I have a plan and purpose for your life.
Maybe our circumstances haven’t changed, but He is bigger than our circumstances. He is bigger than our thoughts. He is bigger than our wildest dreams. Jesus is everything. He has given us brand-new names. Sometimes we have to step out in faith and trust that God is changing us even though nothing changes in our situations.
Let me say that again: We have to trust that God is growing us even when our situations haven’t changed.
If you’re lonely, call yourself accepted, believed in, and loved. If you feel worn out, confess that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). When you feel weak, confess that “[you] can do everything through Christ, who gives [you] strength” (Philippians 4:13).
Sometimes we just replay those old labels like a broken record. Our thoughts try to hold us captive so we’ll become enslaved to them. But God wants to bring us freedom.
In Rome, slaves had a single name and when a slave was freed, they usually kept their slave name and adopted their former owner’s name. For example, a Roman inscription tells us that a man named Publius Larcius freed a male slave who was then called Publius Larcius Nicia.[7] The freed slave kept his slave name even though he had a new name. Sometimes, when God is trying to give us a brand-new name, we just add our slave name to it instead of walking in our free name. I’ve seen women freed from unhealthy habits and even abuse but years later, they still cling to the familiarity of old mindsets. Though God gives us freedom and new life, sometimes we merely add our slave name onto our new name. But today, let God set you totally and completely free.
Don’t hang on to your slave name instead of walking in your free name.
The lies and labels of the Enemy might be plaguing our minds, holding us back from living freely as the women God created us to be. But God is saying, “You know what? I’m pressing stop on those lies. I’m giving you a brand-new name.” He’s erasing those labels, those lies, that enslave us. He’s saying, “My daughter, I know you, and from heaven, I’m bestowing on you a brand-new name.”
Maybe you’ve been a slave to your old thoughts, old ways of living, old circumstances, or old mindsets. God is ready to fill your heart with freedom and truth. Right now, you’re going from slave to free.
Without knowing it, some of us have put ourselves—and God—in a box. We come to believe, Oh, I’m just a student or I’m just a mom. But God is saying, “You are more than that. I have a plan and a purpose for you on your college campus. I want you to tell people about Me. I have a plan and a purpose for you as a stay-at-home mom that extends beyond giving out little goldfish crackers at the park. I want you to own this season and put to use all the gifts and talents I’ve given you.”
Our God is expansive. And where culture shoves us into tight roles and claustrophobic identities, He calls us to expand our mindset, take up space, and live fully as our whole selves.
But I’ll let you in on a powerful truth: It’s not just about you. When we embrace our God-given names and own our God-given identity, we encourage those around us to do the same.
A single stroke of President Abraham Lincoln’s pen on the Emancipation Proclamation changed the legal status of three million enslaved people in America and eventually led to the liberation of all slaves.[8] Where God’s spirit is, there is freedom.[9] His freedom is with you where you are right now. His freedom is about to fill you like never before. And your freedom will help bring others into freedom too.
God has called us each by name, and what beautiful names they are. I want to urge you to open your heart now for a minute, and as you read the names that God calls you, I really hope you’ll slow down and let them settle deep into your identity. This is how the God of the universe sees you:
Saved[10]
Righteous[11]
The Light of the World[12]
Redeemed[13]
Loved[14]
Chosen[15]
Overcomer[16]
Daughter of God[17]
These are just a few of the incredible names God has given you. Read that list again, and consider which of these true names feel easy for you to carry and which feel like they don’t quite fit. Bring the ones that don’t quite fit yet to the Lord, and ask Him to help you believe His words until they become part of who you are.
Now the old names probably won’t disappear when you turn the last page of this chapter. I wish they would! Renewing our minds and our identities can take time. But when you find yourself slipping back into old ways of thinking about yourself, speak your true names over and over until the old names lose power.
If we’ve believed lies about ourselves for too long, it can feel uncomfortable to let them go. Let me assure you, God wants you to know that He loves you and that He hasn’t forgotten about you. I want you to think about whatever you’re holding tightly to, whatever you won’t surrender, whatever names you think you can’t or God can’t change. I just want you to relax. I want you to open your hands and open your heart and say, “God, take anything from me that isn’t like You. Take away whatever is trying to bind me. I want to become free, because Christ came to set me free.”[18]
I’m believing that God is going to take those names and lies that have tried to enslave you and that He’s going to fill your heart with freedom.
Let’s Pray
Before you pray, visualize your Savior removing burdens from your back. Ask Jesus to give you a mental picture.
Dear Jesus, thank You for lifting off every burden I am carrying this very moment. Please let Your grace and ease fall fresh on me. I declare that no weapon formed against me shall prosper and that in You I am healed and whole. Thank You that You have given me, Your daughter, a new name and replaced the old. I will now answer by my new name and not respond when my old name is called. Purify my heart, renew my mind, and set me free. In Jesus’s name, amen.
4 Daughter of the King
Every year, our church hosts a women’s conference called Cultivate. Basically, we throw a party for women in Dallas and all over the world to show them that we love them and believe in them. We pray all year long for God to move supernaturally in breakthroughs at the conference. One year we dedicated the entire conference to talking about what it means to be God’s daughter, because when you realize that you’re God’s daughter, every label, every doubt, and every fear gets erased. It’s so freeing to walk in that confidence, knowing our Father’s got it. He’s just got it. We can walk into a room with our heads held high because God, our Father, is the King. He’s our provider and protector. He’s in control. We can walk confidently into any number of stressful situations with that truth in our hearts.
We are royal. We belong to the King. First Peter 2:9–10 says, “You are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted” (MSG). That’s good news! You might feel like you’re nothing, but I’m believing that by the time we finish this chapter, God is going to wake up your gifting. You don’t have to walk around in this world feeling rejected, because that’s not true—you belong.
That’s what our lives are about: to make known His perfections, even when we feel weak. God blesses us when we lead people to Him despite our weakness. When we’re stretched, we know that we’re going to get to the other side of the stretching because He’s working in our lives to tell His story.
You’re God’s heavenly daughter whom He loves and brags about.
I imagine He has His own photo album up in heaven and shows all the angels pictures of His daughters, saying, “Oh, look at her hair. It’s getting long because she’s growing it out. Go, girl—you’re looking good. Oh, she got a weave? I like that. Look how she brilliantly navigated that situation. I’m so proud. Look how she showed up when it was hard. She’s so strong.” I’m sure He’s up there just bragging on His girls because He’s proud of us. He wants you to know that you’re royalty because you’re with Him. You can walk into any room with confidence, saying, “You know what? I’m with Him. I’m royal and I’m His daughter.”
Let’s talk about what it means to be a royal daughter.
As royal daughters, we stand strong. It’s important for us to walk with confidence and be servants as we wear the crown. We’re not royal daughters who walk into the room and say, “Oh, I’m royal. I can’t come early and set up.” Being royal means we have a responsibility. We’re the chief servants. That’s what I love about women serving in the church, in our communities, in our families and workplaces. We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty. We come early, we stay late, we sign up to volunteer, and we text and encourage one another. God is calling us to that mission. He entrusts us with this important work because it’s not about us—we’re about one another, and He’s about us. As we wear these proverbial crowns, know that they come from Christ and that we’re called to follow Him in servanthood.
Scripture gives us a look at two royal daughters. The first is Esther.[1]
Esther was a Jewish orphan in Persia who had been adopted by her older cousin Mordecai. King Xerxes had grown dissatisfied with his queen and ordered the beautiful young women of each province to be brought, willingly or not, to the palace as candidates for his new queen. Esther was one of those young women. While she was in the palace, she followed all the orders and didn’t ask for much. I don’t know how long I would have been able to survive in that palace, because I like my coffee and my bottled water. Don’t judge me, but I’m picky when it comes to those things, and that’s okay because we all have our quirks. But Esther didn’t ask for anything extra. She did what the assistant said.
By the end of the preparation period, Esther was the most admired woman in the palace, and the king noticed her and crowned her the new queen.
