Summer Faves: Living Fearless

“You have heard it said…”

What narratives have I been living out in my life?

We are shaped by our stories. In fact, our stories, once in place, determine much of our behavior without regard to their accuracy or helpfulness. Once these stories are stored in our minds, they stay there largely unchallenged until we die. And here is the main point: these narratives are running (and often ruining) our lives. That is why it is crucial to get the right narratives.

-James Bryan Smith (Good and Beautiful God)

I have heard…

My hearing has led to…

If you haven’t figured it out yet, people will do anything to make sure their voice is .

If you haven’t figured it out yet, people will do anything to make sure you hear his voice.

“So take seriously the story that God has given you to live. It’s time to read your own life, because your story is the one that could set us all ablaze.”

Dan B. Allender, To Be Told: Know Your Story, Shape Your Future

But I say to you…

What are you to hear?

Fear the narrative of our lives.

Story of Moses

Exodus 3

New International Version

Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

 

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

 

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

 

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

 

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

 

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

 

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

 

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

 

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.[c] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

 

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[d] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

 

“This is my name forever,

    the name you shall call me

    from generation to generation.

 

16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

 

18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

 

21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

What narrative does Jesus need to untie in your life?

The House Picture

Matthew 7:24-27 (Amplified Bible)24 “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man [a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man] who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish (stupid) man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great and complete was its fall.”

“What is your identity?”

“What lies have I believed?

“God, what do you need me to know about those lies?”

• Beloved
• Abide

Abiding is the most important position as we learn to live out our identity .

“One of our greatest failures in our busy, driven culture is that we don’t celebrate the temporary untying of a complex narrative…What is your style of celebrating an ending? Do you only throw large parties after someone graduates, gets married, or dies? If so, all the other endings in your story are lost in the wake of another day’s busyness.

Perhaps one of the reasons you and I don’t party well, is that we don’t know what to do with the tragedies that linger in our lives…Can you imagine receiving an invitation to “JOIN ME IN A CELEBRATION OF NO LONGER BELIEVING I’M STUPID”?We don’t allow endings to be noted, let alone celebrated. Therefore, we never allow denouement to invigorate the upward movement of a new story.”
Dan B. Allender, To Be Told: Know Your Story, Shape Your Future

Who do you say I am?

• Discerner
• Awakener
• Resourcer
• Restorer
  

What does God want to say to you?

 

Resources:

Books:

Living Fearless – Jamie Winship (https://shorturl.at/oMLG2)

Good and Beautiful God – James Bryan Smith (https://shorturl.at/odtw0)

To Be Told – Dan Allender (https://shorturl.at/ZTlyt)

Podcast:

Jamie Winship Podcasts

Win Today Podcast – Episodes 226, 282, 298, 327, 374 (https://wintoday.tv/episode226/)

Inherent Identity – Episodes 128, 129, 130, 131 (https://shorturl.at/8i9x2)

L3 Leadership Podcast – Episode from 12-26-23 (https://shorturl.at/iMIcX)