{"id":43908,"date":"2018-10-17T00:10:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T05:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/?p=43908"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:44:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:44:36","slug":"god-says-who-you-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/god-says-who-you-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Who God Says YOU Are"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-60624 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2021\/04\/God-says.jpg\" alt=\"God says\" width=\"441\" height=\"291\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2021\/04\/God-says.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2021\/04\/God-says.jpg?resize=300,198 300w, https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2021\/04\/God-says.jpg?resize=768,507 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>It&#8217;s What God Says About You That Matters.<\/h2>\n<p>The world does its best to define and categorize us, often from a place of lack: too fat, too skinny, too loud, too dumb, too left, too right, too religious, too uncool, blah, blah, blah. But when we choose to believe what God says about us, it puts the world&#8217;s labels into proper perspective: wrong.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Bible gives us the basis for believing that <a href=\"https:\/\/josh.org\/know-god-really-exists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">God exists<\/a>, has purposefully created us, and invites us into relationship with Him so that we discover why He birthed us. #purpose<\/strong><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Who God Says YOU Are:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>YOU possess His strength<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Philippians+4%3A13&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Philippians 4:13<\/strong><\/a> \u2013\u00a0 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.<\/li>\n<li>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>He sees YOU with grace<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 2\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+Corinthians+1%3A4&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>1 Corinthians 1:4<\/strong><\/a> \u2013<sup class=\"versenum\">\u00a0<\/sup>I always thank my God for you\u00a0because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>YOU are God&#8217;s handiwork<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Ephesians+2%3A10&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Ephesians 2:10<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cFor we are God\u2019s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>God pursues YOU<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm+23%3A6&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Psalm 23:6<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><strong>YOU are loved<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+John+4%3A10&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1 John 4:10<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>YOU are forgiven<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+John+1%3A9&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1 John 1:9<\/a> <\/strong>\u2013 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>Christ calls YOU friend<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+15%3A15&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John 15:15<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master\u2019s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>The &#8220;God Hole&#8221; That Draws Us<\/h2>\n<p>So, here&#8217;s the thing: We all seek love and validation from the world. But the truth is that God designed us with a hole in our heart <em>to draw us to seek Him<\/em>. Our spouses can&#8217;t fully fill the void we&#8217;re born with. Our parents can&#8217;t fill it. Not even our best friends can be what we need and want them to be 100 percent of the time. But God can. It&#8217;s the role He designed for Himself.<br \/>\n<strong>Only by accepting God&#8217;s love are we able to deal with feeling unloved and unwanted by others. Even better: when we accept His love, we&#8217;re able to then authentically love others! Our worth is not determined by the world, but by Him. God says that we&#8217;re worthy of His love and of loving ourselves. End of story. Always and forever. Jesus came to prove it!<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Next Steps<\/h2>\n<p>&gt; Do you want to have a relationship with Jesus? Start\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/josh.org\/resources\/spiritual-growth\/know-god\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<br \/>\n&gt; We invite you to read Josh\u2019s book, <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/store.josh.org\/product\/see-god-sees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">See Yourself as God Sees You<\/a><\/i><\/b><i><\/i><i><\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s What God Says About You That Matters. The world does its best to define and categorize us, often from a place of lack: too fat, too skinny, too loud, too dumb, too left, too right, too religious, too uncool, blah, blah, blah. But when we choose to believe what God says about us, it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23327,"featured_media":60624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Our worth is not determined by the world, but by God, who says we're worthy of His love and of loving ourselves. Case closed.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[513,756,757,540],"translator":[],"blog-author":[78],"class_list":["post-43908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-does-god-love-me","tag-know-your-worth","tag-true-identity","tag-who-god-says-i-am","blog-author-josh-mcdowell-ministry-team"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2021\/04\/God-says.jpg","meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43908"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92666,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43908\/revisions\/92666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43908"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=43908"},{"taxonomy":"blog-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-author?post=43908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}