Living Fearless by Jamie WinshipSampel

Action

If you are abiding by God, paying attention, being aware, and responding to His annunciations, you will engage in meaningful and transformative actions. This is what Jesus modeled. How did Jesus know to do and say the things He did? He could hear and see the Father.

How do we come up with new ideas about politics, religion, education, art, physics, culture, foreign policy, immigration, and so on? We have the mind of Christ and the Spirit of the living God dwelling in us. We have this great inheritance.

The difference between the ideas that come from God and those from someone who’s just really good at coming up with them is that God’s ideas transform the people involved. The ideas and resulting actions are redemptive.

Action begins in small steps. David learned by doing. As a young boy he learned to watch sheep, write poetry, and throw stones at enemies. These are the practices of a person whose identity is shepherd-poet-warrior-king.

Calculating and without drama, at age seventeen, David analyzed the current challenge of Goliath and weighed it against his training in smaller, less risky scenarios. He decided he was prepared and ran to the battle. Did you catch that, he ran! He defeated the giant Goliath in a matter of minutes. Because of his courage and faith in who he is and who God is, David finally becomes king at age thirty.

At age fifty-one, however, David abandons his true identity to sit at home and play video games on the roof of his house. He is a shepherd-poet-warrior-king, but when he’s not operating in his true identity, he’s lazy, isolated, and powerless. In this frame of mind, he sees Bathsheba and down he goes. That’s how fast the enemy can get you.

David is out of commission for two years. That’s why walking and talking with the Lord every day is so important. “God, what do you call me? Say it again. I want to hear you say it again.” And when you doubt, “Lord, what do you call me? You do not call me this. What do you call me?”

Let him speak to you and then you’ll know what to do in your true identity; you’ll know the action steps you need to take. Remember: attention, awareness, annunciation, and then action.

Is the greater threat to your true identity from within yourself or from others, even those closest to you? The mistakes of Moses and David never stole their true identity. God is always faithful to restore a repentant heart.