Hello New You!

Last night, we kicked off our "Soul Clinic" series which is focused on healing but also so much more. God's ultimate vision for us is not just to heal us so we can be "normal" again but to take us far beyond that. The passage we focused on was in Judges 6, the story of Gideon, a farmer's son living in Israel during the time of the Midianite occupation. Verse 11 and following says that a angel came and sat down near Gideon and greeted him by say, "The Lord is with you, O mighty warrior!" Nothing in the story would lead us to believe that anything about Gideon was mighty or militant and yet the angel greets with the name "Mighty Warrior." Gideon was just as baffled as we are by the salutation and endeavors at that point to correct the angel is his obvious error.

But was the angel mistaken or was he just privy to things about Gideon that even Gideon was not yet aware of? Gideon does go on to defeat the Midianites and save Israel in quite a "might warrior-ish" way. So it would seem that Gideon was the one mistaken in the first place.

As we think about God's vision for our lives we should have a similar sneaking suspicion that God may know things about our true identity and potential that we are not yet aware of. If God came to us today with a new name, a name that spoke to our destiny in this life, would we balk like Gideon did, like Abraham did, like Moses, Mary, and so many others did? Or would we take in good confidence that God is seeing us not only as who we are but also as the person we're becoming?

Today you may doubt how extraordinary you are but God doesn't. I believe that, for many Christ followers, God has already laid a vision on your heart of what your life should be about. For those that haven't received that from God, Christian or not-yet-Christian, he is faithful to provide that if you pursue him and listen. My prayer for you today is that you have the wisdom the hear God's calling on your life, his vision for who you are, and that you would have the courage to pursue that new identity.

Greetings, extraordinary person! The world is waiting for you.