Written By: Anna Peterson
Photo By: Bobby Hasbrook
Ephesians. 2:4-6
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show you the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Read the last bit of that verse a couple more times. “Raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” God has been teaching me lately how the things we believe about ourselves truly manifest in how we walk and interact with the world. It reminds me of how powerful your mindset can be when surfing.
I have had plenty of surf sessions where my mental game is just so bad, feeling discouraged and dwelling on mistakes. I will literally be paddling for waves while thinking, “I’m not gonna catch this.” And I can 99% guarantee you that every wave that I have paddled for while thinking that, I did not catch them! We all have our bad thoughts while surfing, which I’m sure we’ve seen get in the way of our performance. It’s the power of your mindset and what you believe. It’s crazy how much it translates into the way you act and live.
Similarly, I have found God teaching me again and again how important it is to be aware of what I am believing about myself and my identity. In my personal walk with Jesus, one of the biggest things He has rescued me from has been the uncertainty of my identity. A secure identity in Christ is something available to all of us, and it produces this grounded feeling of knowing who we are and where we are positioned. If I ever find myself feeling lost and unsure of myself, I am thankful to have an entire book filled with truths that God speaks over me. One of these is that I am seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
What does this even mean? It means that we can walk with confidence and authority, knowing we don’t have to walk around trying to prove ourselves to anyone. And that by grace, we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, as a gift not based on anything we earn or do. When we choose to truly believe this truth about who we are and where we are seated, it changes the way we interact with the world. It produces confidence and a security that frees us up to want to love others and be aware of their needs rather than being consumed trying to meet our own.
Receiving and believing this truth about our identity and position in Christ dramatically changes the way we walk as Christians. We can walk in humility, knowing we have not earned this position, yet with confidence, knowing the authority Jesus has freely given us.
