I am forgivable! I am lovable! I am valuable! I am acceptable, and I am capable. Paul tells the Philippians that no matter what his life circumstances are, he can manage. In Chapter 4, verse 13 (The Amplified Bible) he writes, “I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me — I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me, that is, I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency!”

I don’t always feel “sufficient,” do you? I often feel weak, and empty and sick of struggles that overwhelm me time and again. I’m tired of not being what I should be and letting temptations sneak up on me and trip me up and circumstances that get me down. I have to continually remind myself of God’s grace. I am sufficient in Christ whether I feel like it or not. I am what God says I am whether I believe it at the moment or not. The circumstances and temptations that take me captive have no chance at all if I hang on to God’s truth about myself. Believing what the Bible says sets us free! That’s what the truth does! It sets us free. I’m saying these things out loud as I write them. Join me: I am forgivable! I am lovable! I am valuable! I am acceptable and I am capable! This is true, not because of any intrinsic goodness in myself, but because God says it’s true.

Let me tell you a biblical truth that will set you free. Better yet, let me quote James M. Boice on the subject. Here is what he writes, “Are you a Christian? If so, you are a saint, and so am I—regardless of our station in life. We are so, not because of what we have done, but because we have been separated unto God in Jesus. An illustration of this truth comes from the life of the late Harry Ironside of Chicago. During the early days of his ministry before there were airplanes, Dr. Ironside used to travel many miles by train. On one of these trips, a four-day ride from the West Coast to his home in Chicago, the Bible teacher found himself in the company of a party of nuns. They liked him because of his kind manner and his interesting reading and exposition of the Bible. One day Dr. Ironside began a discussion by asking the nuns if any of them had ever seen a saint. They all said that they had never seen one. He then asked if they would like to see one. They all said that they would like to see one. Then he surprised them greatly by saying, ‘I am a saint; I am Saint Harry.’” He took them to verses of the Bible that say it was so. Sixty three times in the New Testament “all believers” are called saints. When we come to faith in Christ we are not sinners any longer. We are saints. Boice goes on to say, “Your name may sound funny when you preface it with the title “saint.” But you may rest assured that it does not sound funny to God—whether you are a Saint George, a Saint Lucy, or a Saint Harriet. God knows us all by name, and it is he who calls us saints in Christ Jesus.