Hey, welcome to another episode of These are the Valleys.

I'm super excited for today's episode, because I do think it's going to be

one of those super convicting episodes.

I don't know, God has just been in a real position of trying to

get his people back on track.

And so, I am super excited to be a vessel for his word and for his message.

So, today we're talking about identity in the valley.

So, this is doesn't just have to apply to the valley, it can really

apply to anything and everyone, and every place that you could

possibly be on your journey.

But what this message is intended to do is to get you to realize,

a) where you're going wrong or b) where you don't want to be.

So, this is a corrective episode, so I apologize in advance if this comes

out a little blunt, if it comes out a little harsh, but it's the truth.

And that's what we're here for.

We're here for the truth.

So the question for today is where is your identity placed?

Where is your identity placed?

Is your identity placed your job?

Is it placed in your relationships?

Is it placed in your finances?

You want to do the heart work to reflect right now.

During this episode, after this episode and just really ask God to show you

where your identity has been placed.

I think for a lot of us, we don't realize the detriment that we can

fall into when we place too much value on the things of this earth.

So for example, if you are currently a software engineer, if you were to

lose your job, God forbid, but if you were to lose your job, how much would

that affect how you see yourself?

If you were to fall out of relationship with your current significant other,

how would that affect how you see yourself, your worth, your value,

your characteristics, your, your, your strengths, your weaknesses?

These are good indicating questions to show us how much of our identity

we're placing in these things.

How much about you is placed in the title?

You don't want to be Jasmine the podcaster.

I want to be Jasmine who podcasts.

You get what I'm saying?

My identity is not in the task or the role or the title, but

my identity is in myself first.

Right.

I am my own individual and this is just what I currently do.

Let's turn to the word to kind of get a little bit more insight

as to what God thinks about this.

So just to give us a little perspective, we're going to turn to Colossians 3:

1-2 in the new living translation.

It says, "since you have been raised to new life with Christ set your sights on

the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand.

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth."

What I love about this scripture and why I use this here is because we want

to begin to pivot our identity, our perspective, our reality as this so

eloquently puts it, away from the things of the earth and more into the eternal

life that Christ has bought for us.

I think a lot of times we think of the, the resurrection and death of God, of

Jesus to be this like, you know, great thing, you know, Easter's coming up.

It's like, Ooh, thank you, Jesus.

All right.

Where are the peeps?

You know, like where's the Easter egg hunts, where are the, this, that, and the

third that we've made this holiday, which should be a day for remembrance, to be.

I think it's important that not only at this time during the year, but

through all times, and just as an everlasting shift, that we turn our

perspectives away from the things of the earth and toward the eternal things.

Our life is nothing but a mist.

There's a scripture that says our life is, but a mist.

It's it's passing.

It's quick.

It's a blip in time.

When we think about the context of eternity.

It's not to say that the things that we do here on earth are worthless or

mean nothing, but just to remember that the things that we do here on

earth should be rooted and should be motivated by the eternal, the eternal

perspective, the eternal realities.

A lot of the times, the calling that God has given us.-- and, and we're

getting to that because these are things that are already done-- the callings

and purposes that God has given us, the identities that he has given us,

were to get things accomplished in the earth for the eternal kingdom of God.

Not just for something of this moment, not something fleeting, but

for things that are everlasting.

For the purpose and intent that is ever lasting.

So I just want us to begin to pivot our minds as we dive a little deeper

into this discussion of identity, that our identity is not something that is

earthly, but it is eternally Everlasting.

We need to get realigned with the one creator of our

identity, our identity to do so.

He is the only one who knows: one, who you've been.

Okay.

Listen, I know we like to pretend, especially when we become saved,

like who we were, it wasn't who we were, but he also knows who we are.

Okay.

And he also knows who we will be.

So there is this saying at my church, Transformation Church, that

God can't bless who you pretend to be, He blesses who you really are.

And I love that.

Even going back to the point about knowing who we were, right?

And knowing who we currently are.

There's almost this mask that the world and that culture and that

the enemy wants us to portray that one, we're holier than thou.

Two, we're, we're not redeemed.

We're not saved.

We're not delivered, whatever the situation may be, but

there's this mask that we put on a lot of times that blinds us.

I feel like sometimes we even get to believing that the mask is real, but this

is why we have to turn to the word of God.

We have to turn to our father and his presence to really get a full

understanding and to have the mask pulled away and to get the scales

pulled off of our eyes so that we'll be able to see more clearly who we were.

Who we are.

And even more importantly, who God has created us to be in the future.

Jeremiah 1:5 says, "before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

And before you were born, I consecrated you," which means I set you apart.

And then it says, "I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

So let's break this down because there are effectively three parts here.

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you."

As I previously said, God knew us as we were, as we are and who we will be.

But I love that this is just a full context of you weren't even formed yet.

You hadn't even done what you did yet.

You hadn't even become who you are yet.

And God knew.

God knows us in our most pure essence.

God knows us in our most pure form.

Why?

How?

Because he's our creator.

There's no one that knows how something works or how something is intended

to move or how something is fashioned or to be worn more than the designer.

No one knows more about the fabrics and the intricacies of

every stitch than the designer.

Than the hand crafter.

And I love that about God.

Like he knows every single detail.

The Bible talks about how he knows every hair on our head.

It's numbered.

Y'all I got a lot of hair, so that's a real task and a half.

I really applaud God and Jesus for knowing how many hairs is on this head.

Cause child.

But for real, for real, it's just a beautiful thing.

And I find that really putting these things into practical

context, like knowing how many hairs on my head are on my head.

Not even my mother knows that, my father knows that, my best friend knows that.

Right?

And so that just really helps me fall in love with all that God is.

Moving onto the second part of that scripture.

"And before you were born, I consecrated you."

I love this.

Have you ever felt like I, or at least I've talked about, personally feeling

like I was always missing out in my life.

Like I was always the one person who would get caught when

nobody else would get caught.

Or I was always the one person who, whose parents wouldn't let them go on

the field trip or wouldn't let them go to the sleepover when everybody else's

parents would, or I was always the person that, I was always missing out.

I was just always the person that was just the odd ball out

for some reason or the other.

And I love this part of the scripture because it says before

you were born, I consecrated you.

I set you apart.

It is the trick of the enemy for us to believe us being

set apart is a disadvantage.

It is a trick of the enemy for that-- he wants us to believe that the

consecration, the setting apart, right, that God has done to us is a disservice.

Is a weakness.

Is something to hate as opposed to something to appreciate.

Guys, God handpicked you to be who you are and to do what you have been called to do.

I don't know about you, but that is so comforting to me to know that

God already, God was intentional in everything that has happened, will

happen and is happening to me.

God is intentional.

In the parents that he placed in my life, the siblings that he placed in

my life, the friends, the foes, the adversaries, the teachers, the everything

has been intentional for you to end up exactly where he designed for you to be.

That's beautiful.

And lastly, "I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

I love this.

A lot of times we can forget that God has a specific design for us.

He already knows what he wants us to do and our entire life, our entire design,

every shortcoming, every inability, every strength, every passion is purposed for us

to be exactly what He has called us to be.

And I'm not going to sit here and say that I've perfectly figured out, you know, what

God has created to me in its entirety.

The Bible says that we go from glory to glory.

What that means to me in this context is we go from step to step, revelation

to revelation, from calling to calling, from purpose to purpose.

Guys, we will never have the full picture of all God has or wants to

do for us or to us or through us until we pass away and go into the

heavily realm and kick it with Jesus.

I can't wait for that day.

I'm going to be like, yo, you, my slime.

You know that?

Like, we really cool.

Like we tight, bro.

Like you cool.

I don't know.

Jesus knows I'm from Atlanta.

So it's going, it's going to happen one way or another.

We going to chop it up.

But Yeah, it's just a beautiful thing to know that I don't have to figure it out

because God has already appointed who I'm going to be and where I'm going to do it.

So I don't have to worry so much about the details.

It's just great comfort that I find in this scripture.

Again, that was Jeremiah 1.

So I say all this to say, like, we need to stop playing with

these counterfeits, right?

These things that promise us identity.

Oh, you know, you want to be the most interesting man on earth.

What y'all know what I'm talking about?

That's like a beer or a liquor or something they have that

I forget what it is, man.

I'm so mad at myself.

Y'all probably know what I'm talking about, but text me or DM me and let me

know what it is that I'm talking about, where it's like the most interesting man

alive drinks this, or does this, oh, I can't remember it, but there's identity--

sometimes the world places our identity in the things that we do, the things

that we absorb, how much money we make.

Right.

A lot of these arguments that we have on social media, like,

oh nine to five or entrepreneur.

Why are you placing so much of our identity in where

or, how we get our finances?

At the end of the day, we're all children of God.

It's God that provides our finances, whether it's from a nine to five or

from an entrepreneurship endeavor.

So.

I just want to encourage you guys to stop looking at these counterfeits and

looking at these things that can not provide you with everlasting value.

They cannot provide you with, with peace and restoration and

healing and deliverance and comfort and refuge that God can.

God is the creator of us.

It is only in Him that we find our true identity and these other little

things that we're looking at to give us the fulfillment that we're looking

for and the answers that we're looking for are only going to turn up empty.

God calls these things idols.

Okay.

Anything that you place before him, anything that you, you worship in

practice-- you may not get down on your knees and pray to your job, but there

is a certain reverence that you have.

Oh, you know, I can't go to church on Sundays.

I have to work.

Even though, you know, for you, that may be the Sabbath day and you're just

completely disregarding the things that God has asked you to observe or the things

that God has called you to, or whatever, to observe or worship or participate

in, or to practice these other things.

For example, in my own life, God recently revealed to me probably like a month ago

or so that my relationship with my best friend Teyana was an idol in my life.

And I don't worship Teyana.

Like, you know, that's my homegirl, you know, we kiki, all of that.

You know, I make jokes about her being the love of my life, but that's on a

strictly platonic, you know, friendship, a platonic soulmate kind of level.

But he revealed to me that there was a practice or a habit that I

was in that whenever something was going wrong, I would run to Teyana.

Teyana would be my refuge.

Teyana would be my, my counsel.

Teyana would be the one that will help me lick my wounds and find

peace and find answers, as opposed to going to God for those things.

And that's what made our relationship an idol.

So if your first result whenever trials or tribulations comes up

is, oh, I need to make more money.

If I had more money, this wouldn't even-- finances has become an idol in your life.

If you are quick to run to your mom or your dad or your best friend,

or your cousin, whomever, anytime a trouble or a problem comes up, you

may be idolizing that relationship.

Right.

And so I think that, of course there's a balance to everything.

It's not to say that God doesn't want us talking to our friends or

seeking counsel from other people.

There's several places in scripture where he reminds us that counsel is

good, even in our friendship episode.

What was that?

The last episode or two episodes ago, we were talking about how God really

places value on having earthly friends and people to pick us up when we fall.

However, it's the order of importance.

The first and foremost person, entity, being, resource that we should run to in

times of hardship, in times of rejoicing, and times of anything should be God.

And it's our habits and practices that we need to analyze, to realize, and to

identify where we've been putting our identity, where we've been putting our w.

Isaiah 2:8 says "their land is filled with idols.

They bow down to the work of their hands and to what their own fingers have made."

This reminds me of how people put a lot of identity in their accolades or in their

accomplishments or in their resume or in their LinkedIn or in their followers.

These things are things that you may have done with your hands.

But they are not to be bowed down to.

They are not things that you should find pure fulfillment in.

They are not the things that you should find your identity and

your value and your worth in.

If you were to lose all your followers tomorrow, how would it make you feel?

I mean, of course there would be disappointment, sadness,

frustration, maybe even confusion, but there should not be a sense of

worthlessness that comes over you.

Right?

That lets you know right there, if that were to be true for you, that lets you

know, that you've placed your worth, your value, your identity in this.

So, I want to encourage you guys to look over your life, reflect on your

habits, your practices, your motives, and really get in alignment with God.

Like turn back to him.

We need to cut out these terrible middlemen that rob us and promise

us falsely of blessings, joy, peace, inheritance, favor, and

ultimately, it robs, it robs us of our relationship with God.

We need to get back to the source.

Okay.

And there are a lot of people who are like, oh, Jasmine, I can't hear from God.

When I ask God questions, he doesn't answer.

There is a scripture in John 1 that says that God is the word.

And the word was, God.

If you are looking for answers from God, get in the Word.

If you are looking for clarity on your identity, get in the Word.

This is one of the many ways that God does speak to us

because one, the word is living.

But two, the word is God.

So we have to start reading our Bibles.

We have to get into the presence of the Lord.

If you do hear from God, if you have the, the gift of speaking in tongues,

you need to put all of your tools to use, to get some clarity from God.

Ask him to show you where you've been falling off, where you've

been idolizing other things, where you've been worshiping other things.

And ask him to bring you back to center, man, bring you back to center.

What's that Tiktok?

Y'all be weak in the knees!

Y'all need to stand up!

For real, for real, we be weak in the knees, sometimes falling for the enemies,

tricks and tactics, trying to get us to put our identity in everything, but God.

Know who you are.

And the best way to know who you are is to turn to the Word and turn to God.

The only person, only entity, the only book that you can get an answer from.

Period point blank.

That's basically it.

Y'all, thank y'all for tuning into another episode.

Leave a rating and review on apple podcasts, Spotify iHeart radio,

whatever you're listening to.

We really appreciate your feedback.

Feel free to DM me on Instagram at @theJasmineCambridge.

When I get off my social media fast, I will definitely hit y'all back.

Feel free to text me, hit me up.

If you aint got my number, you probably won't get it.

No, just kidding.

Yeah guys, thank you guys again so much.

I don't know what it looks like from the mountain top, but these are the valleys!

Byeee.