The Balance of Being & Doing

James 1:19
¹⁹ Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving];

There is great healing found in "being". People won't care what I do as much as they will be concerned about my being who I say I am. 

My doing must have it's root system founded on being who God says I am.  

It's easy to get caught up in the doing of a thing and lose sight of who we are meant to be. Jesus did what He saw His Father doing. His true identity was caught up in the fact of simply being who His Father desired Him to be. 

My identity is not wrapped up in the doing of a thing. Just because I can do a thing doesn't exempt me from the integrity of being. If my doing doesn't measure up to the being, it will have a very destructive nature and do more harm. 

There are seasons to be doing but there are also seasons to be sitting and resting, listening and learning. These seasons of sitting may feel like the wilderness to us but they are vital to our growth and maturity, Don't despise those wilderness seasons...they are necessary. 


Galatians 6:9Amplified Bible (AMP)
9 Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in. 

Let's not forget to "be" in the midst of our "doing".

Some versions say: BE not weary in well DOING....

When I am weary, I need to pull aside and listen and hear and love and believe. I encourage you if you are in this kind of season, there be no shame in waiting and listening and hearing and loving and believing, and receiving.

Who Am I? The Discovery of Whose I Am

I have spent a lifetime wondering, searching, asking myself “Who am I?” I think this question is something we all have asked at some point in our lives. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if I’ve been asking the wrong question.

This is a powerful question to ask. We all want to know what we are to do with our lives. We all want to move forward in life. We must understand that there definitely is something to be treasured on the inside. There are gifts inside of you that are meant for the world in which you live. This world is your family. This world is your friends, your work, your church, your community. These gifts aren't meant to be hoarded. These gifts need to be mined out.

In order to understand what we have and who we are will require us to know Whose we are. This is going to be the main thought that we will continue to come back to.

We belong to God. We were created by God for God. We were created for relationship. Can we know God?

We have a Book that tells us we can know God. In this Book, we find men and women, like you and I who knew God in a way that is profound. We must realize that they weren't any more special than you and I. These were people who had an encounter with God that utterly changed their lives. With this change came the idea that once you've experienced a relationship like this, you wouldn't want to go back.

The beginning of this human experience shows us that man knew God. Adam knew God. Eve knew God. They experienced His presence. They heard His Voice. They loved God. Along the way though, they lost sight of identity. They began to question their identity.

The moment I begin to question who I am, is because I have lost sight of Whose I am. I lose sight of belonging. When I keep asking the question of “who am I?”, my focus is on me. I’ll never find the answer to this question in myself. This question leads to asking other questions: Am I loved?  Am I accepted? Am I wanted?

From that point till the present, man has been questioning their identity. They have wondered who they are. We will never truly understand who we are until we answer the question of who I belong to. Whose am I?

This is why Jesus came...to restore to us our identity, who we are. Jesus, when He walked the Earth, knew who He was because He knew Whose He was. He knew He came from the Father. He understood that God was with Him, God was in Him, God was for Him. He came to show us that. God is with you, God is in you (if you've asked Jesus into your life), and God is for you.

What happens when you know WHOSE you are?

1. There comes a peace. - The world desires peace from the struggle. We are all in a war, every human being. We were thrown into this war not by our personal choice but from the choice of one man. When you know WHOSE you are, there is a peace that passes all understanding. That's not to say you won't struggle from time to time but you will be in a place to trust and believe in God.

Romans 15:13

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

   

2. There comes a joy. -Everyone seeks to be happy but happiness comes and happiness goes. There is a joy that lasts. There is this sense of no matter what comes along, you can be found in a place of joy which will confound the wisest soul.- The Joy of the Lord is my strength. - Nehemiah 8:10

3. There comes a rest. -Rest is so important. Rest is not inactivity. Rest is a state of mind. It's a confidence in knowing that you are in the palm of the hand of God.    

4. There comes a confidence. - This confidence is based in the trust that God is working in you, changing you to be all you were meant to be.  Jesus prayed, “I know you hear me when I pray.” There was no doubt in His mind that     God not only heard His prayer but God would do something.
       

This sounds wonderful, doesn't it? This sounds like the fix to all the world's problems. If we got back to our Source, who is God, world peace would be attainable. Joy would be a blessing. Rest would be a constant and a confidence would be amazing.

So, how do we get to the place where we know WHOSE we are?

This is where we have to make a choice. It doesn't come easy. We have to understand that it's going to require us to pay a price. It's going to require us to leave the baggage at the door. It's going to require us to lose more of self.

We Know Whose we are through pursuing a life after God. It's more than saying the sinner's prayer. That's just simply getting your foot in the door. We have to keep growing, keep seeking, keep pressing on.

We have to give all.. and keep giving all. We must not hold anything back. God, I want you!

And He says, “I want you...all of you. Not just what you think I want. Not just what you want to give Me. I want all of you.”

This is what Peter did. After he messed up, he went back to where he came from. He thought he was through. He thought life was over so he might as well go back fishing. Thankfully that day, the resurrected Jesus came to let Peter know that life was just beginning. He came to restore Peter. He came to show Peter Who he belonged to.

This was how Peter could boldly speak “Such as I have, I give you... In Jesus' name get up and walk!”

This was how Peter could preach and thousands give their lives to God.

This is how we live a life of victory... not bound to what was. When I know WHOSE I am, it breaks chains, causes prison doors to open, allows me to overcome and walk in a new and living way.

This morning, I sense in my heart that there are people here who if you can grab ahold of this thought, you will walk in a different way than you have ever walked before. You will experience such a deeper place in your relationship with God and with people. You will walk with a humble confidence and you will discover:

1. Whose you are
2. Who you are   
3. What lives on the inside of you... a new purpose, a new destiny, a new hope and a new future.

       

This is your time to really lean into the Lord, listen, hear and walk out what He tells     you. I really believe this has the potential to bring you and this church into a whole new level, a whole new place. When this person becomes confident in their relationship with God and another becomes confident in their relationship and then more people become confident in their relationship with God, it is like a fire that can't be stopped.