As followers of Christ, we can choose to defy fear and follow Jesus in our true identity anywhere – whether He calls us across the street or across the world. Jamie Winship (All Nations’ speaker at Further Together 2024!) describes the problem in his book, Living Fearless:
“People are mostly afraid all the time. In fact, the number one exhortation in Scripture is, “Do not be afraid.” We can only become fearless as we follow God in our true identity and experience in real life the truth of God’s promises in us” (p. 76).
What does it mean to ‘become fearless as we follow God in our true identity?’ A first step is to hear our true identity from God! At All Nations, we train our missionaries to silence other voices so they can hear the voice of the Father. (Check out these trainings on hearing God’s voice.)
Here are some real-life examples of All Nations missionaries & people Jamie has encountered who heard God’s identity for them, and their description of how it impacted their lives.
Meredith
Beloved Daughter, Light in the Darkness; and HER daughter
Co-Director, All Nations Kansas City Hub
Meredith shares how God’s identity for her has impacted her work:
The Lord calls me “My Beloved Daughter, my Light in the Darkness.” This has spoken particularly powerfully as I have sought to bring light and hope to refugees throughout the past 12 years of ministry.
Also, last summer, Jesus told me, “You aren’t only my daughter, you’re HER daughter too, Heal her pain.” He was tweaking the identity to focus me on my mom in what ended up being the last 8 months of her life. She was relatively healthy – I had no idea she would pass away soon. But after those words from Jesus, God gave me grace to get much more actively involved in her health journey, and increased my patience with her. It was a season of great healing, and he did that through reminding me of my identity, and pointing out a new angle of that identity!
The Samaritan Woman
From dejected & detached to influence
John 4, per Jamie Winship, Living Fearless, p.111
“In the course of one afternoon with the Word incarnate, a woman trapped in a stultifying life of detachment and dejection becomes a person of influence, whose courageous witness leads a town of people – who might well have mistreated her – to faith in Christ.
Why? Because she let the King serve her by walking with her from her false identity into her true identity in the kingdom of God” (Living Fearless, p. 111).
A Skeptical Midwife
Healer to the nations
per Jamie Winship, Living Fearless, p. 10-11
“‘What identity does the voice of Love call you?’ Jamie Winship asked a skeptical midwife attending one of his seminars. She was part of a group being recruited by a militant organization, and she was not an easy audience. But then, as she closed her eyes, it became obvious that Love was speaking to her.
‘Oh my,’ she whispered. ‘Love calls me a healer to the nations. I need to go to the nations.’ Within a year, she and her family relocated to another country in order to work with marginalized people.
If you ask her today who told her to go, she will tell you it was the Holy Spirit” (Living Fearless, p. 10-11).
Keifer
Artist
All Nations Missionary
Keifer shares how God’s identity for him has impacted his work:
I participated in a week of Listening Prayer with a leader. One of the days, as we prayed, Jesus started to speak about our work in Czech. I had been asking him about the community and place He was calling me to. “Why aren’t you working with artists?” He asked. “I made you an artist, and I brought you here. There’s a reason for that.”
I hadn’t ever thought of that before. He hadn’t brought me to Czech so that I could copy a method, or another person’s way to reach people — he brought me because I am me, and He wanted me specifically here reaching people in a way that is unique to who I am.
‘But where? How?’ I asked.
‘Well, I put you at the school when you first moved here. You love middle school kids. It wasn’t a coincidence.’
Again, it made sense. When I left the US, the saddest part was leaving my community of writers and artists, and the theater community of teens where I’d been teaching and directing. God was now saying those things had prepared me for where He was leading me. I’d never been meant to leave them behind, but rather to let those parts of myself become part of how I worship God through obedience and faithful service.
He doesn’t just call us to a place, He call us because we are who we are, and He made us for that calling.
Do you want to hear more from Jamie Winship? Join us at Further Together 2024: Defy Fear in Kansas City (or online!), Friday, September 13. Also join us at the Identity Exchange workshop on September 14 in Kansas City.
Do you want to learn more about hearing God’s voice? Check out this free Ignite Online Training recording: How in the World do I Hear God’s Voice?
Do you sense God’s call to missions? Check out this video and our path to the field, and please reach out to us. We’d love to talk!
Works Cited:
Winship, Jamie. Living Fearless: Exchanging the lise of the world for the liberating truth of God. Grand Rapids, Revell, 2022.
