Call us by our names / Re-birth

I watched this sermon some time back, it was relationship advice and it was quite rivetting. I was fascinated. Dude goes by the name Pastor Michael Todd, and he is a bit hip hop and so that got me hooked.

And its not something that I have always done, watching sermons on YouTube, you would not believe me any other time if I had told you 5 or 6 years ago.

And that was the time when I was seeking answers about my own self, inside of religion.

So it resonated when he started speaking about identity.

He spoke about how God gives you your meaning by placing you (somewhere), giving you your life’s definition in purpose, and giving you a way of life through provision, and then he eventually arrived at the point that he got my attention when he spent some time explaining how God gives you your identity.

And that is the spiritual and eternal question, who you are (you, yourself), what you came here to do (your purpose), how you got here (your DNA chains and long line of generational parents/ancestry), how you get by (your work), and where you have to go (this is still purpose).

All of this is your reason for being on this earth and in this life, and it becomes your peace, ukuthula kwakho and nangaphakathi kwakho. When all these things are answered then you start understanding how they are what you are fam!

And you have to know yourself, I keep insisting. This is important, and its important because the Maker of peace is within you and He draws you close when you search for yourself. That's how you eventually get to find your way to Him. You earn your peace.

And there are so many ways, yet there is only one way to find your way. And it starts with you. Once you make peace with God, you progress onto a higher plane and you levitate and elevate at the same damn time. And you give a lift and lifts to the others in your companionship and your community.

Your name is important because it is your story, just as Saul became the Apostle Paul, your transformation on the inside reflects on the outside and you get cool with the people in your family and community and you suddenly ooze empathy and compassion and you will give peace to them peeps that are on their search.

And peace is important. I personally don't like conflict, I don't know about you fam, but I love my deep sleep and I love smiles and smiling throughout the day into the cold of the night, just so I can dream big and travel into the galaxies of ideas of a sustained and sustainable better life, for all.

I'm digressing. But you are who you are when you find out that God knows who you are, in you becoming whom He meant you to be from the start and from the get-go.

And so when you find your name, and when you have made peace with Him and you accept your imperfections, while searching for the perfect selfie of a peaceful you, you do get to the peace.

Just arrive there at your place of prayer and confess to yourself that you are His image and that you are Him and also His child or children if your internal you is plural.

But your name is your name, and thats who you are. And thats your definition, in the first person. And so you must know when you are called, by your name.

And it remains that God is love, and He loves you fam. You are His people. And thats who you are.

💙