Living Loved, Bold, and Brave: Your Best Self Is Hidden in Christ

It Starts With Seeing Clearly

You know that feeling you get when you’re around someone who loves you? Their face brightens when they see you. They laugh because you’re hilarious. They notice when you’re not okay. They reach out because they love you and want to be with you. You feel loved, safe, and wanted in their presence. They make your life richer. They’re who you think of when you’ve got good news to share and who you want to call when the load feels too heavy to bear.

Those people are gifts from God, wouldn’t you say? They offer glimpses of how God feels about you, times a million. God thinks about you, cares for you, and is always glad to see you. He enjoys you and appreciates your humor (He gave it to you).

I love to imagine God grabbing His belly, throwing His head back, and laughing out loud at some of the things I say to myself. I love to picture Him leaning in close and whispering correction and redirection when my thoughts lead me into the ditch. It heals my soul to know that God never thinks an unholy thought about me. He truly is my safest place.

How you think about God profoundly affects how you walk with Him. He cares about your dreams, desires, and your burdens. He’s Your Creator and Your Abba. Your Father and your Friend. You’re more loved, covered, and cared for than your precious heart can ever fathom this side of heaven.

To walk in the Spirit is to be deeply acquainted with who God is and how He relates to you. It means knowing and trusting God’s love, revering Him as the ultimate authority in your life, and recognizing and trusting His voice when He speaks. Walking intimately with God equips you to navigate life when He seems quiet, never doubting His steadfast, unwavering love. The more you know His heart, the more supernaturally you trust His hand.

He is tender, compassionate, and kind. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and always good. He is a good Father who disciplines us when we need it, defends us when we’re under fire, and rescues us when we’re in over our heads. Everything He does in us and for us is for our good and for His glory.

Living Judged

Now think about how you feel around someone who barely tolerates you. The qualities that many people love about you, they find disdainful. Those beautiful attributes that others celebrate, they berate. They can’t see you for the magnificent creation you are. They see through a skewed lens that distorts all that’s right and remarkable about you. And the messy parts of you that are still in process? Where God is tender, patient, and kind with your weaknesses, they are harsh, impatient, and flippant regarding your healing process. You’re not safe with them. They’ve assessed you, made judgments about you, and there’s no changing their minds. You’re not your best self when you’re around them. You’re a stunted, edited version of yourself, and you know it’s not good or right.

I’ve often wondered why God allows people like this into our lives, but now I know how powerfully their sharp edges soften mine. And how deeply I sense the Father’s love in contrast to their hurtful ways. Furthermore, these people also give you a glimpse into the eternal realm. Here you see a bit of how the Enemy feels about you—times a million. He’s threatened by you, hates you, and is terrified at the thought of you breaking free from his grip. So he perpetually hits you where it hurts most—until you learn to walk by the Spirit and put his hurtful, harmful ways under your feet.

Have you ever noticed that when you live loved, when God’s Word is alive in you and His Spirit leads the way in and through you, that you’re downright brilliant? Your capacity for fruitfulness increases exponentially. You offer wise insights that you never could have come up with on your own. You discern issues without needing to know every detail. You see with eyes of faith and know intuitively that there’s more to the story than what your earthly eyes see. When you walk in the Spirit, you speak with precision and pray with power. You live an otherworldly life.

Have you also noticed that when you’re in the flesh (negatively self-aware, reacting to other people’s junk, overwhelmed by your fears, and so on), you’re your most bumbling self? Well, maybe it’s different for you, but let me speak for myself. I’m my most bumbling self when I’m walking in the flesh.

Scripture reminds us that when our thoughts are Spirit-fueled and Spirit-led, our lives will be marked by the peace and power of God.

When your flesh surfaces and your “self-sins” rear their ugly heads—your pride, your fears, your insecurities—remember this: that is not who you are. That is not your truest self. Your truest self is hidden in Christ, and Christ in you is your hope of glory. God’s love for you does not waver when you stumble. He is not surprised by your weakness. He knew every one of your struggles before you were born, and still He chose you, called you, and committed Himself to you.

When the Enemy whispers that you are too much or not enough, speak back the truth of who God says you are. Declare it out loud if you have to. Let it ring in your own ears until your heart begins to believe it.

You are Beautiful. You are made in the image of God. Every feature, every quirk, every so-called flaw—crafted by a Creator who makes no mistakes.

You are Beloved. Not because of what you’ve done or how well you’ve performed, but because of who He is. His love for you is not contingent. It is constant, consuming, and complete.

You are Bold. Not in your own strength, but through the Spirit who lives in you. The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. You were not made to shrink back.

You are Brave. Every time you choose faith over fear, every time you take a step of obedience when the road ahead is unclear, you are living out the brave calling God placed on your life before the foundation of the world.

This is who you are. Not who you will be someday—who you are right now, today, in Christ. Walk in it.

Your Best Self Is Hidden in Christ

We’re not alone. Every saint who has gone before us has wrestled with the battle between the flesh and the Spirit. Every saint has been tempted to trust themselves more than they trust God. This is not a new struggle. When King Saul was anointed by God, he prophesied and was a mighty warrior. When he got in his head, walked in the flesh, and decided to make it all about himself, he hid behind his baggage, took credit that belonged to God alone, and tried to kill God’s next appointed king. In the Spirit, King Saul was mighty. On his own, he was a bumble head.

When King David operated in the flesh, he made deadly and devastating mistakes, impacting many lives. When he walked by the Spirit, he was a brilliant king, a worshiping warrior, and a stunning prophet.

Your best, most profoundly redeemed self is hidden in Christ. Christ in you is your hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). When you see Jesus for who He really is, you see yourself as God sees you. And what He sees, He absolutely loves. If you could see what God sees when He looks at you, your days of feeling insecure would become far and few between.

I submit that we will never fully understand who we are in Christ apart from deeper and growing revelations about who God is. Our value does not increase the more we understand or believe it, but its truth undoubtedly influences how we show up in life and what others encounter when they meet us. If our value is an ocean, most of us hold only a Dixie cup.

Have you stopped lately to consider what Jesus won for you? He tore the veil in two! You can come boldly into the throne room of almighty God, fully assured that He’s always glad to see you! Because of Jesus, God has gifted you with spiritual eyes to see and discern all the ways He’s moving on the earth. He’s grafted you into the royal family line and covered you with His promises. You couldn’t be more secure than seated with Christ, as the Scriptures say (Ephesians 2:6). And since you’ve been given access to know God intimately, you’ve also been granted the privilege of reflecting Him miraculously to a world that so desperately needs Him. As you and I see and reflect God’s glory, we are changed, miraculously so, from the inside out.

“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” (2 Corinthians 3:16–18)

If you struggle with fixating on your circumstances, forgetting God’s promises, and defaulting to regular bouts of insecurity, know this: God has so much more for you! If you long to be awakened to all the ways God is moving in your life, join us on this journey. If you’ve been praying for a personal revival, this book is for you. Your choices, your gaze, your faith, and your trust all matter deeply to God, and all affect how your story unfolds.

Each day, we have multiple opportunities to draw on the living Spirit of God within us or to default to our flesh, which always leads to destruction. We possess agency in the kingdom! We have God’s Spirit! We have His promises. May we awaken to all that God has made available to us.

1. W. Tozer wrote this:

“A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is here waiting for our response to His Presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon its reality.”

God Himself is here.

He is waiting for our response to His presence.

What if we came alive to the spiritual world all around us? What if we awakened to the reality of Christ within us? What if we allowed the Spirit more access to our thoughts, dreams, and tendencies to self-protect?

I’ll tell you what will happen. We’ll finally travel light; we will be flexible in the moment to move with the Spirit and enjoy one divine surprise after another. The Bible says that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). And that the Spirit of the living God leads us into all truth (John 16:13).

Freedom and truth. Isn’t that what we need right now? Far too many people are held captive by lies. They’re far from free. Yet God invites and calls us to freedom, healing, and wholeness.

In the days ahead, we will search the Scriptures for examples of how God’s appointed people moved in and out of their true identities, how their biggest mistakes occurred when they forgot who they were, and how, in His mercy, God is always there, ready to forgive and redeem. Even so, there is a significant cost when we forget who we are and fear rules the day.

It matters that you grow in the knowledge of God. You must understand who you are because of who God is. It’s essential to rely on the Holy Spirit. And the more you learn to live into the most total, most genuine sense of who you are in Christ Jesus, the more miraculous your life will be.

Let’s journey together to identify and overcome our fears more quickly and become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s influence. Let’s ask God to awaken us to His love and power and transform us into people we never dreamed we could be. God is more than willing to answer those prayers. May God awaken you, heal you, free you, and activate you in ways you never dreamed possible.

Prayer

Precious Father,

I want to know You more. Awaken my heart. Open my ears. Stir up my faith! Too often, I base my view of You on my past experiences or my current circumstances. It’s so easy to live an earthbound life. I want to walk in Your presence as I live here on earth.

Open my eyes to notice the people in my life who love me well. I never want to take them for granted. May their love make Your love more believable. Help me to see those You’ve given me to love. May I reflect Your heart to them.

Show me the moments when I’m not walking in the Spirit. Be quick to convict me and lead me back to the path of life. Fill me afresh today with Your Spirit, and awaken me anew to Your divine purposes for me.

Amen.

Taken from More Than You Can Imagine: What God Does When You Trust Him by Susie Larson Copyright © 2026 by Susie Larson. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson, www.thomasnelson.com.