فصل 6

CHAPTER SIX

I AM VALUABLE

Know Who You Are

I grew up watching Archie Manning play football. He was a tremendous NFL quarterback and incredibly talented. Now two of his sons, Peyton and Eli, are both great quarterbacks as well. How could that be? Out of the millions of young men who play football, how can these two stand out? It’s not a coincidence. It’s in their blood. They have their father’s DNA.

When God created you in His image, He put a part of Himself in you. You could say that you have the DNA of Almighty God. You are destined to do great things, destined to leave your mark on this generation. Your Heavenly Father spoke worlds into existence. He flung stars into space. He painted every sunrise. He designed every flower. He made man out of dust and breathed life into him. Now, here’s the key: He is not just the Creator of the universe. He is not just the all-powerful God. He is your Heavenly Father. You have His DNA. Imagine what you can do.

But too many times we don’t realize who we are. We focus on our weaknesses, what we don’t have, the mistakes we’ve made, and the family we come from. We end up settling for mediocrity when we were created for greatness. If you’re going to break out of average, you need to remind yourself, “I have the DNA of the Most High God. Greatness is in my genes. I come from a bloodline of champions.” When you realize who you are, you won’t go around intimidated and insecure, thinking, I’m lacking. I’m not that talented. I come from the wrong family. No; you come from the right family. Your Father created it all. When you know who you are, it changes your thinking from, I’m unlucky. I never get any good breaks, to I have the favor of God. Blessings are chasing me down. From saying, “This obstacle is too big. I’ll never overcome it,” to declaring, “I can do all things through Christ. If God be for me, who dare be against me?” From looking at your test score and concluding, I’m an average student. All I can make are C’s, to I’m an A student. I have the mind of Christ. From looking in the mirror and thinking, I don’t have a good personality. I’m not that attractive, to saying, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am one of a kind.” When you know who you are, you’ll start thinking like a winner, talking like a winner, and carrying yourself like you are a winner.

Who Is Your Father?

I remember a billboard that asked the question, “Who’s the father?” It was an advertisement for DNA testing. They can take a child’s DNA and test another person’s DNA and see if it matches. A match proves the two people are scientifically related. Out of the billions of people on Earth, the chances of your DNA matching someone who’s not your family is so small that it’s inconceivable. In a similar way, when you gave your life to Christ, the Scripture talks about how you became a new creation. You were born into a new family. You entered into a new bloodline. Now imagine that somehow we could do spiritual DNA testing. They take a sample of DNA from your Heavenly Father, then a sample of DNA from you, and run all the tests. The good news is that it would come back a perfect match. It would prove beyond all doubt that you are God’s child. You have His DNA. You come from a royal bloodline.

Given your DNA, don’t you dare go around thinking that you’re average. I could never accomplish my dreams. I’ll never get out of debt. Are you kidding? Do you know who your Father is? You have His DNA. He created worlds. There’s nothing too much for you. You can overcome that sickness. You can run that company. You can build and support that orphanage. You can take your family to a new level. Quit believing the lies that say, “You’ve reached your limits. You’ve gone as far as you can go.” Start talking to yourself as a winner. It’s in your blood. You’re expected to succeed. You’re expected to get well. You’re expected to live debt free. Why? Because of who your Father is.

In one sense, it’s no big deal that I am the pastor of Lakewood Church. My father was a minister for more than fifty years. This is all I had seen growing up. It’s in my genes. And it’s no big deal to see Archie Manning’s sons play professional football. Archie was an NFL Pro Bowl quarterback. In the same way, it’s no big deal for you to accomplish your dreams. It’s no big deal for you to live healthy and whole. It’s no big deal for you to lead the company in sales. Why? Like Father, like son. It’s in your spiritual DNA.

I saw a documentary on championship racehorses, the kind you see running in the Kentucky Derby. It’s not a coincidence that those horses become the fastest horses in the world. They’ve been carefully studied and carefully bred for generations. It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to breed a racehorse with a champion stallion. Before breeding, the owners will go back fifty or sixty years and study the bloodline of a particular stallion. They’ll research his father and grandfather and study how long their strides were, how tall their legs were, their takeoff speed, their endurance. With all this information, they’ll choose what they believe to be the perfect match. They understand winners don’t just randomly happen. Winning is in their DNA. That’s what sets these horses apart. They have generation after generation of champions inside.

When the little colt is born, his legs may be wobbly and he can barely stand up. He doesn’t look different from any other colt that is born. The owners could think, Oh, man. We have wasted our money. This colt is not a thoroughbred. Look at him wobble. But they’re not concerned with his present weaknesses. They’re not worried about what color he is, how pretty he is, or even how muscular he is. They are totally confident, knowing that inside that little colt is the DNA of a champion.

It’s in Your DNA

That’s how it is with you and me. You didn’t come from ordinary stock. You came from the best of the best. It doesn’t matter what you look like, what color you are, how tall or short, how attractive or unattractive. It doesn’t matter how many weaknesses you have. You may struggle with an addiction. You may have made some mistakes. What supersedes all of that is that inside you is the DNA of a champion. You come from a long list of winners.

If you look back and study your spiritual bloodline, you’ll see your elder brother defeated the enemy. There’s victory in your bloodline. You’ll see your ancestor Moses parted the Red Sea. There’s great faith in your bloodline. David, a shepherd boy, defeated a giant. There’s favor in your bloodline. Samson pushed down the walls of a huge building. There’s supernatural strength and power in your bloodline. Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem when all the odds were against him. There’s increase, promotion, and abundance in your bloodline. A young lady named Esther stepped up and saved her people from a certain death. There is courage in your bloodline.

Now, don’t go around thinking, I could never break this addiction. I could never afford college. I’ll never see my family restored. You come from a bloodline of champions. It’s in your DNA. You were born to win, born to overcome, born to live in victory. It doesn’t matter what your present circumstances look like. That addiction didn’t come to stay. Freedom is in your DNA. That sickness is not permanent. Health and wholeness are in your DNA. That family problem, strife, division; they’re not going to last forever. Restoration is in your DNA. Lack, struggle, and barely getting by are not your destiny. Abundance, increase, opportunity, and good breaks are in your DNA.

Now, when thoughts tell you that it’s never going to happen, just go back and check your spiritual birth certificate. Remind yourself of who you are. When thoughts intrude—You’ll never accomplish your dreams. You’ll never get well—just reply, “No, thanks. You have the wrong person. I’ve already checked my birth certificate. I know who I am. Now, let me verify what’s in my DNA. It’s found in God’s Word. Am I supposed to live average, lonely, struggling, and always getting the short end of the stick? No; it says in the Psalms, ‘God’s favor surrounds me like a shield.’ It declares, ‘No weapon formed against me will prosper.’ It says, ‘The number of my days He will fulfill.’ It states, ‘As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.’ It says, ‘I will lend and not borrow. Goodness and mercy are following us. Good breaks are chasing us down.’” That’s what’s in your DNA. When thoughts tell you otherwise, don’t get discouraged. Just keep checking your spiritual birth certificate. Keep reminding yourself of who you are.

My brother, Paul, and his beautiful wife, Jennifer, have a son named Jackson. When Jackson was a little boy, every night when Jennifer would put him to bed and after she prayed with him, she would go through a long list of superheroes, telling Jackson who he was. That was her way of speaking faith into him, letting him know he was going to do great things. She would say, “All right, Jackson, let me remind you of who you are. You’re my Superman. You’re my Buzz Lightyear. You’re my Power Ranger. You’re my Rescue Hero. You’re my Lightning McQueen,” and on and on. Little Jackson would lie there, a big smile on his face, taking it all in. One night they got home late, and she wasn’t able to go through that same routine. She put him to bed in a hurry. A few minutes later she heard this little voice hollering from his room, “Momma! Momma!” She rushed in and asked, “Jackson, what’s wrong?” He said, “Momma, you forgot to tell me who I am.” The Power of the Bloodline

A lot of people in life have never been told who they are. They’ve had negative voices playing over and over. “You’re not talented. You’re not going to ever get married. You’ll never get out of debt. You’ve come from the wrong family.” As long as those voices are playing, it will keep you from your destiny.

Maybe nobody told you who you are. Let me help you out. Almighty God says:

You’re a child of the Most High God.

You are strong. You are talented.

You are beautiful. You are wise.

You are courageous. You have seeds of greatness.

You can do all things through Christ.

You didn’t come from ordinary stock.

You’re a thoroughbred. You have winning in your DNA.

You are destined to do great things.

In the Old Testament, people understood the power of the bloodline more than we do today. God started the first covenant with a Jewish man named Abraham. Back in those days, if you weren’t Jewish, you didn’t have a right to God’s blessings and favor. It was limited to one bloodline—the Jewish people. In Luke 13, Jesus saw a woman who had been bent over with a sickness for eighteen years. He made an interesting statement. He said, “Should not this woman be loosed from this sickness seeing that she is a daughter of Abraham?” He was saying, “She comes from the right family. Healing is in her DNA. She has a right to be well.” Jesus went over and made her whole.

On another occasion, just the opposite happened. A Gentile woman came up and begged Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus said in effect, “I can’t do it. You come from the wrong family.” It didn’t seem fair, but that’s how powerful the bloodline was. In this case, though, despite her Gentile bloodline, Jesus marveled at the woman’s faith and eventually healed the daughter.

Here’s the beauty. When Jesus died and rose again, He made a way for all people to come to Him, both Jews and Gentiles. Galatians says, “If you’re in Christ, you are the seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise.” Don’t go through life believing the lies that you’ve come from the wrong family. “Your mother was depressed. You’ll always be depressed.” “Your dad was an alcoholic. You’ll be an alcoholic.” You have entered into a new bloodline. If God was standing before you today, He would say the same thing He said to that first lady. “Should not this man be free from this addiction, seeing that he is a son of Abraham?” “Should not this woman be healthy and whole, seeing that she is a daughter of Abraham?” Friend, you have a right to be blessed, to be free, to be healthy, to be happy, and to be whole. It’s in your DNA. Your natural bloodline may have some negative things in it, but the spiritual bloodline will always overpower your natural bloodline. The spiritual is greater than the natural.

You may think, I’ve got a lot of dysfunction in my family. I’ve got a lot going against me. But your spiritual bloodline says you can overcome every obstacle. You can break that addiction. You can beat that sickness. You can take your family to a new level. Why? You come from the right bloodline. You have the DNA of a champion.

You Are a Mighty Hero

In Judges 6, the Midianites had overtaken the people of Israel. They were making their lives miserable. When the Israelites’ crops came up, the Midianites would go in and destroy the produce. They were a bigger and stronger nation. It looked as though they would eventually drive the Israelites away. There was a man named Gideon who was hiding in the fields, afraid of the Midianites. An angel appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you.” I can imagine Gideon looked around and thought, Who’s he talking about? I’m not a mighty hero. Gideon wasn’t strong and courageous. He was just the opposite; afraid and intimidated, yet God called him a mighty hero. Like Gideon, you may feel weak, but God calls you strong. You may feel intimidated; God calls you courageous. You may feel inadequate; God calls you well able. You may think you’re average, but God calls you a mighty hero. When you get up in the morning and the negative thoughts come, reminding you of what you’re not, telling you of all your flaws and weaknesses, put your shoulders back, hold your head up high, dare to look in the mirror, and say, “Good morning, you mighty hero.” Let these thoughts play all through the day. “I am strong. I am courageous. I have the DNA of a champion. I am who God says I am. I can do what God says I can do.” You have to remind yourself of who you truly are. You are a mighty hero.

The angel went on to say, “Gideon, you are to deliver God’s people from the Midianites.”

Gideon said, “How can I do that? I come from the poorest family. I am the least one in my father’s house.”

What was the problem? Gideon didn’t know who he was. God had just called him a mighty hero. A couple of chapters later, Gideon was interrogating his enemies. He asked them, “What did the men look like whom you saw?” They said, “Gideon, they looked like you, like a king’s son.”

Here, Gideon had felt as though he was the least, inadequate, and not able to. But even his enemies said, “You look like a king’s son.”

If you allow the wrong thoughts to play in your mind, you can have the talent, the opportunity, the strength, and the looks, but like Gideon you’ll make excuses and talk yourself out of it. I love the fact that God not only calls you a mighty hero but even the enemy sees you as a king’s son, a king’s daughter. He knows who you are. Now, make sure you know who you are. Carry yourself like a king, like a queen, like a mighty hero. You come from the right family.

It’s interesting, when God called Gideon a mighty hero, up to that point Gideon had not done anything significant. He had not parted a Red Sea as Moses had. He had not defeated a giant as David did. He had not brought somebody back to life as the prophet Elijah had. I can understand God calling him a mighty hero if he had done something amazing. But it seemed that there was nothing special about him—just an ordinary, insignificant man. But God saw something in Gideon that other people did not see: God saw his potential. God saw what he could become.

You may feel that you’re average. You may think you’re ordinary, but God sees the mighty hero in you. God sees the DNA of a champion. He sees the king’s son, the king’s daughter. Now, do yourself a favor. Turn off the negative recording that’s reminding you of what you’re not, and get in agreement with God. Start seeing yourself as that mighty hero.

When God told Moses to go speak to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people go, the first thing Moses said was, “Who am I?” He was saying, “God, I’m ordinary. Pharaoh is the leader of a nation. He is not going to listen to me.” Moses forgot who he was. He didn’t see himself as a king’s son but as inadequate. He focused on his weaknesses, his limitations. He started making excuses. He said, “God, I can’t go talk to Pharaoh. I stutter. I’ve got a problem with my speech.” God said, “Moses, who made your tongue? Who makes the deaf to hear? Who makes the blind to see?” God was saying, “Moses, I breathed My life into you. I put My DNA inside you. You may feel weak, inadequate, and insecure, but Moses, I don’t want to hear your excuses. Quit telling Me what you’re not. I have the final say, and I say you’re a king’s son. I say you’re a mighty hero.” That’s what God is saying to each one of us today.

Have an Eagle Mentality

I heard a story about an eagle that was born in a chicken coop and raised with a brood of chickens. For years he pecked like a chicken, bawked like a chicken, and ate like a chicken. That’s all he had ever seen. But one day he looked up and saw an eagle soaring in the sky. Something deep inside said, “That’s what you were created to do.” His DNA was calling out to him. But when he looked around, all of his circumstances said, “You’re just a chicken.” He got his courage up. He told his chicken buddies that he was going to soar like that eagle. They laughed at him and said, “Are you kidding? You can’t soar. You’re just a chicken.” All he had ever heard was chicken. Chicken had become ingrained in his thinking, but deep down something said, “This is not who I am. I wasn’t made to be average, to live in this limited environment. I may be in a chicken coop, but I don’t feel like a chicken. I don’t think like a chicken. I don’t look like a chicken. This is not my destiny. I have the DNA of an eagle.” He started noticing that his wings were not like the chickens’. His were bigger, stronger, and wider. He decided to try to fly. Flapping his wings back and forth as fast as he could, the eagle barely lifted off the ground and crashed into the side of the chicken coop. His chicken friends laughed and said, “We told you. You’re no different from us. You’re wasting your time. You’re a chicken.” He didn’t let that failure, nor what the others said, nor the disappointment talk him out of it. Every day he kept trying, being his best. One day he lifted up out of that chicken coop and began to soar up and up in the sky. With every breath he declared, “This is what I was created for. This is who I really am. I knew I was an eagle!” Perhaps you’ve been in a chicken coop way too long. Let me tell you what you already know. You’re not a chicken. You’re an eagle. Don’t let that limited environment rub off on you. Don’t let how you were raised or what somebody said keep you from knowing who you really are. Check your spiritual birth certificate. You’ll find you’ve been made in the image of Almighty God. He has crowned you with favor. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. You were never created to be average or mediocre. You were created to soar. Abundance, opportunity, and good breaks are in your DNA. Now, get rid of a chicken mentality and start having an eagle mentality.

Remind Yourself of Who You Are

I know a young lady who was raised in a single-parent home in public housing. Her mother wasn’t around much when she was growing up. They were very poor. At sixteen years old, this young lady got pregnant and had to drop out of school. At one time she’d had a big dream for her life. She knew she was going to be something great, but now it looked as though the cycle of lack and defeat would be passed to the next generation. She moved into a tiny apartment to try to raise her son, but she couldn’t make ends meet. She had to go on welfare and found a job at a school cafeteria punching the meal tickets. She was earning minimum wage, barely making it through, but something deep down inside her said, “You were made for more. You’re not a chicken. You’re an eagle.” She decided to go back to school. In two years, she got her GED. That was good, but she wasn’t satisfied. She enrolled in college, working during the day and going to class at night. In four years, she graduated from college with honors. She still wasn’t satisfied. She went back and got her master’s degree. Today, she is the assistant principal at the same school where she used to punch meal tickets. She said, “I used to be on welfare, but now I’m doing fair and well.” That’s what happens when you know who you are.

Now, you may work with a bunch of chickens. You may live in a neighborhood with chickens. You may have relatives who still think they’re chickens. You must do what she did. Draw that line in the sand and say, “I may be in a limited environment, but I am not settling here. I know who I am. I am an eagle. I am a king’s son. I am a mighty hero. I am a thoroughbred. I have winning in my DNA.” Friend, you come from a bloodline of champions. Get up every morning and check your spiritual birth certificate. Remind yourself of who you are. If you do this, I believe and declare, you’re going to soar to new heights. You’re going to rise above every obstacle. You’re going to set new levels for your family and become everything God has created you to be.