The Signet Ring: Claiming Your Position as the Beloved!

The Signet Ring

Claiming Your Position as the Beloved!

Kerri Kenyon

Smashwords edition, copyright 2013

License notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

A Publication of Unfettered Ministries - Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my mother. Thank you for believing in His light, power, and life in me when all I could see was darkness. Thank you for seeing the unseen, walking by faith, and praying for me. Constantly. I am the woman I am becoming because your love was and is greater than the fear coming against me. I am learning who His is and who I am in Him because you never gave up on me. His love through you won my heart and now it is fully His...I am His Signet Ring. I love you Carolyn Jean Kenyon. I stand and bless you today and every day.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1..........The Signet Ring

Chapter 2..........Desperately Blessed

Chapter 3..........Garden of Betrayal

Chapter 4..........Reclaiming the Ring

Chapter 5..........Signet Superheroes

Chapter 6..........Finding Forgiveness

Chapter 7..........Dear Daddy

Chapter 8..........Choosing the Ring

Chapter 9..........Broken for Brilliance

Chapter 10.........The King’s Ring

Chapter 11.........Cover Me

Chapter 12.........Waiting on the Wedding

INTRODUCTION

Love is everything.

Without it obedience bears no fruit.

The first three verses in 1 Corinthians 13 make it very clear that any speech, action, knowledge, faith, or sacrifice I endeavor to pursue or declare without love gains absolutely nothing.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

The weight of this Truth claimed every keystroke the Holy Spirit prompted throughout this entire book writing process. Each story and experience expresses the heartache, beauty, and character of God’s love available to us when we choose to live as His Beloved.

The revelation of The Signet Ring arrested me to the point of tears as the Lord revealed the significance of my ring finger. Whether or not it is adorned with the promise to another...it holds much power.

The Signet Ring focuses on the everlasting and powerful Truth found in God’s Word. You will see yourself in portions of each chapter as the Holy Spirit reveals what you have believed about yourself and what the Word of God says about you. Freedom beckons as lies, shame and fear are exposed and you are guided by the Holy Spirit to claim and live the full life Jesus Christ’s death on the cross made available to you.

We all have a strong and deep desire to be known and loved. Yes, it’s a desire so strong it often serves as a handle through which we are easily manipulated and distracted by our enemy. However, The Signet Ring makes it clear, these assaults have no power when we choose to live as His Beloved and not The Betrayed.

So my desire and prayer is that each chapter will unveil hope, affirm your faith, and equip you to stand firm in the face of every adversity so you can shine like the glorious gem you were created to be. Prepare to dig deep as you learn to claim and cling to your true identity.

Then you will know—Love is Everything!

Melina Puente ~ COO and Director of Prayer for Unfettered Ministries

Chapter One — The Signet Ring

There is a war in the heart of every woman—a war that has raged since the day Eve was banned from the Garden of Eden. We were made in God’s image. We were created for the express purpose of enjoying and being enjoyed by Him and yet we doubt our worth. The One created to be in relationship with Him; calls us very good, glorious, and excellent and yet we find ourselves unable to claim our identity as His Beloved. Instead, we live as The Betrayed, looking to our relationships, or lack thereof, for proof of our lovability. As The Betrayed, our identity will eventually focus on whether or not we are well loved by a man. Married or single, we find ourselves looking to another human being to satisfy our needs. This battle for our heart as His Beloved hinges on a tiny piece of skin on our left hand—our ring finger. We give that small piece of flesh much power, often allowing it to rewrite our identity. In doing so, we are relegated to the life of The Betrayed.

Before this war began, God created us for relationships; they are His greatest gift to us. He made us in His image to convey both His desire and our purpose. We were created for relationship with Him. He created us with a longing for Him. He put a hole in our hearts that only His love can fill. He was intentional in His design; no other can satisfy the longing He has placed in us. We can only be fulfilled by The One who created us.

We were also formed with the ability to reflect our relationship with our Heavenly Father in our love for each other. Relationships give our life added meaning and purpose here on earth. Human relationships were not meant to replace Him, therefore, they cannot. Rather, He gave them to us as a means through which He could illustrate our covenant with Him. Relationships with our husbands, boyfriends, friends, relatives, co-workers and children all mirror our relationship with God in different ways and to varying degrees. They were intended to grow and shape us in order to make us more like Jesus. Relationships are, quite simply, the most important aspect of our lives.

Therefore, as we were created for relationship, our ring finger holds great power; we inadvertently believe it tells our primary relationship story. We are strongly affected mentally, emotionally, and spiritually by our relationships, constantly allowing ourselves to be influenced by this little finger on our left hand. As a result, our relationship status often leads us to a place of mistaken identity. Without even realizing it, we move from finding delight in our relationships to being defined by them.

In this way, whether we are single or married, our greatest gift becomes the crux of our struggle. Instead of looking to our creator, we look to human relationships to fill the God space inside of us. For a woman who is unhappy or heartbroken in her marriage, her ring finger can represent the loneliness she feels or the abuse she is suffering. She may believe her marriage is beyond repair or that another man would make her happier. Single women often believe they are incomplete or unfulfilled because they are alone. In both scenarios, women become trapped in the lie that a relationship should or could fulfill them, and in believing that, tend to neglect a deeper desire. A desire that, when addressed, would lead them to The One who would make them whole. Yes, our ring finger serves as a relationship signal to us and this signal will lead us to find our identity in one of two places. It will either cause us to focus on the brokenness or lack in our human relationships or it will point us to The One who created us. Herein lies the battle for our hearts.

I met a dear friend, Denise, for coffee before catching a flight home several months ago. As soon as we sat down and I looked her in the eyes, she started to cry. She shared with me how alone she feels, how overwhelmed she is, and how she doubts that her life is making a difference. She is weary. I heard her heart and I saw her pain. She is where so many women live. Bombarded by an arsenal of lies, it was as though a cauldron of deception was holding her captive. Shame was starting to set in, tempting her to focus solely on herself. Fear was holding her in its paralyzing grasp. During that hour and a half conversation, the Holy Spirit reminded her of all that she knew to be true and all that belongs to her in Jesus Christ. She reclaimed her identity as The Beloved and vowed to verbally reject the lies, fear, and shame in her life as soon as she returned home. By the time we stood to leave I saw the light of hope in her eyes.

As Denise drove me to the airport, she marveled at how such a quick encounter had so radically altered her mood, attitude, and perspective. I agreed with her and praised her for being so open to the Holy Spirit and responsive to what He was asking her to do in her time alone with Him. I thanked her for being willing to identify and rebuke the weapons of the enemy that were assaulting her and choosing to claim truth in their place. Then, completely out of the blue, as we neared the airport she asked me if I wore jewelry and I affirmed that I did. One hand on the wheel, she slid her gorgeous sapphire ring off of her hand and handed it to me. Try it on, she urged. I gently placed the ring on my finger to admire it but didn’t slide it all the way down. Doesn’t it fit? she asked. Well, it will, but I don’t want to take the chance it will get stuck on my finger if I push it all the way down. Kerri, it’s yours, she said, put it on your finger! As I did, I thanked her repeatedly for her generosity. I then, gave her a quick hug and jumped out of the car to catch my flight.

On my flight home, the cabin pressure began to make the ring tight, so I decided to move it over to my left hand-my ring finger-and when I did, I literally felt a chill run down my spine. I stared at my hand. What had just happened? I felt the significance of it but I could not understand it. Then, above the roar of the jet engine, something struck me for the very first time. I felt the full weight of being chosen by The One who created me. I did not feel chosen because of the ring on my finger, but because I felt His presence and His ownership in a powerful new way. I experienced that I am His Beloved.

In that moment I understood for the very first time that we, as His daughters, were created as the ring on His finger. We are the precious jewels through which He intends to show His glory to a dark and hopeless world. Just as a married person cannot look at the ring on their finger without remembering the one they chose, He has made us that ring for Himself. We are constantly on His mind, written on His heart and on the palm of His hand. We are His Beloved. We are precious, adored...priceless-His treasured one. Like a wedding ring, we are made glorious so that we are equipped to send His love message to the world. Like a bride, we are the ones He has chosen. Therefore, we are not available to be loved in the same way, or to the same degree, by another. You and I are the ring that adorns His finger, and in turn He adorns us with His love.

However, somewhere along the line we have allowed ourselves to be defined by our human relationships. Instead of remembering that we are His ring, we allow ourselves to be defined by a ring, or lack thereof. We have lived our lives backwards, we have been deceived, and we have walked away from the truth. We are suffering from an identity crisis and floundering as we seek to find ourselves in other people; we live as The Betrayed. The Truth that sets us free is simple: we can only find who we are in Him. We are His Beloved. We are His ring. Haggai 2:23b says, I will treat you like a signet ring on my finger, says the LORD, for I have specially chosen you. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken! In this verse Haggai is speaking to Zerubbabel, who reestablished the kingly line of David. He became a patriarch in the line of Jesus; his family continued until the Messiah was born of his lineage. Therefore, everything promised to him is also promised to us in Jesus Christ. God called Zerubbabel and chose him to be a Signet Ring as a seal of the covenant He made with him. He didn’t just seal His covenant with Zerubbabel with a ring, He made him the ring!

Throughout scripture, the Signet Ring serves as a powerful messenger. It is referenced in both the Old and New Testament as the means through which power, influence, authority, and prestige were assigned.

-Pharaoh gave Joseph his ring to signify that he was in power over the land of Egypt.

-King Xerxes gave his signet ring to Haman and then, after finding out about his plot to kill the Jews, he gave it to Mordecai.

-In the story of the prodigal son, the father welcomes his adult child home by placing his robe and his ring on him as a sign that he has been fully restored to the family. It signified that everything that belonged to the father also belonged to his son.

It is in this Signet Ring that we are to find our identity. We are forever sealed to The One who calls us His Beloved. Our creator entered a sacred relationship with us the moment we accepted His son Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. He has not forgotten His promises to us; He cannot. He wears us like a ring on His finger. However, we often forget that we were created first and foremost to be in relationship with Him. As a result we attempt to replace Him in our human relationships. The Word of God makes it clear that no man could ever fill the place God created in our hearts intended just for Him. He is the one who has always pursued us, even in our sin. He bought us out of slavery to sin through the blood of His son Jesus and adopted us into His family. Galatians 4:5-7 says,

God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you.

As daughters of the Most High God, the freedom He bought for us is sealed by His Spirit. Everything He has is ours and everything that belongs to Jesus now belongs to us. Everything He promised to His people throughout Scripture is now a promise to us. God is wearing us like a seal; He never forgets us, and we are always before Him, just as a ring on His finger. We are the jewels through which He intends to show off His love, glorious light, and power to the world. As proof of His intentions towards us, God not only calls us His Beloved and wears us on His hand, He also enters into covenant relationship with us. Adam and Eve broke the original covenantal relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. It was severed by sin when they chose to disobey Him, creating a separation between them. However, He never stopped pursuing His people, He never abandoned them. All through the Old Testament we see Almighty God continuing to enter into covenant with His people. He forgave them time and time again for turning away and sinning against Him.

Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake. I am ready to make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the mercies and unfailing love that I promised to David. He displayed my power by being my witness and a leader among the nations. You also will command the nations, and they will come running to obey, because I, the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious. Isaiah 55:3-5

And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, all that is pleasing to him. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant, signed with his blood. To him be glory forever and ever. Hebrews 13:20

These passages show that God has always created and maintained covenant relationships with His Children. Today, He desires for us to acknowledge and honor the covenant we entered into with Him at the point of Salvation. He made this new, everlasting covenant with us by sending His son Jesus to shed His blood. His sacrifice repaired the chasm that sin had carved between us. It is this covenant relationship our enemy wages war against. He is the master of distraction; his priority is to tempt us with anyone and anything that will cause us to relegate God to second place. His desire is that we forget that we were created for relationship with Almighty God and neglect the covenant we entered into at Salvation. It is this relentless love contract we possess, written in the blood of Jesus, that our enemy hates the most. He knows he cannot destroy it so he attempts to make us apathetic towards it, feel unworthy of it, or walk away from it in our pride and rebellion.

Our enemy, The Betrayer, wants us to forget The One who can satisfy our souls, causing us to seek fulfillment in human relationships. He knows he can’t steal us from the Father’s hand so he attempts the next best thing; he tries to convince us to replace Him. He desperately seeks to deceive us into believing we are The Betrayed and our relationships are the enemy’s primary target to that end. He uses his weapons against our relationships more effectively than any other area of our lives. He specializes in twisting or perverting the greatest gift we have been given from our Heavenly Father in order to lead us to destruction. The Betrayer uses our relationships to distract us from our true identity as the Signet Ring, His Beloved. Our enemy cannot steal us away from the Father’s love contract, so he focuses on compromising our ability to shine His light to the world. We were created to brilliantly reflect God’s glory like a gem on His finger. We do so each and every time we choose to operate in our true identity as His Beloved. So, when we stop finding our sense of self in what others think or feel, we are free-not just emotionally, but spiritually as well.

Whether we are single, married, divorced or widowed, we are either living in the freedom of our status as His Beloved, or we are deceived and living out our lives in a false identity as The Betrayed. This false identity is always constructed through what we believe about ourselves as a result of our relationships. When we operate in our position as His Beloved, we are finding our identity only in Him. This allows Him to use us as a brilliant light to those that are perishing in darkness. As we see in Matthew 5:14-15, You are the light of the world - like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. Adversely, when we live out of our false identity as The Betrayed, we forget that we are His signet ring. We are unable to shine his light and love because we are shrouded by fear.

The temptation for us, married or single is to look at our finger and allow our relationship status to interfere with our primary relationship, the relationship we were created for. We have been deceived into believing that we were created for relationship with each other. As a result we find our identity in whether or not we have a ring on our finger, and if we do, we allow that relationship to define us.

The tragedy of this mistaken identity lies in the fact that God originally created relationships so that we could enjoy Him forever in the Garden of Eden. Our human relationships are the greatest gift we have been given, but far too often they replace God in our lives. 1 John 5:21 says, Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts. For women, the number one deterrent in our relationship with the Lord are relationships with other people. We attempt to replace Him, only to realize that we cannot have any meaningful relationships apart from Him. When we turn away from Him, looking to someone else to meet our needs, we walk right into our enemy’s favorite trap.

Obviously, relationships are not evil; they were ordained and established by God. However, human relationships can be strongholds, or handles, the enemy uses effectively against us when they become more important than our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Whenever possible, our enemy takes advantage of the gifts we have been given by our Heavenly Father; taking the things we hold most dear, he attempts to twist and pervert them in order to use them against us. He is always working to convince us that we don’t need God or that someone else can satisfy us more than our covenantal relationship with Him.

Scripture is clear that while God ordained relationships He never intended for them to replace our first love:

If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. Matthew 10: 37

If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-- yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26

Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and work as you did at first. Revelation 2:5a

These are just three out of numerous passages that reveal God’s passion and relentless pursuit of His people. Countless times throughout the Old Testament we are warned that He is a jealous God. He desires all of us