Part 1: Identity Before Assignment | Theresa Dedmon | Episode 59

Theresa Dedmon Ministries: Once we know who God is, once we know his character, once we understand the sovereignty of who he is in our life, then our assignment, then our name, then who we are is being revealed. Hi, I'm Teresa Dedman and this is Kingdom Create Talks, where creativity and the supernatural collide. Each week I sit down with powerful guests, artists, entrepreneurs, and kingdom influencers who are creating with God and releasing heaven solutions into every area of culture. Together we explore how prophetic creativity breaks fear, shame, and perfectionism so that you can live fully alive in your calling. If you're ready to unlock God's creative power within you, You're in the right place. Let's partner with the creator and transform the world together. Hey everybody, welcome to Kingdom Create Talks. I am so glad that you are in this episode. We are doing four parts to discovering God's plan and destiny for your life. And this is our time to help you grow in knowing how you can find out. what God has really planned for you and how does your creativity tie into that? See everybody is creative. Everybody has something that God's called them to do and to become. And we want to help you find that at Kingdom Create Talks podcast. We love to hear about how what you're learning and please share this contact. This this ⁓ this this amazing episode with other people too. And let's get together and see what we can do in growing up a global creative community of believers that believe that God is good, that believe that He can transform our lives, that signs and wonders are true and real, and that we get to be participatory in seeing these signs and wonders happen. If you have never heard of teresa debmond.com or KCM movement, go to teresa deadmond.com, find out more about that. We would love to have you join our movement. It is so powerful. We do things together where you get into groups where I talk about how you can thrive in every area of your life. We also have courses that you get for free, ⁓ free webinars, ⁓ access to my Facebook, and so much more. It's a place where we get to see the kingdom of God come through the dreams that we have and seeing and thriving in our destiny. So this is a four-part series. I'm excited to announce because I feel like discovering God's creative destiny for you can set you up for the rest of your life, your life. It's like if you don't Know where you're headed, that means you don't have GPS in your spiritual lens. If you don't know that, you can be lost and you can be doing things that aren't a part of God's destiny, and you can get tired, you can get you can feel defeated because you're not in his perfect will, and his perfect will is in his name. So God has called you to be like him, but he's given you these wonderful ideas and impressions and prophetic words that are leading you into his next adventure with you. And if you have defeating mindsets, belief systems that don't align with heaven. In KCM, our Kingdom Creative Movement, we believe that if you have defeating mindsets, you're going to be stopped into going after your creative identity. That could be fear of the future. It could be I'm not good enough. Shame. It could be I'm afraid to take risks because I've had past failures. It could be perfectionism. Trying to be perfect to earn God's favor or earn other people's favor or feel good about yourself. The only way to get rid of all that stuff is to let God's love come into you, to know that you are fully accepted in the beloved, to know Romans 8. That you've been adopted, that you already are accepted and approved. So we want to talk about that today. And I'm so glad. So I love comments too. So if you want to comment and there's something that you want or share this with somebody, please do. And if you wanted to join our KCM movement, we do have a special drum roll, please. You can come and by using the code KCM triple10, you get to. Be in our community for only $10, not for one month, not for two, but for three months. All you pay is $10 per month to check it out, to join our creative book ⁓ boot camp, to also do our book clubs and so much more. And we have a KCM Thrive Life Academy that you can join in September. In the KCM membership, so you can find out more on that on TeresaDebman.com. So check it out. But let's get into our episode today. We're talking about identity before assignment. I don't know about you, but I am a mover and a shaker. I have led so many trips around the planet, releasing people to understand their creative calling and and I I I could even come to your church or you're to your area. I you can invite me, but but in that context, I I see so many people that they're trying to earn God's favor or to become a creative in in any kind of aspect. And they're trying and they're striving and they're and they don't know that their identity has to be firm before the assignment is given. Now this is important for us to understand today. And so let me pray for you, Father. I just pray that as we talk about today the identity before assignment, that Father, you would reach into people's hearts that feel like they have to strive to make something happen in their life. To go in a certain direction and that God, their identity about where they are going with you would set them on the course that they need to run. So I break off fear. Ha ha. I break off any lie that says that you somehow you failed and you've missed your opportunity. I break that off in Jesus' name and I just release upon you right now the callings of God to be his child. And that you are fully accepted, and that he is forming his nature in you, Christ in us, Colossians 1 27, and having encounters with him. Whoa, and abiding with him, John 15. That spirit is coming upon you now. That spirit is breathing upon you, that you need to know the love of the Father. and the love that he has for how he has created you above anything else. So we just release a passion, a passion to know him, a passion to see him. In Jesus' name. Amen. ⁓ it feels good to be with you today, friends. And if this is your first time, I'm so glad you're here. So in Kingdom Create Talks, we just we just share heart to heart about different things. And I have guests on, and at times I'm sharing. And and today I feel like this thing about identity is so vital. It's so important. I have a a granddaughter that I was just with, and she is turning 11, and she's going to a different school next. year and her identity and who she is it's so malleable because she's changing she's growing and she's becoming who she truly is meant to be but she's seeing herself in a different light she's seeing herself now as well I could walk over here I don't need an adult I could do this I could do that and you could tell like she's starting to figure out who she is as she's getting older And one of the things that I can do as as a supernatural ⁓ grandparent and as and as a person in her life, I can say, Brielle, you are, and I can call out the golden hair. You are God's child. You are gonna succeed in school. You have it what it takes because God's gonna show you things in school that you couldn't get before. And he's gonna show you things that you can do. And he's gonna start to do things in your life beyond your wild wildest imagination. And so when we have that understanding, she and I was talking to her today about that, she began to like just tear up. ⁓ okay, Mimi. Okay, yeah. And I said, don't let any circumstance determine who you are. Because you're God's child and you're beloved. And when we have that understanding that that's what Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit want us to know, then whatever circumstances we face, we're not blindsided, but we choose the right assignment because we know who we are. I love the the story of Jesus. ⁓ who here loves Jesus? And Jesus' baptism. And here is Jesus, he's 30 years old. Now you would think that he would have to he would want to run after his assignment. I mean, they only have this amount of time on the earth. Come on, Jesus, Papa, Holy Spirit, we need to get working together in the Trinity to see this world be transformed because Jesus is here, right? But he goes. Again, he goes, No, I need to do what's right. I need to follow my assignment. So what does he do? He gets baptized by John, the person who is calling out in the wilderness. This is the Son of God. And as he's being baptized, what happens? It's like the Holy Spirit, the dove, comes upon him and he hears the Father say, This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. He's my delight. So we have this thing where the identity now is set that Jesus now has been released because the Father has anointed him for such a time and he's released, and the Holy Spirit is confirming that call. And then he's launched into ministry. But what does the enemy do? He tries to take away his identity. ⁓ he tries to turn those. Turn those ⁓ that bread and you know those stones into bread because he was fasting for 40 days. He tries to tempt him in his identity as the son of God. And what does Jesus do? Because he knows his identity, he says, the scripture says, so he calls into alignment the promises of God. So his identity is coming. And it comes to him and God blesses him. And then the assignment is given to him. ⁓ that's what happened to Peter. He's Simon, he's walking with God. It's three three years later. And Jesus says, Who do you guys say that I am? Come on. What do you say, Matt? What do you say, James? What you know, what what who do you say that I am? And they're just talking. Well. Some say you're the prophet. Some say you're like Elijah, come back, whatever it is. And he says, but who do you say that I am? And then Peter says, You are, you, you are the Son of God. You are the Christ. And I love this scripture because then Jesus says, Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father in heaven. And you are Peter. And upon this rock of identity, I will build my church. So once we know who God is, once we know his character, once we understand the sovereignty of who he is in our life, then our assignment, then our name, then who we are is being revealed. And of course, then the testing came. And Peter denied Jesus three times. And what happened? Peter went right back to becoming a fisherman. He went right back to that old way of thinking, the old man. And Jesus then came and was making some a meal out there. And John goes, Hey, he's, you know, they're in the boat. Hey, I think that's I think that's Jesus. And what does Peter do? He jumps off the side of the boat. And I I think that he was wondering. What was his identity like when he failed to Jesus? And that was that moment, that tension, where he goes and he's swimming and then he gets to Jesus. And Jesus says to him, he doesn't talk about the failure. He says, Peter, do you love me? And Peter goes, Yeah, you you know that I love you. Peter, do you love me? So just like the three times when he denied him, he was three times reinstating in Peter his identity, feed my sheep. He was saying, okay, listen, I understand who you are, but that will remain your identity is set because I called it out in you. And for me personally, there's been so many times when I feel like I've failed God. Can anybody relate? ⁓ my gosh, I I missed that chance to do this, or I didn't complete that assignment, or something happened, right? And Jesus says to me, Teresa, do you love me? No, no, no, Teresa, do you love me? Then feed my sheep. So identity comes first. If we know that we are accepted in the beloved, if we know that we are training for reigning, if we know that we are the apple of God's eye. If we know that we are God's masterpiece, his poema, as Ephesians 2 10 says, if we understand that emotional charge that Jesus has every time he looks into our eyes, every time the Father identifies us with Jesus, do you realize that he loves us just as much as he loves his son? And and that love is not a small, shallow love. It's not based upon what I do. Not based upon my assignment, but it's it's it's knowing the height, the depth, the width, the breadth of the love of Christ. It's it's knowing that we're in it, that we're swimming in it, that it finds us. Like he's going after us, he's teaching us things through our trials, he's showing us do you love me? And do you know that I'm gonna see you through that? And when we understand our identity. In Christ, in the love of the Father, which is never ending, Romans 8 at the very end, nothing can separate you from his love. And if we know that the Spirit is sent to bring us into all truth, and that we're called to work into and to create signs and wonders, then we feel secure. Because God never changes. God does not change his mind about you. He loves you through and through and through. That's the story of his love throughout all of the different books of the Bible. That's the story of his love for how he forgave Peter, how he forgave Paul. You know, Peter wasn't gonna, he wasn't going to like be released until Jesus said, Peter, do you love me? When Saul was was persecuting the Christians. I mean, talk about like a man who deserved to be ostracized, and Jesus says, No, I want him. I I want this guy. I want him on my team. And hey, I'm gonna give him this assignment. He's gonna go and he's gonna save all of the Gentiles. And guess what? His assignment is to convince Peter. I know it's a big job, but he's gonna do it. That's how lovely God is. He's the most kind and loving person you'd ever want to meet. So, so this is this is where we camp out. We camp out in our identity. When we're walking through life like this and we're going, okay, God, all right. We we we turn around every negative and every satanic attack that tries to keep us from our destiny. And we say, ⁓ wait, I'm God's child. Jesus, what are you gonna do through this? I'm excited for this challenge. James 5. I'm excited for what you're gonna be doing in my life. I'm gonna pray. I'm in James 1. I'm gonna, I'm gonna like declare who I am. I'm gonna count it all joy when I go through trials and tribulations. ⁓ so so creativity is is really important because creativity is like, do you realize like if you do not pursue your calling to create something? new with God that you're gonna there's something that's gonna metastasize inside of you. It's not gonna be good. Bitterness will come, fear will come, because we're all called to do an assignment for Christ, to do something that no one else can do. And when we activate that, when we move into that, we gain so much freedom because that's what we were born for. And so so many people they they get caught up on perfectionism or how to create something or becoming a great like theatrical producer or business owner or ministry leader. They get all caught up on what they're to be and to do, and they forget that their identity comes from Jesus. That they're his child first. And that that stuff is on the peripheral. It's it can go away. Like which what Paul says, you know, whether I'm abase or whether I'm bound, whether I have everything or whether I have nothing, I count it all joy because of being with Jesus. And so when we when we are in that place of identity, then whatever assignment that God has for us, we're ready to take that land. I am, I I remember when I was ⁓ I I was just at I think I was there for a year at Bethel and I just completed the school of ministry in 2003 and I was wondering what God wanted me to do with my life. ⁓ how many of you ever felt that way? Maybe you feel that way right now. Maybe you are in a pivotal time of going, it's summertime. What am I gonna do this fall? How am I gonna pursue my dream? What is God calling me to do? I I don't know. But in my case, I was there in two thousand and and two. ⁓ 2003. And so I'm there and ⁓ I'm just like seeking God. And I'm saying, okay, who do you say that I am? What is it that you want me to do? And I kept seeing in my in this like vision, I kept seeing a white horse that was like right here. And it was right where my head was. I was standing up and it was like very much dawnish but still darkish time of day. And I remember I could he I could see the nostrils like, you know, with the with the with the air coming through and it was a little bit like cold and I could see that like it was just like that thing of I know that the horse is there. And that was God speaking to me that my assignment was coming because I had learned about my identity in the school of ministry in that first year ⁓ time period of nine months. So I was all like, but I had no idea what it was. All I could say was yes. And so my husband, he goes Teresa, we're out of finances I don't know, should we church plant again? And I'm going, No. I want to oversee second year at at at Bethel in the school school of supernatural ministry because I love leadership. And that's what the second year is all about. And there wasn't any openings. I I I just remembered saying that and then and then all of a sudden, like I s I just said, Well, you know, if God whatever God wants, that's just the The desire of my heart. Well, lo and behold, when we think the thoughts of God, when we're in that space of having our identity fixed upon him, it says that he gives us the desires of our heart when we delight in him. So phone call comes and Chris Ballatin asks us to come in and he goes, ⁓ hey, Kevin and Teresa, I want you guys to help oversee the second year program with Banning Leepsher, who heads up Jesus Culture. And then he said, and Teresa, I want you to head up all the creative arts. And I thought, okay, I get the leadership thing. Yeah, man, I'm all in. Woo-hoo hoo hoo. But this thing over here, there's there's no model for it. There's nobody that was doing this before. So this would be a pioneering work. And I had no idea what he thought should happen. He had no idea. He just gave me an assignment. All right. Watch out for those prophetic words. And all of a sudden, in a split moment, I saw this wave coming, like almost like a a huge wave that you would see in Hawaii or, you know, in like different places where they're just huge, like a hundred foot kind of wave and a huge one. And I saw myself when I was riding the crest of it. Now I wasn't standing up, thank God, but I was like laying down. And And then I saw that all of these people were were in back of me and they were kind of they were drafting off of my me going over this wave. And I knew that was about creativity and about the supernatural. And so I just said, okay, like now when I said okay, I had no idea what I would do. Let me just say that again. When when you say yes to God, sometimes you have no idea what you just said yes to, but you just said yes. So I did. I said yes. I said, okay, God. And so what happened is that as I began to say yes, my identity was being set by my vision by what Chris said. It was like there were things that were happening that my identity was strong enough to like be be beset to when I would go through trials, my leadership ⁓ experience and my ⁓ level of doing ministry to lead, and then also the things that I was doing with the creative would start to manifest. And what I saw was I saw these two kind of their their two hats that were spinning that I was carrying that God had given me and I d truly could not have done this on my own. This was a work of the Holy Spirit. Can I get an Amen? So when you are in your assignment, it wasn't work to me. It wasn't like ⁓ I got up every day going, ⁓ my gosh, this is so hard. I can't do this. I would go, ⁓ my I get to do this. I got so excited. And I began to like teach and branch out and teach on creativity in the supernatural. And we saw healings in the marketplace. And I was leading teams to go out in schools every week and go out to hospitals and minister every week. And doors were opening up all over the city and running for creativity to come in and to bless people. in a kingdom way and I just saw I just saw the fruit of the land. I saw like I was like a Joshua and Caleb going, let's go take that mountain. Well no wait a second. Let's go take the library. Wait a second. Let's go take their the the city of Rudding and do events there. Let's just and I began to just like in a sense like find out God's heart. And what I realized in this approach Is that God wants us to be excited about what is exciting to his heart? What I saw is that God is a God of expansion. He doesn't want you to be fearful, striving, trying to be something when you already are his happy thought. You already are accepted in the beloved. And when you receive that, that means when you believe it. In the core of who you are, when you have dreams and visions, when you look at scripture and you read about who you are, you go, Yeah, that's me. When you personalize it, it begun, it begins to be manifested. And this is what my heart is for you that you start to walk into your calling, not based upon what you think you should be. But based upon your identity in who God has called you to be through prophetic words, through visions and dreams, through a time alone with him. When you do that, all of a sudden you get secure. You're you're in a boat and you're able to to be secure when when the waves start to rock. That's what I want you to find today. I want you to know that that is what God has for you. ⁓ this is your time, this is your season, this is your identity is so important. Now, I'm going to give you three tips on how to grow that and how to find that. Number one, if you want your identity to become secure. I want you to ask Jesus every single day, who do you say that I am? Who am Jesus? Who am I, Papa God? I want you to ask them questions about your identity and then listen to what they say by the scriptures you read, by the walks and talks that you have. Begin to ask him for your identity. Begin to ask him, okay, what scripture? Why did you give me the scripture? What is in this container? And you want to start to marinate on who you are. I loved it when Jesus said ⁓ Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He he was manifesting his identity through that scripture. The scriptures that God has given you to manifest who you are. And so really start to dive into a strong conversation with God because He wants his thoughts to become your thoughts. He wants to tell you as the grains of the sand who you are, but you have to make time and room for that. Secondly, break off the defeating mindsets. That's right. Break off things that that dis that if there's something that's a disagreeing with who God says you are, you cancel that. You break it off. You say, no, that's not who I am. So you have to have authority in your life over the doubt and the fear that has kept you bound. And you have to fight. Second Corinthians 10 verse 5. ⁓ it's very important that we demolish every stronghold that sets us up. sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We we do spiritual warfare not in a position of fear but in a position of faith because we know who we are. All right. All right, so come on. Ask God. Break off defeating mindsets. And number two, start to walk as though you are who He says you are. And you're thinking, what what do you mean? That means Like start to believe and then act on that. So if God says that you are a creative in ⁓ photography, get out your camera and start to take pictures. If God says that you're supposed to bring reconciliation to families, start to ask Holy Spirit how you can do that today. So we have to take the prophetic words and we have to bring them into the fullness of who God calls them to be. I had a prophetic word in two thousand and two. From just a student, a second year student at Bethel that said, You're gonna lead a creative movement and you're gonna take students around the world. And hey, that that was like, okay, like sure. Wow. Okay, I have no idea how to do that. Well, when Chris Ballatin confirmed that in 2003, I began to wear that hat. I began to like, okay, Lord, I'm gonna step out in this area, I'm gonna step out in that area. And then he confirms that he grows that. And it doesn't mean that everything was perfect, but it means that I got pleasure from from creating things from his experiences with me that I thought that he wanted me to go into. So I partnered with him. So co-laboring. We co-labor it with Christ because it's fun to be his child. It's fun. It's his delight to give us. The desires of our heart. It's his joy to see you smile when you start to go after that creative dream that you've always had. It's it's his desire because he created you that way on purpose. And no one else can complete that but you. So that that is I I just pray that that means a lot to you today. I pray that you find out who you are. And this is what I'm gonna do, guys. I'm gonna give you this is part one. Of identity versus assign no identity comes first over assignment. I'm gonna step you into ⁓ the second part next week. And I want you to know like God has called you to go after his heart. Now, if you enjoyed today, share that with somebody. Like let people understand how they can grow in their identity first. And ⁓ and share about what God is is doing in their life. And if you want to join my KCM Thrive Life, woohoo, my membership, make sure that you go to Teresa Debmond.com slash community, use the code KCM triple ten to get that benefit of joining my community for only ten dollars for the months of June, July, and August. Now that's a steal you're You get book clubs, you get prophetic lives, you get the healing rooms, you get so much more in my art, in all my courses too for free, all that different stuff. So check that out. But also check out KCM Thrive Life. Now that starts in September, goes till May, and that's included in membership, just a $25 deposit where we get to grow with you for just two hours a week. One you're doing your coursework, and the next hour you're with me. It's ⁓ and we just go through my courses developmentally to help you thrive in every area of your life. And you're in a small group, and you're in the same small group for that nine month period. So you can register right now on TeresaDevon.com and and there's some of you out there that you're called to join the Leadership Academy. That's a nine month program. It's more involved at six hours, but I personally mentor you. It's I it I we regrow you into who you've been called to be. We have core values, strategies, activations. You actually get to lead and see growth happen in your life. So if you're going, Teresa, I want more. I I want to be with you. I want to learn this these concepts that you're talking about. I want to be creative. I want to go after my dream of finishing this book or doing this or doing that. You will finish that. We will help you to do that. I've had So many people that have finished their projects that have been with me for just that nine month period. But check it out, it's on Teresa Debman dot com slash community, the leadership academy. So Leadership Cat Academy, KCM Thrive, and the membership, all there for you to grow and to thrive in. And we have a summer webinar boot camp. Can't tell you how these boot camps will change your life. If you go, if you just ⁓ ⁓ email support at teresa deadman dot com will give you the June ⁓ the June download it's a free download of what you can do for 30 days to grow creatively and to find out your calling and then this is a game changer for identity so check that out on on just just email support at teresa deadman dot com. We'll give you the replay link of that of that ⁓ webinar and then our next webinar will be in July That second Tuesday at 9 a.m. So let me pray for you guys. That's that's a mouthful, but there's always more, right? You know how much I love to see people grow. So, Father, I thank you for all those that are listening. I pray that they would share this, that that this message would go out, that identity comes first, that the relationship that they have with you in knowing that they are your daughter, your son comes before anything else. And We just release people, right? Prophesy over people that have been stuck and you've been doing the same thing over and over again. And you think like you're in a rut. And God says, No, you are gonna see, whoa, the promises of the Lord fulfilled in the land of the living. Some of you, you're just young and you're starting out and you're wondering, God, can I do, can I really go after this dream? Yes. Come to the Leadership Academy. You're gonna be equipped and empowered. to lead in anything that you're called to do and change the world. So check that out too either way. But we are so excited that you joined this this ⁓ Kingdom Create Talks and make sure that you subscribe, share about this, and can't wait to see you next week for part two. Thanks again for joining. Bye. Thanks for joining us on Kingdom Create Talks. I hope this episode awakens something fresh inside you. Because what you carry is deeply valued and needed. If you're hungry for more, come join our creative community at Kingdom Creative Movement, where prophetic creatives just like you are finding their tribe, growing in boldness, and creating with God to impact every sphere of culture. You can find out more on TeresaDedman.com and connect with others who are bringing heaven to earth through their passion and gifts. And don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs it. Keep dreaming, keep creating, and always stay connected to the one who makes everything new.