Identity Advantage with Daphne Delay

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:24-25).

If we would view our life as a seed, then the words of Jesus make more sense. A single seed can never produce a harvest if it remains alone. But if it dies (if it's given to God) then it produces a great harvest!

And whereas it's hard to understand the instruction to "lose our life," the truth is God only wants you and I to love our life less than we love Him. And the end result is worth it!

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?" (Mark 4:13).

What a statement by Jesus. He was referring to the parable of the sower. If we don't understand that parable, how will we learn anything from the other parables?

In this week's episode of Identity Advantage, Daphne explains the parable of the sower AND gives easy points on how to have and maintain the good heart Jesus encouraged us all to have.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24).

It's hard to fathom sometimes that someone would step in and willingly take our punishment. But as you know, that's exactly what Jesus did for us all.

There is a grace that justified us. Grace, by definition, is divine, unmerited favor, available to the sinner for salvation and the redeemed for victorious living. The key word here is available. Jesus took our place whether we want to accept it or not.

On this week's podcast, we look at the story of Barabbas -- and how much we have in common with him.

"Whenever our hearts makes us feel guilty and remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more merciful than our conscience and He knows everything there is to know about us" (1 John 3:20, TPT).

It's good to have self-awareness (one definition of conscience). But don't forget God is greater than our worried hearts! In other words, God can use our conscience by means of "healthy guilt" to prompt us down the right road.

But God's greater purpose is that it will produce greater confidence in us! This is why the Bible says "When our hearts don't condemn us, we have bold freedom to speak face-to-face with God!"

Tune in to learn more!

"But to you who fear My name, the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves" (Malachi 4:2).

This week we're talking about coming out from behind a facade. The definitions of facade describe the front or public view of a building. And isn't that a lot like people? Many live temporarily, or sometimes permanently (their entire lives) behind a facade (an illusion of what they want others to see).

But God's Word says we can know who we are -- without inferiority! We can be restored and healed, set free from bondage, stand whole, even in our honest reflection of the moment (of how we feel or the situation we're facing).

"O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge" (1 Timothy 6:20).

I have this wooden plaque in my house that reads:

Be careful what you think.
Your thoughts become your words.
Your words become your actions.
Your actions become your habits.
Your habits become your character.
Your character is everything.

In other words, as Proverbs tells us: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (23:7), we are what we think about -- we become what we allow in or out of our thought life. And in order to grow in our identity in Christ, we must act like the doorkeeper of our thoughts.

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"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26).

In order to understand the value God puts on a soul, it would be good to understand: what is a soul? The Bible, both Old and New Testament, describes it as our personality -- more specifically, our mind, will, and emotions.

Before salvation, our body contained our soul with an empty spirit. But after salvation, our body contains our spirit (where Christ abides) with an ever-renewing soul -- meaning our soul must now come under submission to our spirit. However, God never wanted us to lose our personality (soul) because it's valuable to God!

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"Then he carefully unveiled to them the revelation of himself throughout the Scripture. He started from the beginning and explained the writings of Moses and all the prophets, showing how they wrote of him and revealed the truth about himself" (Luke 24:27, TPT).

Jesus undoubtedly knew who He was. But we find others, like the Apostle John, who also knew who they were (and who they were not).

When you and I can find ourselves in the scriptures, and make a bold confession of who we are, we become living expressions of Christ on the earth! And not only that, but the Bible says when you know who you are, the darkness cannot diminish your light!

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"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe --and tremble!" (James 2:19).

Can you imagine the impact on our world if Billy Graham had chosen to step out of ministry when he was distraught over the possibility that the Bible wasn't true? Many lives would have been lost. But thankfully, he made a decision to believe the Bible was God's Word BY FAITH.

And the same is true for us. If the devil can stop our faith, he can plagiarize our identity and stop all furtherance of faith by works.

The best compliment I ever received was, "You believe this stuff!" My answer was, "Why, yes I do!" And it made all the difference in my life and ministry.

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"Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love with are in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 1:13).

Let's talk about the power of your words -- TO YOURSELF -- because words are either bullets (that damage) or seeds (that produce).

Words matter, so how we talk to each other reveals the abundance of what actually fills our heart. And if we turn the tables and not just look at words as something we speak to others, but realize how we speak to ourself also matters, then we'll find it much easier to choose words of grace.

So remember, believe the best and forgive the rest (and let your words reflect this).

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