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There comes a time in your life when you start to feel (deep down) like you are failing at what you know God has called you to do. It may be at your work place, in your business, in your family (as a parent or as a son or daughter), in your ministry or even as a leader. These moments make you feel like an imposter, you may even begin to question your identity. You start to feel like you are your failure or that your failure is a lack of faith in God. In other situations, you will either self-destruct or begin to over-analyze the situation and blame other people for your failure. For many of us, if we fail long enough at something, we will begin to feel like we do not deserve God and start to feel unworthy of his love. Well I am here to help you see that you are not alone, we are all struggling with ourselves or our earthly identities.

Today’s blog is inspired by a sermon from this Sunday titled, “You Are Not IT” from pastor Steven Furtick (PSF). Using the scriptures Mark 9: 14-29, Genesis 32: 20, Ephesians 2: 8-10, he beautifully illustrates the various ways Christians struggle with their identities. He believes that IT could stand for the things you do (such as; your sin, job, gift, etc.) or cannot do (power and righteousness) or the staff that you struggle with (i.e. your unbelief, your debts, your depression, your fear, insecurities, your issues, your problem, etc.). He further explains that IT (which in the case of the father and the disciples in Mark 9) is a spirit or the enemy that we all struggle with but cannot see. The thing that takes so much from us or that thing that we think defines us. If you have grown up with old-fashioned Christian parents, you may sometimes hear them refer to your stubbornness, laziness or anything that they deem negative, as an evil spirit. You may also hear them say things like “I rebuke that spirit in Jesus’s name.” Even Paul, in Ephesians 6: 12- warned us against these constant (unseen) battles that we fight. He said, “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” He went on to makes us aware of the Armor of God which we need to fight such spiritual battles, i.e. truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, word of God (14-17). I hope that today’s sermon will make us aware of these spirits that we are fighting against.

Pastor Steven’s sermon made me realize that I have so many IT(s). In Mark 9, I relate in so many ways to not only the boy with the evil spirit, but also his father, the disciples and the teachers of the law. This father was desperate when he brought his son to Jesus with a belief that Jesus could heal him. See, we are told that his son had a spirit in him that had attempted to kill him on several occasions. However, when he brought him to Jesus, he was away (being transfigured) on the mountain, so the disciples received the child and to their surprise, they could not heal the boy or set him free from the spirit inside him. The disciples after failing to heal the boy started to argue with the teachers of the law while this boy and his father stood by. When Jesus walked onto this scene, everyone of these individuals was battling with something unseen in their identity or selves. According to pastor Steven they each struggled with an IT which Jesus sought to deal with. The father’s unbelief, the son’s evil spirit, the disciple’s failure to minister (their job) and well, we all know that the teachers of law lacked faith in Jesus and were always there to hate on him, his ministry and his disciples.

It is easy for us to identify ourselves with what we struggle with. To seat in the corner and think that it is who we are (that is; our failures or our demons), but Jesus is showing us that all we need to do is take the issue to him. Similarly, pastor Steven employ the scripture about Jacob the father of the nation Israel (Genesis 32:20) to demonstrate to us that he (Jacob) too struggled with who he was as a person right from his mother’s womb. See Jacob wanted to be the first born so bad that he stole not only his brother’s birthright but also his blessing from their father Isaac. Jacob got what he wanted but he continued to struggle even after he was abundantly blessed by God. To this, pastor Steven says, “you can actually act like it but not be it.” In the latter years, Jacob set out to meet his brother and because of what he had done to him, he sent before him the things that he had acquired (his earthly blessings) hoping that his brother will receive them and forgive him. Pastor Steven also believes that Jacob thought that maybe this time his brother Esau would see that he was worth the title (of being a heir) that he stole from him.

We all know that Jacob was the one God had chosen to birth his nation Israel (see Genesis 25: 23), however, the circumstances around him were against his purpose. Jacob felt it (his calling) right from his mother’s womb (that he was meant to be heir), so much that he was born holding onto his brother Esau’s heel fighting to come out first (Verse 26). This makes me wonder, why then did God have to make him go through all this to get what actually belonged to him? The only answer to my question is the scripture that clearly states, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). I fear that we may spend the rest of our lives trying to analyze the situations we are going through and fighting for our purpose (that we feel is our calling), but if we have not surrendered it all to the one who knows the end from the beginning, we shall suffer in vain. According to pastor Steven, it is after Jacob sent his acquired blessings as gifts to Esau that he encountered God. The gifts are things he was after, the things he thought would grant him peace with his brother. We are told that after he stripped himself of these gifts, he “was left to wrestle with who he was” (see Gen 32: 24). In the following verses, we find out that he was wrestling with God and that Jacob refused to let go of God until he blessed him, which God did. God went on to (in Vs.28) change Jacob’s name to Israel.

Pastor Steven points out how Jacob sent his gifts ahead but he remained behind. To this he says, “you are not your gift!” therefore, do not confuse yourself with the things that you have acquired, or your abilities. He relates this to the (fake) lives that some of us may be living and explains that many of us think that cars, designer clothes and other staff such as our spiritual gifts are a representation of who we are as people. He goes on to say something very crucial that is worth quoting, which is that; “We realize at the end of the day, I can drive it but eventually I have to pack it, I can wear it, but eventually nobody’s name will make me feel sure of who I am. If I wear a brand name on the outside, but I don’t know it on the inside, if my identity is given through a gift that I have or even a label that people confer on me I will always be a slave to their label.” Therefore he implies that this kind is slavery is what drove the disciples into an argument with the teachers of the law. The disciples lacked something (faith) on the inside which Jesus pointed out (see, Mark 9: 19). They appeared to have faith on the outside but clearly lacked it on the inside. Lord knows many of us struggle in this area. Even the father of this boy who showed faith by bringing the boy, begged Jesus to help him with his unbelief. Clearly we all need to ask this from Jesus! Furthermore, pastor Steven explains that we try to use our gifts to manipulate others (like Jacob did with Esau) or depend on these gifts to do our ministry (like the disciples) which makes us feel like we are enough without Jesus. He explains that sometimes you may call yourself a failure because you are trying “to do what God called me (you) to do without him.” This sermon teaches us that after we are stripped of all that we have acquired, we are left to fight for our identity with God just like Jacob did.

It is important to note that Esau met up with Jacob, kissed him and embraced him, forgetting all that Jacob had done to him. He even offered to return everything that Jacob had sent him (Gen 33: 1-9). This shows that Jacob was struggling with something that his brother had already moved on from. I wonder how many of us are right where Jacob was. Living in fear and defining ourselves based on our passed mistakes. Well it is comforting to know that God has already forgiven us. All we need to do is accept and receive his grace. That is why pastor Steven employs the scripture from Ephesians 2: 8-10. He uses this to reminds us that the all knowing God already knew that we would be where we are right now. He rephrases verse 10 and says, “God created the work for me to do before he created me to do it.” Therefore, whatever you are struggling with right now, God knew it would happen, right before he created you. This brings me some sort of comfort because it makes me realize that if I depend on God, even in the situations or problems that are of my own making, he will guide me through to success because he knew (before I was even born) that I would make this mistake and that I would face this particular challenge. Nothing is surprising to God. Therefore I need to trust that his grace is sufficient for all the seasons of my life, and to let go and let him take control. I need to stop wasting my time worrying about and trying to frustrate myself with the season that I am in. I encourage you not to argue with people who also have no idea about where you have been, who your savior is and what he has placed inside of you. Run to Jesus, He has all the answers that you need. Pastor Steven tells us that Grace is God’s gift to us and believes that “there is a power that can save you and you are not IT”

Therefore, quit being your own judge and quit allowing other people to define you. Pastor Steven warns us against fighting the wrong battles in our relationships with others and instead tells us to focus our energy on fighting the spirit. He says, “sometimes you are fighting against them and the real enemy is IT.” The disciples and the law keepers needed to put their differences aside in the situation above. They needed to direct their energy to fighting against the spirit that was inside the young boy but instead, they were fighting against each other. We find ourselves doing this in our marriages, our workplaces, our friendship circles, etc. Pastor Steven tells us to look these people in the eye and tell them, “I have an enemy but you are not IT.” He further notes how the father despite his feelings distinguished himself from his unbelief. He says, “he (the father) owned his unbelief but he did not identify himself with it.” Moreover, the father also identified the evil spirit and and knew that his boy was not IT. Similarly, Jesus saw the boy and not his issue, he saw the father and not his unbelief. His grace is sufficient! Whatever you are going through, Jesus sees you and not your issue or your sin. Just bring him everything and allow him to show you his grace. Pastor Steven concludes by telling us, “IT is a spirit but IT is not you!” and reminds us that Jesus is above IT. Whatever you are facing, it is not your identity, look beyond it and look to Jesus

For my closing prayer I live you with a final quote from pastor Steven given as a response to the devil.

“I am not It, there is a Savior, I am not IT, there is a power that is greater than all sin and shame and I am not IT, there is a righteousness that comes from God, by faith and I am not IT. But let me tell you something devil, you accuser of the brethren. At the same time you are pointing your finger at my inadequacy, at my shortage and my lack of knowledge, at the same time that you are dragging out my mistakes from three years ago, or three months ago, or three minutes ago, and throwing them in my face, you need to understand something: ‘He became sin who knew no sin that I might become the righteousness of God.’ God, I pray for restoration of your understanding of righteousness, I am the righteousness of God, I am a child of God, am a son, I am not IT, I am in Him. I am his workmanship.”

With love and prayers,

Resty Kansiime

Here are the links to pastor Steven’s sermon.

Youtube: You Are Not It | Pastor Steven Furtick | Elevation Church – YouTube

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/elevation-with-steven-furtick/episodes/You-Are-Not-It-e150jkc/a-a67aq9