Remove the Labels

I have never been one that really bought into designer labels.  If you had something Gucci or Prada, good for you but it does nothing for me.  My desires have always been on performance.  Can that bag hold my stuff the way I need, is it going to be able to hold up to the strenuous use that I tend to put things through?  I also buy things on looks. Is it pretty?  Can I get Snoopy on it to reflect my fun loving, childlike personality?  

But the brand label doesn’t matter to me as I really don't want it there.  I actually want to rip off all labels once I purchase it to make it mine.  I paid you your money; it is now mine and no longer yours.  It belongs to me and I can do with it what I want.

One of the things that I hate about labels is that most of the time that the adhesive used it so strong that you can't get the entire label off.  It is now mine; I don't need to have your label on it for the rest of its existence.  

Yesterday, in a class that I am taking, the module came up about "Stigmas and Labels".  The feelings that rose up in me (in a strong, passionate manner) were rage, pain, hurt and the list goes on.  As I expressed this the leader of the group said, "Don't let it steal your peace, you aren't that anymore."  

However my old labels weren't the ones that were bringing up those strong negative feelings.  The labels that used to belong to me, I was free from.  After I wrote them down (with a vengeance) I was able to breathe and thank God that I am not that anymore.  I even got to tear up and throw that paper away that I wrote those on freeing myself from those past labels.

My problem was the labels that are placed on my family and friends that struggle with those issues.  As I stared at those labels under each category and my heart broke.  I wanted to scratch out all those labels and scream, "NO!  NO MORE!! NO MORE LABELS!!!"  

Whether or not someone is suffering from drug addiction, alcoholism, mental illness or something else, who are we to put labels on them?  We aren't walking in their shoes; we don't know what they are going through.  We don't know what trauma they are suffering from.  

God doesn't see us by our past, but our future.  He called Abraham father of all nations prior to him ever having a child in his old age.  God changed Jacob's name to Israel meaning May God Prevail.  Jesus called Simon, Peter before he ever be came the rock solid pillar of the church.  He allowed Saul to change his name to Paul as he was no longer the Christian killing Pharisee that humbled himself living out his life for God.  

When God speaks things come into existence agreeing with His words, not just in Creation but for all time.  God's words are forever.  His words give life!  

We are told in the Bible to speak life and not death.  Why do we insist on calling people bad names?  You tell someone they are bad long enough they will believe it and become bad.  You tell someone they are stupid long enough they will believe they are not capable of learning.  You call someone unworthy long enough and they will come to believe it.

We need to retrain our brains to think like our Papa God.   Stop calling people by their past or even their present.  Speak life into them.  Speak their future!

My understanding of speaking life change a couple years ago when I attended a prophetic conference.  The speaker told us how (in a previous conference) he called on a person that was in the back of the sanctuary.  He told the man that God loved Him and that He was a mighty warrior for God.  The speaker didn't know the person or even that the person wasn't there on his own.  The man was a heroin addict.  His friend brought him to this conference against his will as he had just shot up.  He was loaded, but that didn't stop God from using the speaker to speak life into this man that was in the grips of heroin addiction.  The man didn't hear much of anything of the conference except that he was loved by God and called "A Mighty Warrior for God".  He fell to the floor right there giving his life to Jesus.  

What that man needed was words of affirmation.  He needed life spoken into him.  He didn't need to be called a druggie or anything else as he was living it.  He knew it better than anyone what he was. He didn't need more words that he already knew.  He needed words that he didn't know.  He didn't know that God loved him and that God saw him as a mighty warrior.  Hearing those words changed his life.  He left that conference, checked himself into rehab, got cleaned and became a mighty warrior for God.  He became how God saw him and not how the world had labeled him.    

What labels are we putting on people that we need to stop labeling them with?  What labels have been ingrained so deep that they aren't fully coming off...leaving scars that don't fully heal?

Please put down the label gun that fires off labels faster than an M16.  The casualty loss is more devastating than the actual war on drugs and addiction.  The destruction that is caused by words and labels needs to stop and it needs to stop now!  

Next time that you want to call someone a name (other than their given name) please ask yourself if calling them this name is this going to help or hurt this person.  Is this meant to build them up or tear them down?  Growing up we all heard, if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all.  Do you need to keep your mouth shut?

If you insist on labeling people, maybe you could label them with one of God's designer labels.  He is the one that Created each of us, He is the only one that has the right to label us.  He calls us by our future, He calls us to the promises that are listed in His word, but He also calls us His children.  

We are sons and daughters of the God most High.  We are His kids; He loves us and has sealed us with the Blood covenant of the Cross.  We are LOVED BY GOD!   Now that label, I can live with.

Until Next Time, God Bless!!!