Who told you to hide?

The many masks we wear…

There are so many people walking around wearing versions of themselves they created to survive.

Some became quieter because they learned their voice was “too much.” Some became performers because achievement earned them affirmation. Some became people pleasers because rejection hurt too deeply. Some became emotionally guarded because vulnerability once cost them trust. Some became hyper independent because disappointment taught them relying on others felt dangerous.

And after years of adapting, many people no longer know who they actually are beneath the masks…

They love Jesus. They want to grow. They want to live authentically. But they genuinely do not know how anymore because survival slowly became identity.

But God never created you to live disconnected from the person He formed you to be.

Psalm 139 says, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” The Hebrew language paints the picture of intentional weaving, careful craftsmanship, thoughtful design… In the same Psalm we read that “His works know this very well.” What is it that His works know so well? It is that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, that they are, according to The Passion Translation, “breathtakingly marvellous!” We are His works! When you look in the mirror, is this what you KNOW about yourself? Or are you hiding the wonderful, breathtaking, marvellous person Jesus made you to be?

Come out of Hiding

David says in Psalm 139, “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Wonderfully made. Not barely tolerated by my Father in Heaven. Not accepted only if I perform well enough.

Wonderfully made.

That means the personality God gave you matters. The gifts He placed within you matter. The compassion, creativity, passion, tenderness, leadership, wisdom, boldness, gentleness, discernment, and individuality He formed within you are not mistakes.

The enemy has always attacked identity because confused identity leads to confused purpose.

We see this from the very beginning in Genesis 3. The serpent questioned what God said and what God created. That strategy still exists today.

“You would be more valuable if you were different.”

“You would be easier to love if you changed.”

“You would matter more if you became more like them.”

And unfortunately, more often than not, people stop living from identity and start living from performance.

But Ephesians 2:10 says we are God’s workmanship. The Greek word used there is poiema. It is where we get the word poem from. A crafted expression. A masterpiece formed intentionally by the Creator. Our life stories written with beauty and meaning from the heart of God… In The Passion Translation, Ephesians 2:10 reads as follows: “We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!”

Think about that for a moment…

You are not random.

You are not accidental.

You are not someone God is trying to replace.

You are someone He is transforming.

And there is a difference.

Perfect as I am Perfect…

One of the greatest misunderstandings in Christianity is around the word “perfect.”

Jesus says in Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Other translations use the word “holy” instead of “perfect.”

Many believers immediately hear pressure in that verse because they think perfect means flawless. No weakness. No process. No struggle. No mistakes. But how can God ask us to be something He knows we cannot achieve? It is because we are imperfect, weak, and make mistakes that He sent our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to reconcile us back to the Father! Is He really asking us to be PERFECT in the way the world sees perfect?

The original Greek word used for “perfect” in this Scripture verse is teleios.

Teleios means mature, complete, brought toward fullness, developed into intended purpose. Spiritually mature. Read that again…

Jesus never called believers to fake perfection. He has called us into maturity that reflects the heart and character of God! Now read that Scripture again, and put the words that explain teleios in the place of perfect. We are not changing the Bible, we are using the original word Jesus used when He spoke those words…

“Be mature, complete, brought toward fullness, developed into intended purpose, spiritually mature, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is mature, complete, spiritually mature.”

That changes everything.

Because spiritually mature people are not people who pretend they have no struggles. Spiritually mature people are surrendered people. Teachable people. Honest people. People who keep allowing the Holy Spirit to transform them.

David was emotional, passionate, and expressive. Peter was bold and impulsive. Moses was hesitant and insecure. Esther was courageous yet dependent on wisdom and timing. Paul was intense and direct…

God did not erase who they were. He transformed who they were through surrender!

Peter’s boldness became leadership.

David’s passion became worship.

Paul’s intensity became conviction and mission.

The Holy Spirit transforms identity. He does not destroy it.

Authentically YOU!

So, how do you actually begin embracing who God created YOU to be?

You begin by recognising that many of your current patterns may have been built around survival instead of Truth…

Some people learned to become agreeable because conflict felt unsafe. Some learned to perform because achievement brought love. Some learned to hide emotions because vulnerability was mocked. Some became whoever other people needed them to be because rejection felt unbearable. Can you see yourself in these? Or can you add some more examples?

Survival patterns are not your authentic identity.

This is why Romans 12:2 says we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. I particularly enjoy how the MSG paraphrases this verse: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Transformation happens when Truth becomes louder than fear, wounds, rejection, comparison, and shame…

So start asking yourself honest questions before God:

What version of me appears around different people?

Where do I feel pressure to perform instead of simply being authentic?

What am I afraid would happen if people saw the real me?

What parts of my personality have I buried because of criticism, rejection, fear, disappointment, or shame?

What qualities has God consistently placed within me since childhood?

Sometimes people bury the very things connected to their calling… The compassionate child becomes emotionally guarded after being hurt too many times. The creative child becomes practical only because creativity was laughed at. The bold child becomes smaller because people were intimidated by their voice. The list goes on… I am certain you can add the masks you started wearing because of things that happened in your life to this list? I became the life of the party, the sunshine in the room, because home was unpredictable, a raging storm daily, where I was told how horrible a person I was. I felt ashamed everyone would find out how terrible I really was, so I started wearing a mask to protect them and myself from the “me” I was told I was… That was a lie from the pit of hell of course, I wasn’t horrible. And even though the mask seems like a better option because I was acting as a more Godly person…it was born from a lie, maintained by shame, and never real.

God often wants to heal you back into the freedom of who He originally designed you to be.

Not childishness.

Not flesh.

Not dysfunction.

Freedom.

Healed

One of the most important things to understand is this:

You do not discover who you are by obsessing over yourself. You discover who you are by walking closely with the One Who created you.

Identity is revealed in relationship with God. This means spending time with Him honestly, not performatively.

Many people still pray like they are trying to sound spiritual instead of being real. But throughout the Psalms, David approached God honestly. He brought grief honestly. Anxieties honestly. Joy honestly. Questions honestly. And because David lived honestly before God, transformation could happen deeply within him.

God cannot heal the masks you refuse to remove.

James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

Healing grows where honesty enters the light.

This is also why healthy community matters. We need people who call us higher without forcing us into performance. People who celebrate growth instead of image management. People who remind us who we are when fear tries to reshape identity again.

Another practical way to grow in authenticity is by paying attention to what God consistently brings alive within you.

What burdens your heart deeply?

What stirs compassion within you?

What gives life instead of draining life?

What do people consistently come to you for?

Where do you naturally reflect the nature of God?

Not every believer will look the same because the Body of Christ was never meant to function through sameness.

Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 both speak about different gifts, different functions, different expressions within one Body. Some people carry gentleness that heals people. Some carry leadership. Some carry deep discernment. Some carry hospitality. Some carry boldness. Some carry wisdom. Some carry creativity that reflects the beauty of God.

Difference is not dysfunction.

God intentionally designed diversity within the Body of Christ. This, therefore, also means you need to stop comparing your design to someone else’s assignment.

David could not wear Saul’s armour because it was never made for him. Imagine if David had tried becoming Saul in order to defeat Goliath… He would have been so focused on the heavy, big, uncomfortable armour he was wearing that he wouldn’t have been able to fully be the shepherd boy who practised with his sling and stones every, single day… He wouldn’t have been able to be himself, the person needed to take down Goliath. Praise God David resisted and knew who God made him to be!

Comparison will always tempt people to abandon grace for imitation.

But there is freedom in finally realising you do not have to become someone else to be valuable in the Kingdom of God. You simply need to become fully surrendered to Christ.

And yes, there will still be growth. There will still be refining. Spiritual maturity means we continue allowing the Holy Spirit to shape our character. Galatians 5 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Fruit grows over time. So stop measuring yourself only by where you still need growth. Also recognise where God has already transformed you.

Celebrate obedience.

Celebrate healing.

Celebrate growth.

Celebrate freedom.

Celebrate becoming more rooted in Truth.

The Father is patient in the process of maturity.

Living the Word – Being Poetry on Fire

Living the Word means we stop building our identity around wounds, opinions, performance, fear, comparison, or rejection and start building it around Truth.

It means the Gospel begins shaping how we think, speak, respond, love, lead, create, forgive, and live daily.

People encounter Jesus not because we became polished copies of one another, but because Christ is being formed within authentic surrendered lives.

That is being Poetry on Fire. A life fully yielded to God while fully alive in the design He created.

Be a Wildfire

Then it spreads.

Because when people encounter believers who are authentic, grounded in the Word, growing in maturity, and secure in Christ, it gives them permission to stop hiding too.

The world does not need more performance. It needs believers who genuinely know Jesus. Believers who pursue holiness while remaining humble, teachable, compassionate, and honest. Believers who are becoming spiritually mature instead of spiritually impressive.

That is wildfire Christianity.

And when people finally stop apologising for the person God created and fully surrender that person to Christ, entire atmospheres begin to change.

Are you ready for it?

Let’s pray together

Father, thank You that You created each of us intentionally and with purpose. Thank You that Your design is good and that our worth is rooted in You, not in performance, comparison, or the approval of people.

Break every lie that has caused people to hide who they are. Heal every wound connected to rejection, shame, fear, insecurity, comparison, people pleasing, and every other lie the enemy brought against them.

Renew our minds through Your Word until we begin seeing ourselves through Your Truth. Teach us what spiritual maturity truly looks like. Help us become deeply surrendered while fully alive in the identity You created us to walk in.

Give us courage to stop performing and start living authentically before You. Continue transforming us into the likeness of Christ while strengthening the unique gifts, personality, calling, and purpose You placed within us.

Make us Living Poetry on Fire, and let our lives become a Wildfire that points people back to Jesus.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Hallelujah! Now, who can you share this with? Let’s never keep the Truth to ourselves. The world needs believers who embrace who God made them to be! It starts with us!