When I was in the fourth grade, I had a teacher who told me
that I would never be anything more than average.  At the time, I felt a distinct sting, but
then I think that because it came from my teacher, I took his statement to be
truth.  In that moment I felt like what
is the point of making an extra effort if I can't be more than average.  I spent the next six years of school living
out the words that my fourth grade teacher spoke into my life, "I was an
average student."

When I reached high school, I had another teacher… an
English teacher. English was not one of my better subjects (please take it easy
on me in these blogs).  This teacher for
some reason believed in me.   I remember
her telling me when I would get reports or test back that she knew that I could
do better.  She would tell me that if I
made more of an effort, I could achieve higher scores.  Over time I began to believe her.  It was not easy, but I worked harder on my
school work and strived to achieve higher than average grades.  That year I got all A's for a full
semester.  The words of life that the
teacher spoke into my life helped me to become an above average student.

I think that our enemy, the devil, wants us to believe
things about ourselves that might have a slight ring of truth to them.  But they are nothing more than a lie or a
half truth that is designed to steal joy and life from you.   Satan wants us to think that we can't do
great things for God's kingdom.  He wants
us to feel defeated by sin in our lives. 
He wants us to feel like we are alone. 
The things that he wants us to believe about ourselves, and rob us of
our life in Christ would make up a long list. 
Many times we hear these things spoken in our lives and we begin living
them out as if they truly who we are. Just like I heard and then fulfilled the
words of my 4^th grade teacher to be an average student.

The opposite side to what our enemy speaks into our lives is
the words that Christ speaks about us in the Bible.  There are statements about how we are more
than conquers, co-heirs with Christ, and scores of other identifiers to who we
are in Christ. 

I think that if we can get a hold of the truths of who we
are in Christ and really believe them as truth, the things that God can and
will do through us will be amazing.  I want
to challenge each of you to search through the bible and find two statements
about who you are in Christ.  Look for
statements that you can begin to work on living out. Strive to find a statement
that you know you will need to live out while you are on your trip.  If you want to post your "who you are in
Christ" statements in the comments of this blog, please do so.