Reprinted from The Movement Magazine
Real Life Sango Church, Clarksville, TN
by Tammy Phillips, Fall 2025
The seven influential mountains of media, religion, family, education, government, business and arts and entertainment constantly try to define our identity by calling out, “This is who you are.” Sadly, we too often believe their lies. We trade the truth of our identity for borrowed names that were never ours to carry. However, the Truth, the Creator who formed us, the only Real One, narrates a different story. He led by example. He knew His name, lived His name, and never strayed from it, even when tempted by the devil, himself.
He wants us to do the same, know our names in Him, live them out and neve stray from who we are in Him! Then we can, “Keep it real. Keep it Jesus!”
Let me be real. I set aside a morning to write this piece while in Oxford, Mississippi in a hotel room completely devoid of human beings. Perfect SILENCE surrounded me. It was just Holy Spirit and me. I really liked the first paragraph above that I summitted to Freddy T. I wanted to expound and teach lessons from my journey with Jesus. Only problem, after two hours of typing and deleting, I had 500 words that were NOT what Holy Spirit wanted to say. I was at a standstill.
I needed a break from writer’s block, so I jumped in the shower. This is when Holy Spirit let me have it, “Get real,” and then He started pouring in so I could pour out. Here it goes.
Pastor asked me to submit a couple of ideas for The Movement magazine. I was thrilled and honored. Jesus called me to write five years ago when my friend’s son tragically lost his life, Holy Spirit instructed me to keep the Word before her every day for a year. I pushed back, “You have the wrong person! I do not even know what to say to people at funeral homes. I cannot do this.” He responded, “YOU CAN. You can do all things through Me, and I will give you the words to say.’ I surrendered, “OK, but if you do not give me the words. I am not writing.” Every day for two years, I texted her an encouragement. With her permission, When covid hit, I launched an online blog. I posted every day for a couples of years and now, just as Holy Spirit leads. I have written a lot. The Lord blessed His words and they have traveled all over the world.
Life has slowed me from publishing these blogs in written form, but one day. Now, to be real, I still have a problem being called a “writer.”
When I saw the quality and excellence of The Movement magazine, I was humbled to be asked to contribute to it. All the borrowed names from the enemy camp tried to creep back in my mind. I heard a rendition of all the old, borrowed names, “Not-Good-Enough, Failure, Broken, Not-A-Writer, etc…”. You get the picture. Have you heard similar names?
Sisters and brothers, You might think all those things about me, too. Guess what? It only matters what Jesus says about me. He calls me, “Healed, Whole, and Complete in Him!”
He calls me, “More-than-Enough” because that is who I am in Him.” Instead of calling me, “Fat, Chunky or Pleasantly Plump,” He calls me, “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Marvelous.” Do you know your name in Him?
We cannot keep borrowing the names given by society’s seven mountains. We must not believe their lies about ourselves, nor others. We must trade our borrowed names for the truth of who we are in Him. We cannot view others through the lens of the world, but only through the eyes of God.
I hear you thinking, “Righteous, saved me does not do that.” Really?
How do you view a born-again Christian who has been divorced, had an abortion, committed a crime, or drinks too much? How about someone who is too fat, too skinny, too dirty, too rich, or too poor? What about someone who still cusses? What about someone who hurts or offends you? What about someone who has a different skin color than you?
My greatest freedom came when I learned in my severe brokenness, Jesus loved me right where I was. He called me”complete”. When you learn who you are in Him it will also set you free. You have to get real with yourself and believe what He says about you and everyone else. That’s true freedom. Jesus led by example. He was real and kept it real. He healed the “Disabled” woman on the Sabbath when that was against Jewish law. She received a new name, “Straight.” (Luke 13:10-13) If she had been at Real Life, what would we have called her?
Jesus talked to the “Samaritan” woman. This was seriously against the influential rules of society. It crossed religious, ethnic and gender boundaries. He knew everything she had ever done and still called her to Himself. (John 4:1-26) If a woman dressed like a prostitute walked into church, would we welcome her? Are we immediately judging her on how she is dressed?
Lastly, what about the “Lepers?” Lepers were feared and society ostracized them. Not Jesus. He called the leper a new name, “Be clean.” And he was Clean. What if someone walked into Real Life with covid, looking for healing? When led, Jesus threw caution to the wind. Would we, if led by God?
Jesus kept it real with ALL because He knew Who He was. He did not care about the mountains of society that existed back then and loudly called Him every name but His true name. More than that, He knew his assignment from God…LOVE! We have the same mission, “Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34). When we love others right where they are, no matter the name society has given them, we are “keeping it real and keeping it Jesus.” Keeping it real means throwing away the “cookie cutter” mentality. We are all different, but we are all one body in Him. When we are real, we can admit our flaws, struggles, wounds, and accept the same about others. When we keep it real, what we say matches what we do. We are the same person in church, at home, at work, and in private. Being real acknowledges that we need grace and can give grace to others. To be real is to be yourself-honest, truthful,
I enCOURAGE you to be real, because your real and our Jesus might just change someone’s life.
KEEP IT REAL! KEEP IT JESUS!
Complete in Him 