There’s a profound difference between how you see yourself outside of Christ and who you actually are in Him. Understanding this distinction could be the key to unlocking the person you were truly born to be.
State vs. Standing: Two Different Realities
Your state is how you see yourself outside of Christ. Often, we see ourselves as weak, powerless, incapable, inadequate, or as victims. But your standing is who you actually are in Christ, your truest identity. You’re strong, powerful, favored, accepted, beloved, and anointed.
In your state, emotions get overwhelmed by negativity and caught up in mental filters through which you view your world. In your standing, the passion of Christ for you empowers your emotions as you understand how He thinks of you. In Christ, you’re aligned with the Father’s perception of Jesus in you.
This plays out everywhere in your life, especially in business. You’re going to face trials, rejections, betrayals, and people talking behind your back. I once had a paying member of my group who took clips of my videos every day and posted them on her “I Hate Ray Higdon” YouTube channel. My team wanted to boot her out, but I said, “Well, she’s paying, so it’s okay.”
Why Criticism Doesn’t Have to Destroy You
When someone bashes you, some people will ignorantly agree without any additional information. But there are also people with discernment who will actually look you up and become fans or followers because they see through the negativity.
That’s why I’m never defensive when someone decides to talk bad about me, post things about me, or make stuff up. It gives me a target to pray for. I don’t tell them I’m praying for them, I just do it. “Father, thank you for blessing them. Father, thank you for helping them locate what it is that they actually love.”
That’s a great prayer for people. If you see someone always talking about what they hate and what they’re bashing, pray for them and thank the Father to show them what they would actually love. The world needs more love, and a Christ-like response to hate is to see that person as a valuable soul and pray for their blessing.
Heaven Is Attracted to the Jesus in You
Everything comes to you because all of heaven is attracted to the Jesus in you. That’s the best place in the world to stand: in this grace in which we stand in Christ. Heaven is attracted to us, the kingdom wraps around us, and all the permissions of God are “yes and amen” in Jesus.
Do you know that? The Bible tells you that everything is “yes and amen.” So stop waiting for God to give you permission and just know He already did. He told you everything in Christ is “yes and amen.” If He wants to divert you, He’ll throw up a roadblock or shut a door, but by default, you have permission.
Instead of “I sure hope He tells me what to do today,” remember that everything in Christ is “yes and amen.” Go do that thing you have permission to do while staying connected to Him in prayer and seeking His guidance.
Don’t Let Circumstances Challenge Your Beliefs
One of the biggest issues Christians have is allowing their circumstances to overwhelm their belief. Wherever you’re afraid is where you don’t see God as being big enough.
In “The House of David” on Amazon Prime, there’s a powerful scene where Jonathan tells David he can’t beat Goliath because he’s a giant. David responds, “Am I the only one that remembers the stories of old of God overcoming amazing things? My God is bigger than him. Am I the only one that realizes that?”
When Jonathan says he doesn’t know if God is with them, David responds with something powerful: “God isn’t with us while we’re cowering. He’s with us when we go and move forward.”
That was true in the Old Testament, but now it’s even better. God is with us on our worst days and our best days. He’s with us when times are tough and when times are fantastic. When you pray, you’re not praying to Him from a distance, you’re praying with Him. We co-labor with Christ. His yoke is easy, His burden is light because we’re attached to Him.
The Power of the Right Questions
When you’re in a trial, challenge, or difficult situation, ask this powerful question in prayer: “God, who do you want to be for me in this situation? Who do you want to be for me that you couldn’t have been for me without this situation?”
God loves your battles with the flesh because He loves to be your deliverer, your chain breaker, your giver of freedom, your redeemer. Redeeming isn’t the same as restoring. Redeeming is as if you never slipped, as if you never screwed up.
What if all your circumstances are really a source of strength? What if God is using a bad situation to strengthen your faith? What if His agenda is allowing this to strengthen who you are, to teach you patience and perseverance?
Challenge Your Circumstances with Your Identity
When facing trials, don’t look at the circumstance and let it crush you. Look at two things: What’s your identity, and who is God for you?
My identity: I’m a bold, loving, authentic man of God. Who is God for me? Because of Christ that lives in me, I have all of heaven’s favor attracted to me. I have every spiritual blessing because of whose I am.
What possible circumstance could mess me up with the Lord at my right hand? I will not be shaken. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. These are things you should be saying more often than focusing on the problem.
Use Your Circumstances, Don’t Let Them Use You
We’re not used by our circumstances, we use them. God uses them. What was meant for evil, God uses for good. If Joseph wasn’t sold into slavery, Jacob and all his sons might have died in the famine. If you didn’t go through that thing, you wouldn’t be equipped to help who you can help now.
You’ve got to step forward into the mind of Christ and ask different questions of the Holy Spirit, who loves questions. Never tolerate a divided self. Decide who you’re going to be in the spirit, then realize all your life circumstances are designed to strengthen that identity.
Put On the New Self
Ephesians 4:22-24 says you were taught to “put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
A deceitful desire is a life filled with ease, no problems ever, no obstacles, all results with no lessons, all treasure with no discipline, all rewards with no upgrades. When Samuel told David he was going to be king, God didn’t hand him a crown, He handed him Goliath.
You may not get your deceitful desire of wanting everything easy. You may need your Goliath, or maybe you’re in your Goliath right now and just need to look at it differently.
Colossians 3:9-10 says the same thing: “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.”
You Were Born for Excellence
If the Holy Spirit moved you, if God put you in His book of life and you were called to accept Christ, then you were born to be more than a conqueror. You were born to be absolutely excellent. You are the chosen. That’s an incredible standing if you choose to stand in it.
This applies to business, relationships, personal life, and personal discipline. Stop asking, “Lord, please help me be more disciplined.” Instead say, “Father, thank you for helping me delight in being disciplined. Thank you for helping me delight in Your word. Thank you for helping me delight in praying to You.”
When you delight in something, discipline becomes natural. Focus on delight rather than forcing yourself through things you hate, and watch how God upgrades every area of your life.
You get to choose who you become. Choose to become who you were born to be: a new creation, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
