Greatly Loved

Scriptures: Romans 5:8, John 15:13, Psalms 18:19, Romans 10:9

Have you ever felt unseen, unwanted, unworthy, or unloved? If so, you’re not crazy, and you’re not alone. From the beginning of time, the Enemy of our souls has been fighting against us, knowing who we really are. 

He doesn’t want us to know we are Greatly Loved. Chosen. Wanted. And worth fighting for. He knows that if we discover who we really are, we will start to live it out confidently. It would change our perspective and posture, and the children of God living out their purpose poses the greatest threat to his plan. 

Perhaps you’ve been told that you’re not enough, not doing enough, or not as important as others. You can never be free from the pains of your past, or you’ll always be stuck in a cycle of just not making the mark. 

I have felt all of these things, too. I want to tell you what I wish someone would have told me years ago: You are more than you’ve been told. 

No one has the power to define you but the One who created you.

And God spends much time in the Bible telling us who we are. 

Throughout this 5-day plan, we will unpack nine names God calls us. 

As we see ourselves through the lens of our Creator, we will uncover who we really are and who we have always been.

For the one who feels unlovable, too broken, and like things in your past can’t be redeemed… you are more than you’ve been told. You are Greatly Loved.

Romans 5:8 states that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

We are so loved that even while we were against God, God was for us. Before we chose God, He chose us. While we were running away from Him, He was running after us. While we were doubting. While we were holding back or holding Him at arm’s length. He has such an over-the-top, never-quitting, and never-ending love for us that He sent His only son Jesus to die for us. 

Nothing you’ve ever done has made Him love you less. He loved you then. He loves you now. He’s never stopped loving you. He loves you while. 

He is available to you right now at this moment. He’d love to hear from you. 

Greatly Loved. That’s your name.

Friend, as we seek to expose the enemy’s lies and unlock God’s truths, here are some questions to ask: 

• Whose voices are the loudest in my life? 
• Whose opinion do I care most about? 
• Who once said something negative that shaped how I saw myself? 
• What authority do they have to define who I am? 

Here are some truths we will unpack: 

• We will not discover who we are through the broken lens of other people. 
• God’s voice must be the loudest voice in our lives. 
• God’s lens must be the lens that we see ourselves through. 

Don’t allow the Enemy to have victory over your identity or your life. Today, surrender the old names that have defined you for too long. Choose to engage in God’s Word and what God says about you. 

When you know who you are, it changes how you live.

Scriptures: Isaiah 62:2, John 15:15, 2 Corinthians 5:17

Can I be vulnerable with you? 

It was one of the most painful seasons of my life. 

I had been taken advantage of and stolen from. I felt ashamed. The people I thought would stay didn’t. The people I thought would defend me didn’t. I felt abandoned and unwanted. We had invested all our savings into a project we felt God had called us to, and for multiple heartbreaking reasons, it fell through. We lost all our savings and were left empty-handed, confused, and unsure about how to rebuild. I felt embarrassed and defeated.

Old wounds from my past began to resurface. I was in a spiral of defeat. I lost who I was. 

I had a choice to make. One you have too. 

Will we choose to let the opinions of others and the pain of our circumstances define us and control us? 

Or will we choose to fight for our minds, our mentalities, and our lives? 

Over time, I chose to fight for my life by fighting to spend real time with God.

Not quick and shallow time.

To get up from this place of defeat, I had to get real with God, surrender to Him, and truly fight to make God’s voice the loudest voice in my life. I started planning more and longer time with Him, praying very specific prayers, and slowly reading through His Word to discover what He says about me. 

As I started seeing myself through His lens, my weary soul came back to life. 

I don’t know what lies you have been told. But God has some other names for you. 

For the one who feels abandoned or alone… you are more than you’ve been told. Jesus calls you His friend (John 15:15).

He loves you, and He likes you. He is with you. He has your back. He’s on your side. He’s in your corner. 

Friend of God. That’s your name.

When you feel like you are stuck with your old names, your old mentalities, and the opinions of people… you are more than you’ve been told. You are called Brand New (2 Corinthians 5:17).

When we choose to follow Jesus for real and follow His ways, an entirely new life begins. We are not our old names. We are not our past mentalities. We are not our past mistakes. Following Jesus is a brand-new beginning. He shows us a lighter and freer way to live. 

Brand New. That’s your name.

During that painful season, I wrote a spoken word piece called “I Have a New Name,” declaring nine names God calls us. It’s a sneak preview of what God says about you. I pray it encourages you. 

May we know God’s words, declare God’s words, and live as who we really are. 

It’s time to get up from a place of defeat and fight to spend real time with God. 

You will discover who you really are when you spend real time with the One who knows you best.

Scriptures: Galatians 4:7, Galatians 3:26-29, John 8:34-36, Romans 8:10-11

Of all the names God has given us, Child of God has been the hardest for me to grasp fully. 

Perhaps it’s because my childhood felt like a rush to grow up, and I never fully understood what it would look like to live like a child. 

Does becoming like a child mean feeling safe and cared for without fear of the future? To be curious and take risks? To rest, be joyful, and free of the weight of the world?

That wasn’t my childhood. 

My dad battled addiction, fought in a gang, and lived with Hepatitis C. Someone introduced him to Jesus, and he changed his life around (praise God!). He started outreach on the streets of San Francisco to our friends living without homes and battling with addiction. I am proud of the streets I was raised on and amazed by what we saw God do, but it also came with a heavy childhood. At a young age, I saw people murdered in front of me, my parents both assaulted, and various drugs being sold and used. At 18 years old, my dad got cancer and passed away. 

I learned early to carry heavy responsibilities, deal with loss, be resilient, and work hard. There were positive sides to that, but also negative ones. I spent my early adult years weighed down by the pressure to be productive and in control, never taking breaks, stressed about the future, without any childlike wonder in my life. I deeply hurt some people along the way. 

These past few years, I’ve been on a journey of rediscovering what this one namereally means. 

For the one who has lived with the world’s weight on your shoulders… you are more than you’ve been told. God calls you His Child (Galatians 3:26).

Once we give our lives to Jesus, we are invited to relearn what it means to be a child. We can give Him the burdens we were never meant to carry alone. It turns out we are safer than we’ve ever imagined– to trust, take risks, take steps of faith, rest, enjoy, and celebrate just like children who are safe and loved. 

Child of God. That’s your name.

For the one who feels like you’ll never be set free from the shame of who you were or what you’ve done… you are more than you’ve been told. Jesus calls you Free, Indeed (John 8:36).

When we give our lives to Jesus, the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us. We have a new kind of posture, perspective, and power surging within us. 

If God is not enough to raise us from the dead, if He’s not enough to save us from our lives of sin, if He’s not enough to redeem us from all the places we’ve been, then He couldn’t have been enough to resurrect Christ. So we have been made alive, or Jesus is still dead. 

But since He is not— since the tomb is empty and no Savior’s bones are lying amongst a graveyard— we know that death has long been conquered. 

You are not chained to your past 

Free, Indeed. That’s your name.

Friend, you may be carrying burdens you don’t have to anymore. You may be living in chains you don’t have to live in anymore. 

Surrender them to God, and live as the free Child of God you really are.

Scriptures: Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Genesis 50:20

For years I believed the lie that I was not enough, my background was not enough, my family was not enough, and my real story was not enough. I felt like I was too different, and no one understood the real me. So I spent years trying to change who I was to fit into what I presumed was the mold. 

Have you ever felt like you need to downplay who you really are, where you’re really from, water down your details, or change who you really are to be accepted and effective in places God has put you? 

It turns out that’s what the Enemy hopes we do.

When we answer to the wrong names, we live out the wrong stories. The false stories we believe about ourselves can trap us in the wrong living patterns. 

The truth is that it’s your real background, story, and exact details that God wants to use for this exact moment in time. 

Of course, the Enemy wants to convince you that your details don’t have value. He can’t risk you discovering who you really are and living out your purpose. 

It’s time to unlearn the false narratives and live as who we really are. 

For the one who feels unworthy or less than… you are more than you’ve been told. God calls you His Masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10).

We are the handiwork of the Artist of the heavens and the earth. When artists create something, they are intentional with the details. Painters choose a particular brush to stroke a blank canvas. Poets select a specific structure to style a certain story. Dancers determine the best move for that one moment in that one song. Photographers and filmmakers search out the best possible frame, lighting, and textures to unearth the full story they intend to tell. 

Artists are detailed— dare I say, picky— and take their time to create a piece of work they are proud of. So much more was God’s intentionality when He fashioned us. He chose a certain brush, background, beat, frame, and texture to set your life up well for your good and His glory. 

You are a work of art meticulously made to accomplish the good works of God. You are no knock-off brand. You are fine art. You are bougie. You are an original, custom-made by the Creator of all things. 

God’s Masterpiece. That’s your name.

For the one who feels ashamed of your body because of what’s been said about it, what you’ve done with it, or what has been done to it… you are more than you’ve been told. You are called the Temple where the Holy Spirit lives (1 Corinthians 6:19).

No human can take away your built-in, God-given, intrinsic value. No matter who took advantage of you, who used their power to hurt you, and no matter what you feel you lost because of your choices, when you give your life to Christ, God’s Word calls your body the place where the Holy Spirit dwells. Your body is good. You have value. You have always had value. People don’t have the power to determine your ultimate worth, which also means they can’t take it away. 

You are not defined by what you did or what was done to you. 

God’s Temple. That’s your name.

Do not allow the Enemy to distort what God made good, for good things, and to bring Him glory. 

Today, invite God into the tender places of your story and ask Him to heal you. Pray that He gives you His lens of your life and your story.

Scriptures: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-4, 1 Peter 2:9, John 13:34-35, Acts 1:8

You don’t have to live so weighed down. God has so much more for you. God is inviting each one of us to know Him for real and to see ourselves through His lens. He wants us to live lighter and freer. 

Some of us have been living on autopilot– not engaging with God and not engaging with our lives. We feel like our lives are not as valuable as others, like we’re too different or not different enough. We feel unseen and unimportant. Don’t believe the Enemy’s lies. 

For the one who feels like an afterthought, a mistake, or second place… you are more than you’ve been told. God calls you Chosen (1 Thessalonians 1:4).

You’re not here by accident, because someone was fired, someone quit, someone died, or because someone made a mistake. You’re not here because God was creating a bunch of humans in bulk, and you happened to be in this generation’s shipment. You were chosen for this moment in time, right where you are, the way you are, because the Creator of the universe said it was important for you to be here. 

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul told us that we are all vital parts of the same body, the body of Christ. Verse 18 says “that God has meticulously put this body together; He placed each part in the exact place to perform the exact function He wanted.” 

This means God has intentionally placed you precisely where you are. Your function in your family is important. Your role in your friend group is important. Your personality is essential. God chose you for the people around you. Who you really are is a gift from God to the rest of us. 

Chosen. That’s your name.

For the one who feels ill-equipped to show the love of God in your everyday life, who thinks your story is not good enough, or your life could never make an impact… you are more than you’ve been told. Jesus calls you His Messenger to the world (Acts 1:8).

We are God’s Plan A– His best plan– to bring light to a dark world. 

The apostle Paul said, “Your life story confirms the life story of the Anointed One.” (1 Corinthians 1:6) 

It is your details, your story, your personality, and your life experiences that uniquely equip you to reveal the love of God in your real relationships. 

God’s Messenger. That’s your name.

As our devotional time together ends, I want to encourage you to keep fighting to spend real time with God. Keep fighting to spend time talking to Him, get real with Him, engage with His Word, and make His voice the loudest voice in your life. 

Today, I want to leave you with this truth: 

God is not just giving you a new name. He’s telling you who you always were. You’ve always been Greatly Loved. Chosen. Wanted. And worth fighting for.

The truth is this: You were loved all along.