I feel in my spirit this morning that some of God’s children need a reminder about their mandate. My brothers and sisters, God has marked you for something specific and given you a mandate. If you don’t know what that is yet, I’d like to give you a little insight into how to recognize it. If you already know what it is, I’d like to remind you about what your Abba has already declared over you.

The best way I can think to explain it is to share some of my experience.

Last week a sweet new friend said to me,

“You seem like the type of person where the worst thing you’ve ever done in your life is say ‘Oh my god.’”

Knowing she was quite mistaken, all I could do was smile and thank Jesus for His grace that has blanketed me.

Her remark brought me back to a memory from over seven years ago. My best friend and I were riding with my brother in his red truck on some dirt road with the windows down and music too loud, probably going to some cheerleader event. I forget what we were talking about (which is probably a blessing), but I clearly recall my best friend saying,

“You know, if I didn’t know you, I would think you were the most innocent person in the world.”

But she did know me, and to this day she knows me probably better than anybody else besides Jesus. So she is familiar with my sins, struggles, and lack of innocence and purity. Sometimes I think Jesus let us remain so close all these years as an example of His faithfulness. (Community is definitely one of the ways He communicates His heart for us.)

Anyway, as I was reflecting on those two similar statements spoken years and years apart, my mind kept running back to denial.

They don’t know my heart, how black it is sometimes. They don’t know the depth of how hopelessly sinful and selfish I feel. I am not what I appear to be. In the Body of Christ I am probably least of all pure and innocent. My struggles aren’t as visible to the public, but my Abba knows.

You see, ever since I was (literally) in elementary school, I have struggled with an addiction to lust. The enemy entangled me as early as second grade and marked me as lustful, impure, and sinful. I don’t want to glorify the enemy by going into details, but it had a strong hold on me.

As a 7-year-old, I was far too stricken with shame to share my burden with my parents or anyone else. Something was clearly wrong with me, and if I voiced that, they would agree. And then they would reject or abandon me. They would no longer see me as beautiful; they wouldn’t love me anymore. So I let the darkness in my heart keep me bound by secrecy.

Let me pause for a moment. Did you know that the enemy’s number one goal is to isolate you? I learned during college that there is freedom in confession, and Abba has shown me the depths of that truth. The enemy wants to isolate you from your Father first, and then from people, because your Father often uses people to show Himself to you and speak to you (and draw you back into relationship with Him).

So if the enemy can convince you that you’re the only one struggling, something is wrong with you, nobody will love or accept you if they find out you struggle with xyz, then that liar has achieved his goal!

I don’t advise going and blurting out all your sins to Joe Shmoe on the street, though. Find a church family, a group of people you can share life with as you all pursue Christlikeness. Ask God to lead you to a godly mentor who can disciple you and hold you accountable. Walk in community, and don’t let the enemy lie to you and keep you in bondage and isolation.

Now that we’ve covered that, I need you to understand that I’ve let the enemy keep me in heavy bondage and isolation for most of my life. I shared my struggles with hardly a handful of people, and only after determining that they would still love me after they knew my secret shame. Praise God that they didn’t turn away in judgment or withhold grace from me!

So here I sit, reflecting on this strategy of the enemy against me: to burden me with lust. Drown me in isolation.

But why?

And then I feel my Abba’s voice, smiling in my heart:

“Because I have marked you with My purity.”

Wait – what?!

The enemy has called me lustful, impure, sinful, unworthy of love, ugly, burdensome…

…and my Abba has called me pure?! He has marked me with His purity?

Then all of the conversations come back and I am reminded that I am not what the enemy says about me but what my Abba says about me. When others notice that I seem innocent and pure, it’s because that is what my Father has made and called me to be. That’s my mandate. So it makes sense that for as long as I can remember, I have felt anything but that. I have been walking in agreement with who and what the enemy (aka the “father of lies”) says I am. But, truly…

I am pure.

I am innocent.

Not because of what I have done.

Because Jesus’s blood makes me so.

His blood washes over all my sins. All the lies I’ve believed. All my struggles. All my secrecy and darkness and shame. He says none of those things were supposed to be mine in the first place – He carried them on His shoulders and then paid for them. He canceled my debts. He cleared my name. He washed my sins away with His blood. I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

I. Am. Pure.

And I’m not pure just for the sake of being pure. Jesus has purified me so I can call out purity in others who are believing the same dumb lies the enemy fed me all my life.

Hallelujah.

I share all this to ask you: what’s your mandate? What has Abba marked you with?

An easy way to tell is to look at the areas where the enemy has attacked you all your life. Here are a few of my examples:

• The liar attacked me with lust; I am called to be pure.
• The liar told me I don’t belong; I am called to bring outsiders in.
• The liar convinced me that I couldn’t hear my Father’s voice; I am called to speak on His behalf.
• The liar labeled me an orphan; I am called into deep intimacy with my Abba.

Do you see the pattern? Study scripture and spend time with your Father. See what He has to say about you. Then compare those truths to what you have been believing about yourself all this time. Those areas are most likely where the enemy has seen your calling, felt threatened, and aimed a barrage of lies at you. And you agreed with him.

Come out of agreement with those lies. Repent for believing the liar over your Father. Turn from him and run into your Abba’s arms.

And in the meantime, watch this video. It’s not just your identity at stake – there’s also the identity of all the people you are called to share your mandate with. People’s eternal destinies are at stake! The Kingdom is at stake!

I’m reminded of two songs: “Blameless” by Dara Maclean and “Clean” by Natalie Grant. Give ‘em a listen, too.

In my next post I plan to unveil some strategies the enemy has aimed at the church in regards to our mandates, the ways believers have responded, and how it is affecting the Kingdom.

“…be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12