1. Your Beginning

‘Where do I come from?’
Every parent has heard that question. It seems as if every child was born with that question embedded, waiting for an opportunity to express it.

Long before you were born, you began!
Long before your ancestors walked this earth, in fact before the world began, you began in the thoughts of God.

This is the way our Father operates. Everything begins in His ‘Logos’ – logic or thought. ‘In the beginning was the (Logos) Word and the ‘Logos’ was with God and the ‘Logos’ was God. All things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made that was made…’ John 1:1,3

His thoughts are not some vague, fleeting impressions that have no effect. His thoughts have more substance and permanence than anything you can touch or see. The whole material universe came out of the thoughts of God.

A blueprint can be defined as a detailed construction plan. The Father meticulously planned us. That design remains in Him to this day. That plan remains His unchangeable reference to who you are.

Eph 1:4 .. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love

Before any time related event, God made up His mind about you. Before you did anything to impress or disappoint Him, He decided that you are the focus of His love. Your existence, who you are, was established when God first thought of you.

How often do we allow our experiences to teach us who we are? Obviously we learn from our experience, but often we try and learn from them things that they are not qualified to teach. There are no experiences that are numerous or big enough to contain the revelation of your identity. That revelation requires more than the natural experience to be communicated. It can only be received as a gift.

The Father also knew the events that would follow creation. His creation would suffer perversion and wickedness – events that would twist man completely beyond recognition of God’s original intent. But God’s original design that was conceived in the eternal realm, even before time began, remains unchallenged by time related events.
He knows that time is temporal. And so anything that could be twisted, can be un-twisted.

What do you refer to, to describe yourself? Is it your family traits, your unique childhood, your achievements? Or maybe you have allowed some tragedy to become the defining event of who you are. There is a more valid reference! If you don’t discover that reference, you will allow events to shape and twist you. But when you discover that your identity was established in eternity, no time related event will have the power to deceive you anymore.

Whether your experiences confirm or contradict the truth, should have no effect on your persuasion off the truth. When Isaac, the confirmation of Gods promise, became too important to Abraham, he had to take Isaac to the altar. Never place more value on the confirmation of the truth than what you place on truth itself.

Come to this conclusion: I am more than the sum total of my experiences. I am greater than all the events in my life joined together. I’m bigger than the biggest disappointment or achievement. I am the image and likeness of God and not a fraction of me has been revealed!

Another way in which a person can define themselves is by what they have gained or by what they have lost. Pride and regret are both deceptions, designed for the same purpose: to blind man; to keep man from seeing his true value; a value far beyond all the wealth you can attain; a value untouched by anything you have ever lost.

I remember the time when this truth became a very significant revelation to me. My children were young, about four and six years old. For more than a year I battled to save our business, but the time of reckoning finally came. All our possessions were repossessed.
I remember ushering in my family into the empty building we used to consider home.
Our beds were left and in a house with no other furniture everyone soon dispersed to their rooms.

It was all so surreal. I slowly walked through to what used to be my office. For some reason a single plastic chair and a desk were left. A few pieces of stationary were scattered over the floor.

I sat down. I tried to comprehend.. to realize what I had lost. It has more than the possessions; it was my reputation, my dreams for the business etc. Worst of all I failed my family. As the reality of the situation started to dawn, the heavy weight of depression filled the room. My wife walked in and hugged me. Her words surprised me. ‘I believe in you’ she said and then walked back to the room as she sensed that I wanted to be alone.

Suddenly the Spirit of God allowed me to sense what was happening in the spirit-realm. The depression f I sensed was more than a feeling, it was a personality – a demonic force, who found an opportune time to attach himself to me. A spirit of depression does not just want to make you feel bad, it wants to kill you.

In the midst of all my confusing thoughts, together with the suggestions whispered to me by this demonic spirit, I heard that calm familiar voice of my Father and in that moment I knew what to do.

I picked up a piece of paper and pen. I leaned back in my chair. I could sense the evil anticipation of the demon peering over my shoulder, expecting me to capture on paper the depressing lies he had been whispering. He had no idea that there was another much clearer voice to which I gave heed.

I started writing: ‘I see our future and it is bright’. The Spirit of God rose within me, lifting me to heights I never knew possible. I began to prophesy over my family. In the midst of a situation that was the most unlikely place to find inspiration, I found a source of inspiration within me that was unaffected by any outside factors. I discovered a joy not bound to any natural event.

I could sense the unbelief; the shock and horror of the demon who thought he had me exactly were he wanted me. I knew that I depressed the devil so much that he had to leave.

I opened my Bible to Heb 10:34 ‘..but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain.’

I discovered that day that I had within myself a value of such awesome importance, that I could attach all my joy to that value. I discovered what Paul referred to as ‘the secret of being content in whatever circumstances I am in’ – Phil 4:11,12

Although that story had a happy ending, it is not relevant to this writing. Maybe more of that story later.

The conclusion is: Do not allow any event, whether success or failure to define you. Realize that God has invested Himself in you. No experience is big enough to define you – you are the image and likeness of God.

By Andre Rabe

http://www.hearhim.net

andre.rabe@gmail.com