Be Yourself with God

I pray that through this study you have come to understand that being your authentic and unique self is not only important, but it is possible. It is God’s will for you. He loves you unconditionally and accepts you totally, and He wants you to do the same. He wants you to receive His love and be free from feeling like you have to perform or pretend for anyone—including Him—in order to gain their approval or acceptance.

An important part of living authentically includes being authentic with God. Jesus wants to have a genuine relationship with you, so if you struggle to believe, just be honest with Him about it. Don’t pretend to have faith you don’t have. He can handle your doubts, your frustrations, your secret hopes, and all the things you may not be able to tell anyone else, and He wants to hear them.

In Mark 9, we read about a father who comes to Jesus, asking Him to heal his son because a demon had tormented him since he was a child. The man said, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us” (Mark 9:22 NIV). Jesus said to him that all things are possible with God for those who believe. The father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NIV). The boy was healed and made whole—all because his father was authentic with Jesus and went to Him for help.

I love the father’s honesty in this story. He didn’t pretend to have faith he did not have. I think we can all relate to this father. At times, we all come to God and ask Him to do something. We do believe, but our faith is not perfect—we also have some doubt and some unbelief. I don’t think anyone has perfect faith without ever experiencing doubt, but our faith becomes stronger and more perfected as we continue to walk with God and see how He remains faithful, even when we struggle to believe. And the more we see His faithfulness in action, the more we trust Him in everything, including what He says about us. That’s what gives us the confidence to freely and joyfully be ourselves, no matter what we are going through.

I’m so glad you’ve started this journey to authenticity, and I want to leave you with hope—the hope of enjoying your life, enjoying your unique design, and enjoying God. Each of us can choose the kind of life we want to have, so I urge you to choose well.

Let’s be the ones who take God at His Word, who live authentically for Him, and who show those around us the beauty of being our real selves!

_{Adapted from the book Authentically, Uniquely You by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2021 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.}