank you for that, you didn’t put a deer in my path. Thank you that I didn’t get a flat tire. That’s happened too. I thank you, Lord, that, you know, I didn’t lose cell phone reception. I was able to have a ministry conversation with this person. Just all the things that didn’t go wrong. When we have our identity in Christ, we realize how big he is and how much he’s working to bring us into these good works that he prepared. So, you know, it’s very exciting to me because nobody has arrived in knowing their true identity in Christ. We’re not going to until we lose this body of flesh. But we can know as much as we can now about the identity God has had, that God has for us if we will just worship the Lord.

John McLarty: Focus on him, and that is a fascinating thought, kind of our God centered identity.

Kimberly Faith: Oh, that’s good.

John McLarty: And I think our flesh covers that up so much.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes.

John McLarty: And, you know, we were, in a sense, we worship our flesh and our, you know? And through that, we worship all these other things because the flesh thinks it’s going to get some kick out of it.

Kimberly Faith: I like that you said that because I never thought about really worshiping the flesh, but that is really true. We choose either eternal God or our corrupted flesh, And every decision we make comes down to that. And Jesus said, he said, you’re either for me or against me. There’s no middle ground, you know?

John McLarty: Well, and a gauge of that is what controls our time, our thoughts, our energy.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: Where do we put our focus? And how much of that is just on our flesh?

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: And that is in a sense worshiping our flesh. My flesh wants this. My flesh wants that. 

Kimberly Faith: I like to think of things very graphically because my brain works better that way. I think about if I were offered two choices at dinner, a juicy steak or a rotten liver. It wouldn’t be hard for me to make that choice. But that is just about as graphic as it gets when it comes to what we are offered, worship God. We’re offered the most brilliant life, the most satisfying life, the most joyful life, the life that overflows with so much love. We have to give it away constantly because we can’t keep it to ourselves. And this worship, people talk about having good energy, right? Worshiping God is the only force that actually heals us, restores us, transforms us. Worshiping God puts our heart, mind, and soul into alignment with him. And then

John McLarty: I like that term alignment. You think of your car needing tune ups.

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: Worship tunes up our spiritual life.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. And our anxiety loses its grip because God’s never anxious. He doesn’t have an anxiety problem. He’s already there in whatever we’re anxious about. Our relationships are healthier because we know that no matter what happens with any relationship, our purpose is to glorify God. And we just allow him to sort things out. It’s such a great place of rest to be. And no matter what our circumstances are, God is still able to give us joy because he doesn’t change. We have the most incredible anchor and security and hope amidst any storm. You know, I’ve mentioned this before, but I had a pastor friend and his wife who are real close friends of mine, young people who just went through a total horrible scare when he was hospitalized with leukemia and, or lymphoma, excuse me. And, I mean, there were a lot of people praying for him, but their testimony through that, was a testimony they could have never had if they never experienced it. And in our podcast about pain and suffering, we talk about this. But because their greatest identity was in Christ, they were given this opportunity to minister in ways that they would have never had.

John McLarty: That’s a great example. And blessings for them for being able to do that.

Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. And as a practical matter, the way we use worship to form our identity is first by being born again. And then all the things we’ve talked about on these podcasts all the time like join a good church and serve.

John McLarty: Right.

Kimberly Faith: Daily quiet time, daily deep bible study, having, you have to serve. You have to get involved. You know, it’s kind of like a true manifestation of love, God’s love is selflessness. And the indicator, the prime indicator that you are living in worship is when the love that God gives you, you can’t keep to yourself. And love manifests itself in service, discipleship, you know, maybe teaching a Sunday school class, maybe ministering to your neighbor. There’s a myriad of opportunities. And what that does is we’re giving away what we have been given of God, and our identity is strengthened in Christ.

John McLarty: And really the gold standard is that verse we started with, Matthew 22:37 and 38. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. 

Kimberly Faith: Yes. 

John McLarty: That’s a challenge. 

Kimberly Fatih: It is. 

John McLarty: And the more we do that, like you just said, the more others see Jesus in us.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: And that’s a blessing to us and we can minister to others. 

Kimberly Fatih: Yeah. 

John McLarty: Because people are attracted to the love of Jesus that we can have for them, but through the Lord, it’s all Him.

Kimberly Faith: It’s all Him. Yeah. I think about

John McLarty: And if we focus on Him, worship is focusing on Him, Say, Lord, let that part of me come out and rule.

Kimberly Faith:  I love that. I think about Nehemiah 9:6, it says, You alone are the Lord. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, and with all their hosts, the earth and everything in it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The host of heaven worships you. You know, I wanted to, in this podcast, just encourage, I wanted to encourage myself, encourage each other to get lost in Jesus because that’s where people are going to find God.

John McLarty: Amen. Very good.

Kimberly Faith: Are you looking for a place to recharge your faith, refocus your mind, and reignite your passion for Christ? Head over to gofaithstrong.com, your one stop hub for powerful devotionals, life giving podcasts, uplifting worship music, and real stories from real people walking their faith out just like you. We know life gets busy and it’s easy to feel spiritually drained. That’s why everything we create at Go Faith Strong is designed to be clear, Christ centered, and easy to plug into. Whether you’ve got just five minutes or you have a whole hour.

From Bible based blog posts to worship music, it’s all there to help you stay connected to truth throughout your week. So take a moment today, visit us at gofaithstrong.com and dive into the resources that were made just for you because faith isn’t meant to be passive, it’s meant to be lived. And we’re here to help you live it strong. Again, that is gofaithstrong.com. And don’t forget, hit that like, follow, and share button for the podcast.