What if the best pastoral ministry is establishing the identity in others that God has when He looks at them? Remember, that when God looks at us He doesn’t see anything wrong with us.
He sees what’s missing from our experience of Him and He’s committed to giving it to us.
So how can we partner with friends and with Him in providing what’s missing? My first question to people I’m working with is, “What are your ‘inheritance words? Do you have any passages of scripture that God has given you? Let’s start by looking at those because they will describe your permissions and your promises.” It’s the opening move of establishing your identity: to look at who people are, who they are becoming and then focus on that and start moving in that direction. As we do, we fill up on who God is for us in this place, making it much easier to see His provision, not just our lack.
It’s the difference between baggage and luggage.
People come to us with baggage and we get to help them discover the luggage of their promises in Christ. I remember someone saying about a friend of mine, “Well, she’s got a lot of baggage.” And my response was, “But what if she doesn’t?
What if she just has luggage that she hasn’t unpacked yet?”
Who wants to walk around with the baggage that the world, the flesh and the devil have given to us? It would be like letting your worst enemy pack your bags for your vacation. You arrive in the Florida Keys, in your brilliant hotel room facing the beach, ready to go for a swim. You open your bags, only to discover that they are filled with arctic polar wear! That’s baggage! Old mindsets and beliefs about yourself and God that aren’t going to be helpful to where you go next.
Do you know what your luggage is? Your luggage is the promises you’ve never studied; those scriptures that you’ve never unpacked.
In those scriptures God has made leap off the pages over the years, He’s packed our luggage full of the promises of who we are in Christ. He has described how He sees who you are and who you are becoming.
Beloved, what we focus on we give power to. Every company of believers is accelerated when we focus most on unpacking God’s luggage for us and for each other.
So what baggage are you carrying that you’re ready to leave behind? What old ways of thinking about God and yourself are no longer helpful on your journey? And what promises and scriptures, hopes and dreams has God packed in your luggage?
It’s a great exploration that will bring momentum not only to the church, but to your life with Him.
PS) Are you ready to unpack your luggage and create a movement in your church? If so, my teaching, Creating Momentum in the Church, will help you in this process. Click here to get your copy on CD or MP3 now.
