Bold Men Workbook, Volume II

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

The teaching

You are halfway through the workbook. Take a breath. The men who quit have mostly quit by now. You are still here, and that alone has formed something in you.

For the next six weeks, the work shifts again. We have spent fourteen weeks digging: confession, community, brain, wounds, warfare. The digging was necessary, but you cannot live in a hole. You have to come out and build something. Arc III is the building: new identity, new mind, new disciplines, new weapons. Putting on the new man.

And the foundation of all of it is this week’s question. Who are you, actually? Not who you feel like. Not who you have been told you are. Not who you have been operating as. Actually, in Christ, in the eyes of the Father, in the settled reality of the kingdom you have been transferred into, who are you?

Why identity matters more than behavior

For fourteen weeks, much of what we have addressed has been at the level of behavior and thought. That work matters, but behavior is downstream of identity. The man who believes himself an addict struggling to stop will struggle differently than the man who believes himself a son of the Father struggling to walk in his sonship.

You may have noticed that the way you talk to yourself, in your inner monologue, shapes what you do. Talk to yourself as a failure, and you fail. Talk to yourself as a fraud, and you live like one. The enemy understands this. He does not need to make you sin; he just needs to convince you that you are the kind of man who sins. The agreement with the false identity does most of the heavy lifting.

This is why identity is not optional. You will not walk in freedom while still wearing names the enemy has given you. The names have to come off, and the names of the Father have to go on.

The names the enemy has called you

Stop and listen carefully. There are specific names the enemy has been calling you, in your own internal voice, for years. Most of you know them. Some of them are these:

“Failure.” “Fraud.” “Hypocrite.” “Addict.” “Dirty.” “Damaged.” “Unworthy.” “Too far gone.” “Disqualified.” “Beyond fixing.” “Weak.” “Pervert.” “Disappointment.” “Broken.”

You have probably heard at least three of those repeatedly in your own head. Some of you have heard all of them. They have shaped how you wake up, how you pray, how you approach your wife, how you parent your kids, how you read scripture. They are the operating system of the false self.

Hear this. Every one of those names is a lie, not an exaggeration. A lie. The Father has not called you any of them. They are slander, brought against you by the enemy, that you have been agreeing with for years. The names need to be renounced.

The names the Father has given you

Now read what scripture actually says about who you are. Do not skim. Read each one as if it were the first time. They are addressed to you, by name, by the One who made you.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” — 1 John 3:1

Child of God. Settled. Present tense. Not a hope, a current state.

“For you are all sons of God, through faith.” — Galatians 3:26

Son. Not employee. Not project. Son.

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.” — 1 Peter 2:9

Chosen. Royal. Holy. His own possession. Each word is loaded.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

New creation. The old, gone. The new, here. Now.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:10

His workmanship. The Greek is poiema, a craftsman’s deliberate creation, a work of art. You are not an accident. You are made.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 8:1

No condemnation. Read it again. None.

“For he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ.” — Ephesians 1:4–5

Chosen. Holy. Blameless. Adopted as sons. The verb tenses are settled.

Why you do not feel like any of these

You may read those verses and think: that does not feel true. I do not feel like a beloved son. I do not feel chosen. I feel like the names the enemy has called me. Most days the failure-language feels closer to my actual experience than the son-language.

Hear me. Identity in Christ is not based on what you feel. It is based on what is. The verses above are statements of fact, not of feeling, and whether or not you feel them at any given moment, they are true. Your feelings are downstream of belief. Your belief is downstream of agreement. Change the agreements, and the feelings will follow over time.

This is why declaration matters so much. You speak the truth out loud whether you feel it or not. The speaking changes the agreement. The changed agreement reshapes the feelings, slowly. The man who waits to feel like a son before he speaks like one will wait forever. The man who speaks the truth before he feels it teaches his soul a new language.

A daily identity declaration

Many B.O.L.D. men find it transformative to begin every day with a spoken identity declaration. Not positive thinking. Not self-affirmation. Truth, declared out of the believer’s mouth, into his own ears, in agreement with what scripture says.

Daily identity declaration “In the name of Jesus Christ, I declare today: I am a beloved son of the Father. I am a new creation in Christ. I am chosen, holy, and blameless. There is no condemnation against me. I am the workmanship of God, made for good works prepared beforehand. I renounce every name the enemy has called me. I receive every name the Father has given me. The blood of Jesus has settled my identity. I walk today as a son.”

Speak it out loud. Hear yourself say it. The first week it may feel artificial. By the third week, something has shifted. By the third month, you will be a different man.

The renunciation

Speaking the new names is not enough by itself. The old names also have to be specifically renounced. Name them out loud, in the name of Jesus, and reject them as identity.

Renunciation prayer “In the name of Jesus Christ, I renounce every name the enemy has called me. I renounce ‘failure.’ I renounce ‘fraud.’ I renounce ‘too far gone.’ [Insert your specific names.] I declare these are not my names. They are slander. I withdraw every agreement I have ever made with these names. The blood of Jesus has settled my true name. I am a son. I am a new creation. I am chosen. The old names have no place in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Speak this out loud, specifically, with your own names listed. The enemy has been holding you with those names for years; renouncing them out loud takes back the legal ground.

“Behold, on the palms of my hands I have engraved you; your walls are continually before me.” — Isaiah 49:16

Your name is written on the palm of His hand, not metaphorically. He carved it there. The names the enemy gave you do not appear there. Only the name He has given you. Receive it.

Daily devotionals

Seven readings for the seven days ahead. Give each one ten minutes: read the verse, read the thought, and let the Spirit speak.

DAY 1 — A New Creation

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Read the verse three times. The old has passed away already, past tense. The new has come already, past tense. The verbs are settled.

You are not in transition between an old creation and a new one. You are a new creation, learning to walk in the newness. The waiting has ended; the newness has come.

Today’s Prompt: Where am I currently living as if I were still the old creation? Renounce that posture. Step into what is true.

DAY 2 — Beloved Son

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” — 1 John 3:1

John’s phrasing is striking: see what kind of love. As if the love were on display, visible, demonstrable, and he invites you to look, to examine, to take it in.

You have been called a child of God, present tense, settled. That is the kind of love on display in your life right now.

Today’s Prompt: What kind of love is the Father’s love, specifically? Describe it. Receive it.

DAY 3 — Workmanship

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:10

You are workmanship. Poiema: a poem, a masterwork. Not an accident, not a project gone wrong, not damaged goods.

The good works you were made for were prepared beforehand. They are waiting; the path has already been mapped. You walk in them. You do not invent them.

Today’s Prompt: What good work has the Father prepared beforehand for me to walk in today? Listen. Walk it.

DAY 4 — Chosen Before Time

“For he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” — Ephesians 1:4

Before the foundation of the world. Before there was anything. Before time itself, the Father chose you.

You are not in His family because you snuck in or earned your way in. You are in His family because He chose you before the world existed. The choosing precedes everything.

Today’s Prompt: How does it land that the choosing of you predates the foundation of the world? Let it sink in.

DAY 5 — No Condemnation

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 8:1

You have memorized this. Memorize it again. There is therefore now, not later, not pending, no condemnation. None. The verse has not added a clause since you last read it.

Whatever condemnation you are hearing in your head this morning is from a voice that is not the Father’s. Refuse it. Speak Romans 8:1 over yourself. Now.

Today’s Prompt: What condemnation am I hearing right now? Speak Romans 8:1 over it out loud.

DAY 6 — Engraved On His Hands

“Behold, on the palms of my hands I have engraved you; your walls are continually before me.” — Isaiah 49:16

He has engraved you on His palms. Carved. Permanent. He cannot open His hand without seeing you, and He cannot create without your name on the tools.

The names the enemy has called you do not appear on His hand. Only your true name does. Receive it.

Today’s Prompt: What name is engraved on His palm for me? Be still and let Him say it.

DAY 7 — Royal Priesthood

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.” — 1 Peter 2:9

Four titles in one verse: chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, His own possession. Each one is enormous.

You are not common. You are not unclaimed. You are not generic. Every one of these titles is specifically yours this morning, in your specific brokenness and your specific calling.

Today’s Prompt: Which of the four titles do I most need to receive into my self-understanding today? Speak it over yourself.

This week’s reflection

Give these real time. Use the lines or your B.O.L.D. journal, and bring your written reflections to the group meeting.

1. List, in writing, the names the enemy has been calling you in your own head. Be specific. (Failure, fraud, addict, broken, dirty, etc.) Then beside each, write the name scripture gives instead, with the verse reference.

2. Write the daily identity declaration from this week’s teaching in your own words. Personalize it. Memorize it. Speak it out loud every morning for the next 7 days. Note the date you started.

3. Write the renunciation prayer from this week’s teaching. Be specific with your own names. Pray it once, out loud, this week. Date it. Note in writing what shifted.

4. Write a paragraph addressed to the version of yourself that operates from the false identity. Tell him who he actually is, in scripture’s words. Read it aloud as needed.

Memorize this week

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Write the verse on a card. Say it out loud, three times each morning, three times each evening. By Sunday it should be in you.

Try writing it from memory three times below as the week progresses:

Tuesday:

Thursday:

Saturday:

Group discussion questions

Bring this page to your team meeting. Your leader will work through these together. Be honest: the group is only as deep as the bravest man in the room.

1. Open with check-in. Clear or hand. Brief context.

2. The teaching said behavior is downstream of identity. Each man, in 60 seconds: what name has the enemy been calling you most often in your own head?

3. Read 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:1, and 2 Corinthians 5:17 aloud as a group. Which of these three is hardest for you to actually believe? Why?

4. The teaching introduced the renunciation prayer (specific names of the enemy renounced) and the identity declaration (specific names of the Father received). Has anyone here practiced something like this? What did it produce?

5. Each man, in turn: name one specific name the enemy has been calling you. The group then speaks over you: “In the name of Jesus, that name is renounced. The Father has named you [son, beloved, chosen, etc.]. Receive His name.” Use specific scripture-based language for each man.

6. For each man: what is the one specific identity statement (“I am ____________”) you are committing to declare daily for the next 30 days?

7. Pray. Lay hands. Bind every false identity in this room. Welcome the Spirit to seal each man’s true name.

WEEKLY CHECK-IN — WEEK 15

Fill this out before the meeting. The leader will collect responses or ask men to share aloud.

Days clear this week (out of 7): ____________

If there were setbacks, briefly: when, what triggered, what was happening in your life that day:

What spoke to you most from this week’s teaching?

What did the Holy Spirit press on in your daily devotionals?

Specific prayer request for the week ahead:

One specific way I am asking my brothers to encourage / hold me accountable this coming week:

Leader’s notes

— For team leaders only. Participants: skip ahead to next week. —