How to Be More Secure and What to Do if You are Not

My new website was hacked. Turns out I had a major security issue, and as a result, my online presence disappeared completely. As in “poof!” Gone. Vanished.

I was vulnerable to enemy attack, and I didn’t know it.

You battle a hacker, too. Except your enemy isn’t looking to steal your online identity, but your actual one. And just like my hackers, your enemy is sneaky.

So here’s my question: How vulnerable are you? I’m not talking about your web security; I’m talking about your spiritual security. I’m talking about your emotional security. Please don’t ignore this question!

My website didn’t go down all at once. At first, only one page was lost–the one I check least. I should have immediately figured out why. But you know how it is…I got busy. Distracted. So I put it off. It didn’t seem like a big deal. But it was. It was an indication of damage to come.

That’s how the enemy works: one small loss of security at a time. He chips away, bit by bit, to see how quickly we’ll combat him. If we’re too lazy, too busy, or too distracted to deal with a problem immediately, eventually the identity theft bleeds into every aspect of our life.

So, back to my original question: How vulnerable are you to enemy attack on your identity? On your security? Do you know? Here are five T/F questions to find out:

1. I regularly compare myself to others to determine my worth.
2. I rarely contemplate what God says about my identity, value, or purpose.
3. I regularly find myself exhausted, drained, or overwhelmed.
4. I rarely allow my emotional, physical, social and spiritual tanks to refuel.
5. I fixate on the negative rather than focus on the positive.
6. I allow doubt, confusion, and hurt to fester and go unresolved.

If you answered “true” to any of the above questions, you are vulnerable, my friend.

But you don’t have to be.

Jesus said, “The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly!” (John 10:10)

Tonight, girls and women all across our country will go to bed struggling with security issues. Maybe you’re one of them.

Maybe you wonder if your day-in, day-out, routine has any significance. Maybe you long to be useful, but don’t believe you are. Maybe you look at your past (or even your day!) and think, I’m a failure. Maybe you’ve been cast aside, replaced by a younger, hipper model (or you fear you might be). Maybe you long to be loved for who you are, but doubt you ever will be. Maybe you’re filled with doubts about yourself. About your future. About God.

How I wish I could reach across my computer screen, wrap my arms around you, look you in the eye and tell you the truth: You are not invisible. You are not unimportant. You are useable. You have purpose. You are loved.

You are not too old.

You are not too young.

It is not too late.

Your life has meaning.

This is the truth. It’s time to start believing it.

Listen to me, now…this is important: How you see yourself–your level of security–will impact how your daughters and sons see themselves. How you see yourself will also impact how others treat you, and it will impact how you treat others. If you let the enemy rob you of your identity in Christ, it won’t just affect you; it will affect everyone.

It will affect everything.

[bctt tweet=”Identity affects destiny.” username=””]

Maybe this is why Satan tried (and still tries) to hack Jesus’ identity–or at least, rob people of being able to see his identity clearly.

Consider this: if you’re a believer in Jesus, Christ lives in you–which means you bear the image of Jesus. Of course the enemy wants to hack his way into your life, so you can’t see your identity in Christ clearly! Of course the enemy wants to blur the image of Christ in you, so others can’t see him, either.

But here’s the good news: You don’t have to allow your enemy to hack your life and steal your identity. You can claim the truth. Believe the truth. Live in the truth.

Use the following scriptures to repair your stolen identity, and restore your security. These truths are absolutely, positively true about you, in Christ:

1. In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an inseparable love.  “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Romans 8:38-39)

 

2. In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. “[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4)

 

3. In Christ Jesus you are a child of God. “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26)

 

4. In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. “In [Christ]we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” (Ephesians 1:7)

 

5. In Christ Jesus you were given grace before the world was created.  “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” (2 Timothy 1:9)

I’m happy to report that my website is now up and running, and it’s totally secure. Just as it should be.

And by God’s grace, you and I can be totally secure, too.