Spiritual Identity | Kingdom Leadership Workshop | April 2026

[00:00:00] Goodness, what a complete blessing to be here with all of you today. Um, what a topic right now in the middle of your ordinary day, woven in visibly a real war wages. Okay, good against evil, light against darkness, and freedom against chains. There is a war over our identity, very specific war. It’s the enemy’s number one strategy.

And his greatest attempt to keep us unaware of this battle is how he wins. So the war over our identity is between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. Throughout the gospels, Jesus continually refers to the kingdom of heaven using parables that begin [00:01:00] with the kingdom is like, like in Matthew 1344, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up.

And then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. I love that he has to use parables because. The kingdom is so vast and so big, we can’t possibly wrap our minds around it, but he helps us. Jesus also talks about the kingdom of darkness in Matthew 13. Let’s see. Sorry about that.

Matthew 1225 through 26. Every kingdom divided against itself is laid ways. And no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he’s divided against himself, how then will his kingdom stand? Wow. When I read that, I was like, Jesus calls it his kingdom, just like [00:02:00] there’s the kingdom of heaven.

So spiritual warfare is happening around us. It’s not just a theory, it’s not a biblical concept. It’s happening every day in our hearts, in our minds, in our homes, in our bodies, and in our companies. Yes, in our companies. We have watched this for years, and if we don’t understand this, we won’t know how to fight it.

But once we see it, once we call it out. Once we bring it into the light, we can take authority over it. We don’t have to be spiritual giants. We don’t Also, we don’t have to know how to pray perfectly. The truth is greater is [00:03:00] he who is in me than he who is in the world. One John four, four. That is a truth We can stand on.

But our journey begins in this battle by becoming aware of it and by committing conscious participation in the battle, we can study this kingdom of darkness in this kingdom of light. There’s a lot of things we can learn about these two.

The Kingdom of darkness is built on lies and distortion. The enemy first loves to lie to us about who we are or who we’re not, and then those lies shape the way we see ourselves, the way we decide to speak up in a conversation or decide to shrink back. They shape the way we trust others or the way we don’t [00:04:00] trust others.

They even shape the way we think about God. But the kingdom of light is built on truth and love when we know the truth and we fully are able to understand how much we are loved. Perfect love casts out all fear, and we can begin to walk in freedom. And once we can walk in freedom, we can help. Others find freedom.

The kingdom of darkness accuses shames and condemns. The kingdom of light forgives, restores, and redeems deems.

The kingdom of darkness runs on fear control. [00:05:00] And isolation.

So many of our decisions can be based on fear. Um, part of the strategy we can learn to war in this battle is tracing our thoughts back to a root so many times. We’re gonna find that root is fear and it looks different every time. That’s what’s a little bit tricky about it and confusing about it. Fear can hide in us in so many ways, and unless we sit alone with the Lord and ask him to reveal that to us, um, we can be making decisions constantly out of fear, which changes the trajectory of our lives, which ultimately impacts our identity and our destiny.

But the kingdom runs on peace, [00:06:00] freedom, and connection. This freedom has already been paid for, it’s already ours. It’s like a gift under the Christmas tree that we just haven’t unwrapped yet fully, but it is already ours and it’s there for us to pick up and walk in. If we’re operating in the kingdom of darkness, um, the enemy lies about who we are, and then he exhausts us with striving.

We can chase approval, control and love only to find ourselves completely empty, and then we numb out, and then we isolate. Is that a familiar pattern to anybody else? But the kingdom of light heals the lie with the truth. It operates in grace, not striving.[00:07:00]

Make no mistake about it. Every thought, every belief, every decision that we make aligns with one kingdom or the other. The lies aren’t passive. We literally make decisions based on these and choices based on these, but scripture continually warns us like in one Peter five, eight. Be sober minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil.

P prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He’s not passive.

So what do the lies look like? They’re different maybe for each one of us. They don’t always come in with red flags or with blaring trumpets. Sometimes they’re very subtle and maybe it’s an implication that someone makes and then we hear it and then [00:08:00] it’s believable. It sounds believable, sounds like truth.

And so then before we realize it, we’re actually agreeing with it. It. And once that lie has our agreement, the enemy has the upper hand. The lie can sound like I’m not smart enough. I’m not good enough, I’m not successful enough. I don’t have what it takes. I’m destined to fail. I don’t matter. I’m helpless.

This will never change and no one will stay. Has anybody ever heard. Any of those. This is just a toolbox, the enemy’s toolbox. We’re opening it up today, shedding some light, and these thoughts can come in just a tiny little thought. And then in Isaiah, it says, the enemy comes in like a flood, because one little thought sometimes can spur another thought, which spurs another thought.

And then before you know it, you’re on this spiral, this downward spiral. [00:09:00] But the other part of that scripture, there’s a comma. And it says, but the spirit of the Lord raises up a standard against him. Glory Lord.

But our first step towards freedom is noticing what’s been narrating our lives without our permission today. Let’s begin to notice when Rick went home to be with the Lord. Um, wow, everything changed. You know, you’re in this place where. Your life has been on this trajectory for 30 years, and you just think things are always gonna be like that.

At least I always thought that was gonna be my life. And I loved it. I loved our life. Um, but everything changed in a moment. And when that happened, goodness, the lies of enemy came in like a flood. Um, who am I apart from Rick? I was 14 when I met him. [00:10:00] Goodness, we figured life out together from the time I was 14.

So who am I apart from him? Who am I apart from this place? The role that I had here for 30 years, the position that I held that was gone too. Um, the enemy told me, you don’t know how to manage the finances that I’ve entrusted to you guys. That was Rick’s strength. It’s not your strength. You’re gonna fail at that.

You are not gonna be found faithful in that. Um, you’re losing your faith community, your wise counsel, your place of belonging, your comfort, and your security. I mean, it just felt like everything was shaking. And then the enemy nailed the coffin with probably one of my greatest fears. He said, your life is no longer gonna bear fruit in the kingdom of God.

Ooh, he’s brutal. I took all of [00:11:00] those thoughts to the Lord and sat down with him and he, in his precious way, um, he said, Holly, your affiliation with any person or any organization cannot add or take away from the value of who you are as a person. And he said to me, you’re priceless all by yourself. Ah.

When you hear that from God, that’s an experience that changes you. It’s truth and you know it, and it’s so comforting and it just releases all the weight of the lie that was bearing down. And then he said, and it made me laugh ’cause he said. I love you, but you weren’t responsible for any of the fruit in the first half of your life.

And we know this, right? We know he is the vine. We are the branch. Apart from [00:12:00] him, we can do nothing. I knew I couldn’t do it by myself, but do you see how the enemy just puts this subtle little twist in there? It wasn’t apart from God, I could do nothing. All of a sudden it’s apart from Rick and apart from beating bow companies, I can do nothing.

Do you see what he did? He’s so subtle. And the second the Lord said that I was just felt silly, I was like, oh my gosh. Like he didn’t shame me for believing the lies. He never shames us for believing them. But when he turns on the light and you can see it’s so obvious and you’re like, I mean, I know that, but.

When those lies are coming at you like a flood, it’s hard to keep your bearings. It’s hard to remind yourself until you sit back again with the Lord. So he said, it’s not your connection to beaten bow companies. It’s born fruit in your life. Or Rick, it’s me, so my precious daughter. Your position doesn’t [00:13:00] change.

You stay close to me, right underneath my wing where you can hear my heartbeat. And I will lead you and I will show you all of these things. And if there’s fruit to be born in the second half of your life, I’ll do that. You be released from that. That’s a burden you weren’t meant to carry. Isn’t that amazing?

God is just so good. And he said, and I’m your comfort. I’m your security. I’m your protection. Which in that moment I thought maybe I got that confused a little bit. And whenever we perceive something else to be providing those things, instead of, God, what have we done? We’ve made it an idol. And I was like, woo.

Lord, forgive me. I think I made it a idol. [00:14:00] You know, our identity can get so wrapped up in what we do. The positions that we hold. If we’re not careful and we don’t understand truly who we are and what our purpose is, it doesn’t matter where he puts us. But that’s hard for a minute, right? That’s hard when you’ve been on a path for 30 years and all of a sudden you’re not on that path, you don’t know where you’re going.

Um, but he does. He totally, he knows, he said, and I provided the wise counsel for you. And the family for you. Do you not trust that I’ll provide that for you where I’m taking you? I was like, well, I guess not. I guess I haven’t been, I guess I didn’t think of it quite like that. I’m telling you, it’s like an adjustment when your spine’s all out of, you know, and you go to the chiropractor and he puts everything back and you walk away like a new person.

That’s what the Lord does. He aligns [00:15:00] us to his heart. He aligns us with his purposes, with his priorities, with the things that are important to him. And just in a matter of days, you know, these conversations kind of happened in my quiet time over a matter of days, but I saw things totally different and he said to me in Isaiah 43 19, you can release the former season.

Holly. I’m doing a new thing. Can you not perceive it? But I couldn’t see the new thing. I couldn’t see it. Had no idea what it was. Terrified. Had these resources, I’m having to learn to steward those. I didn’t. I had no idea. Plus just stricken with grief for a time. But God said, trust me, fear not. Lean into [00:16:00] me.

I’ve already been leading you, and it’s important for us to realize that we are often the most attacked in our area of greatest calling. So when you look back on your life and you reflect on the times you felt the most attacked, that can point to something very important for us. Pay attention.

Leadership, Gina Roach. You know, it’s amazing. Maybe speaking, I’m attacked a lot when I come do this. I tell him when I’m driving over here, Lord, this is for you. I would not do this for anybody else. I would not. But then he reminds me how much he’s taught me, how much he’s given me, how much he’s shown me, and then how can I not?

How can I not? He wants freedom for all of us, and if I’ve learned anything in this [00:17:00] process that can benefit anybody else, bring some awareness, break a chain, glory to God, it all gets redeemed. That’s me living in the kingdom of light.

So God has given us the authority to discern the truth and to walk in it, and there is a way out of the lie. And that way has four steps. And these are not on the PowerPoint. So if you wanna write these down, tell God everything you’re feeling and thinking about yourself. Sit with yourself. You know, we all know on a surface level that we’re children of God, we’re fearfully and wonderfully made.

We were chosen, we’re set apart, we’re called. The Word tells us all of those things. We all know that here. But if you get beneath that just a little bit. And you really think about what you believe about yourself. For me, it wasn’t very good. I wasn’t enough. That was my lie, and not enough means not enough in [00:18:00] anything, so it translates to every part of your life.

The second thing, if you don’t just start hearing God talk like I did ask him the question, God, what do you want me to know about that? Who do you say I am?

Take time to listen to the Lord and receive what he’s saying in your heart.

Learning to receive from the Lord is, is um, it takes some practice and it takes an open heart, and you have to be able to [00:19:00] hear the truth he’s speaking and allow it to penetrate your heart.

That’s where transformation can begin. So I wanted to share with you just one story of how the Lord miraculously showed up for me to lead me into what he had for me next.

Rick was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and in October of 2021, October 26th, to be exact.

A year later, I was invited to speak at an event in Kerrville, Texas as Kingdom at work. We didn’t travel alone, we went as a pack as a team. So I called the organizer back and I just [00:20:00] said, Rick is still able to come. He’s, he’s still well enough to come. And they said, when we prayed about it. We got your name, and so we’re just gonna stick with the vision the Lord gave us.

So then I go to Rick, I mean, he’s sick, and I’m saying, do I go apart from you? Do I leave you? All a million things were going through my mind. And he said, Holly, we told the Lord we’d go wherever we were invited. So you go. So I went by myself and the first night there, the organizer of the event. Uh, they were having a dinner for all of the speakers, and I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a room when someone walks in and you just can feel the authority on them.

This guy was like a general in God’s army, probably 83 years old, and I just looked at him. I could just feel it. So I [00:21:00] didn’t know anything about him, didn’t know his name, but I positioned myself right next to him. And stayed with him the rest of the night and I learned that his son had been battling cancer for 10 years and had died the day before.

Oh my goodness. Here he was at his post. That impacted me so big because of what we were walking through with Rick. He saw the eternal impact on his post and he didn’t wanna walk past that. So. That weekend. I spoke twice at the event and afterwards he came and spoke just for a few minutes that night. And then he said, if you need prayer, we’re gonna go upstairs and we’re gonna pray for people.

And he took my hand and asked me if I’d be his prayer partner. Never have I before then or since experienced something like that. He was, the Lord was showing him things. One woman said, I haven’t even told my [00:22:00] husband that. How did you know that? And I just, I just witnessed this all night. Him praying for people.

He would tell me to put my hand on a, on her tummy of a woman or on the shoulder of a, i, I was the hands and he was the prayer warrior and it was so powerful. It was amazing. Um, I, we exchanged phone information and I thanked him profusely for the experience, getting to learn from him. And, um, we said our goodbyes, so.

Then Rick goes home to be with the Lord a year and two months after that, um, in December of 23, and Rick and I had committed to speak at a Heaven and Business Conference.

Let me show you these pictures. This is the Curville event, which was in 2022, and this man on the bottom is Richard Holcomb. And so then at the Heaven and Business Conference in [00:23:00] 2024. This, um, was the end of February and Rick had gone home in December, so just a few months later, um, Gina said, Holly, let’s go.

I will, I’ll go with you. And so she traveled with me, didn’t want me to travel by myself, so Precious. Um, and we spoke at that event, when we came back and sat down, the lady next to us got up to speak and she starts telling this story about. Attending a conference and, um, this man praying for her and she received healing.

And in my spirit, I knew this was Richard Holcomb. So I snapped this picture and I texted it to him and I said, this woman is telling a story about a man praying for her, and she miraculously was healed. Was that you? And he said it was me. And she now runs the ministry that I started all those years ago.

Whoa, that’s atomic. So I met him a year and a half before in Kerrville, and now I’m [00:24:00] meeting her. And so she takes me after this and introduces me to her friend Kimberly Clark, and they begin to tell me about this. They’re creating this docuseries, it’s eight episodes, it’s gonna air on Angel Studio Network.

And, um, it’s medically documented miracles. And so, um. We get back home, we’re on a Zoom call and I said, how’s it going with miracles? And they said, well, we’re still waiting for the Lord to bring one piece. And I said, well, what’s that? And they said, executive producer. And I said, I don’t even know what that is.

And they said, that’s the person who funds the series. And right then in my spirit, the Lord said, you didn’t see the miracle that you believed for and prayed for. For Rick. Although we got many miracles, I’ll say that. Um, he said, but would you like to be a part of making me known in the [00:25:00] world as the miracle worker that I am?

Um, yes, Lord, yes. That would be incredible. See, he put in place back in 2022. The plan for me to steward the resources. Do you see what he did? He started working before he even took Rick home. And in those moments when you back up and you see that God sees your life from the beginning to the end, and he has a plan for every single part of it, mistakenly thought that stewarding our resources was going to mean stewarding the way Rick stewarded them.

And I don’t know how to do that, but God is so infinite and so creative. He’s like, no, Holly, I have things for you and I to do that you’re gonna enjoy that you’re gonna love that are gonna surprise you. So the [00:26:00] person that never watches tv, um, the person, you know, gets to be a part of something like this, which was incredible.

It started airing, um, last September. And, um, we’re already in production for the second season, so it’s self-funded and is, um, gonna have a, a second season now, which is awesome. Um, so I just wanted to share that story with you because I was amazed. Um, you know, he also led me to a group of people that helped me put together a financial plan that’s generational.

And, um, he highlighted people to be involved in that. I mean, he has just taken care of every single thing. So if there are things that you are uncertain about and maybe fear wants to try to creep in, maybe the lies of the enemy are telling you, you can’t do this. You’ll [00:27:00] never find a way, you’ll never know how to do this.

He knows how, and all we have to do is position ourselves close to him. So then some questions for us to ponder a little bit. What do you believe about yourself?

When did you start believing this?

Who told you this? Was it out loud or was it just by the way they treated you?

What moment marked you and made you really think this was true?

Don’t rush past these questions. Naming the lie is the first step to breaking its power and the ache that you feel. [00:28:00] That’s not your identity, it’s your signal. It’s your wake up call. It’s the beginning of your freedom and your freedom matters not just for your own peace, but for your purpose. And it matters not just for your family, but for the whole world because God has created you and there’s good works that he planned for you to do long ago, and those good works are yours.

And the whole world needs them and they’re unique. And I think comparison is one of the greatest thiefs. It’s one of the enemy’s greatest tools. If he can get us to compare ourselves to someone else, someone else is diminished. Or you know, one, one person in the equation is diminished and one is elevated, and neither of those are good.

That’s not God. That’s the kingdom of darkness. [00:29:00] So anytime that comparison tries to come into your mind, just shut it down. And what I’ve learned about spiritual warfare, if we can shorten the amount of time between the time we are aware of what’s happening and our rebound time, our response time, if we can shorten that, we can shorten the amount of time the enemy steals.

Um, the energy, the en enemy steals the joy that is stolen. He’s a thief. And he’s a liar, and he comes to still kill and destroy, but we hold the keys. We allow him or don’t allow him. We have the authority to stop him in his tracks. And I think it’s, it’s this awareness and it’s us being able to receive from the Lord and walk in the truth.

And so our freedom, it also matters for our family because it’s generational. When I [00:30:00] started seeing my daughter walk in some of the lies that I was walking in, boy, that was motivation for me to get to the root of those and deal with them. So when we find freedom in our generation, um, our kids can be set free from those things too.

So father, thank you. My goodness. Thank you for carrying me through that, even with a sinus attack, whatever that was. Lord Jesus, we give you the glory and our weakness. Your strength is made perfect. Thank you for exposing the enemy. Thank you for revealing to us the authority you have given us. Lord, help us learn to hear your voice.

Help us learn to receive your truth. Help us position ourselves right up next to your heart. It.

You have our, yes. Every single one of these people are here today because they wanna experience you. They wanna see you, they wanna know you, [00:31:00] Lord. You have our yes. So now lead us, lead us into our freedom. Bring to mind those lies of the enemy that have been hindering us, holding us back, blocking us, um, causing us to operate in fear.

Reveal it to us Lord, and expose the enemy. We ask in Jesus’ name and then lead us into freedom. Thank you that we can bring all of these thoughts and feelings to you and just lay them out no matter how ugly they are, no matter how, um, bad we feel we can lay everything out before you and you sort through it and find the treasures and speak the truth and crush the lies.

Lord, we thank you for the transformation that you do in us. I pray a blessing over each one of these here today. Lord, this identity is a key for all of us. It’s a key for us walking in our destiny and our purpose. Help us to learn to be effective warriors in your kingdom. We ask it in Jesus name. [00:32:00] Amen. I did see a scripture in Revelation that was pretty awesome, and I brought my Bible so I could read it to you.

Powerful to end with it since it’s the end of the Bible. It’s Revelation chapter two, verse 17. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone. With a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Wow. So powerful. So what I heard in there is let us hear. So give us eyes to see, and ears to hear Lord. And then it says, except the one who receives it. That’s that key of us opening our hearts and learning to [00:33:00] receive from the Lord. Otherwise it’s a paint bucket with a lid on top and we’re trying to pour something in and it’s not getting in the bucket.

So Lord take the lid off and help us have eyes to see, and ears to hear and help us receive everything you have for us. We prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.