# [Who are You Really](https://bluebookstudy.captivate.fm/episode/who-are-you-really) > ### Opening #Prayer >*Dear Jesus, Who am I really? What do you see in me that you would move heaven and earth to capture my heart? My life feels like a collection of other people’s expectations and disappointments. I do not even know anymore who I truly am. Reveal to me my true identity, my true place in Your story. Give me grace to hear your voice; shut out all other voices, and let me hear from you alone. I ask this in your name. Amen. (The Sacred Romance Workbook by John Eldredge)* ![[Kerrville Cross 12.jpg]] ## Psalm for the Week: Psalm 62 >My Soul Waits for God Alone. To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. - *62 For God alone my soul waits in silence;from him comes my salvation.2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.* - *3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood.* - *They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah* - *5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,for my hope is from him.6 He only is my rock and my salvation,my fortress; I shall not be shaken.7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;my mighty rock, my refuge is God.* - *8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;God is a refuge for us. Selah* - *9 Those of low estate are but a breath;those of high estate are a delusion;in the balances they go up;they are together lighter than a breath.10 Put no trust in extortion;set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.* - *11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.* >## The Baptism of Jesus: Matthew 3:13-17 >*13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,[a] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,[b] with whom I am well pleased.”* ## Reading for #Reflection > *The other day I made a bit of a realization. I am still trying, in futility I might add, to create my self (my true self) each day rather than simply receive my self each day. Self that is created, by anything or anyone other the God that breathed me into being, can only be false, because it is just a cheap imitation, adaptation, or distortion of the me I was created to be by the one who dreamt me into being before the foundations of the earth. My true identity is bestowed, never achieved. So my challenge, for this day and every day after that, is to stop the ongoing pattern of trying, in desperation, to create a self that has in fact already been fearfully and wonderfully made; and to simply receive my self (true self), in peace and in freedom, from the God who made me uniquely and loves me dearly.~Jim Branch April, 2012* >*What do you do when alone with God? Many of us think, talk, or ask. But when alone with God how vital also to listen! Solitude is the place where you can hear the voice that calls you the beloved, that leads you onto the next page of the adventure, that says, as God said to Jesus early in the Gospels, “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17)* - ​ *How vitally that the word beloved can resound across our lives! Can you hear it? Everyone hears voices that seem to speak for God: “Prove yourself. Do something that makes you significant and then I will show up in love.” Or we hear, “Do something relevant, be sure that people speak well of you. Be sure you gather money and property and influence, then I will love you.” In our insecurity we try very hard to respond to such voices. And then we stay busy proving to others that we deserve some attention, that we are good people worth praise, that we merit affection or attention.* - ​ *We push ourselves to wield influence or make a mark. Often we call that “vocation” but Jesus calls it “temptation.” He has no patience with the one who insists that he jump from the temple to show his power or turn stones into bread to prove his ministry credentials. He has heard God speak of his belovedness as God’s Son. That forms the basis of what he does and knows himself called to do. He will not be distracted by merely doing superficial good. He bears the very presence of God.* - ​ *It is hard for us to hear the voice that proclaims that we are loved in Christ, not for our reputation or impressive actions, but because God has loved us with an everlasting love. “I don’t hear anything,” some say. We are too prone, too conditioned to listen for all the other voices that insist on “success” or “results.” I hear only the voices that urge me to go here or do that or get done this mandate, we sometimes think. But then we also long for that other voice.* - ​ *I do not suggest by this that you or I should not see fruit from our ministries, not own property, or not enjoy any possessions. I am not saying we should not want to find affection and love from others. I am saying, however, that our identity can find its basis only in God’s word to us that we are beloved, not on the world’s fickle promises. In Christ we live as God’s beloved before we were born and after we have died; all the circumstances in between will not negate that. (Turn My Mourning Into Dancing by Henri J. M. Nouwen)* - Reflection and Listening: silent and written - Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself ## Song for the Week: Arise (by Ryan Long) #Song *Beloved can you hear me* *I call across eternity* *I am your God* *Are you listening?* *Arise my Love and Come with me* *Arise my Love and Come with me* *Your heart is sore. Your feet are weary.* *Your hope is gone. Your head is hung.* *Leave behind the nothing* *That you've become.* *Arise my love and come with me.* *Arise my love and come with me.* *Arise and come and become what you believe.* *Lay down your burdens my love and come with me.* *Arise my love and come with me.* *Arise my Love and Come with me* ## Closing #Prayer >*O God, our Heavenly Father, who created us beautifully and wonderfully, may we always look to You for our value and worth, remembering that we are a unique expression of your infinite love, care, and creativity. Help us, O Lord, to see ourselves as you see us—objects of your extravagant love and tender affection. Through Christ. Amen. (JLB)*