How to Find Your Identity in Christ

In this episode of Out of the Darkness, host Ruth Hovsepian and guest Navontae Hamp discuss finding our identity in Christ. Navontae shares his journey of growing up in church, struggling with his sexual identity, and finding redemption through God. They emphasize the importance of knowing our identity in Christ and finding it through prayer, reading the Word, and being in the presence of God. They also discuss the role of parents in helping their children find and restore their identity in Christ.

Facebook | @Navontae Hamp

Takeaways

• Restoring our identity is about finding our true identity in Christ.
• Knowing our identity in Christ comes through prayer, reading the Word, and being in God's presence.
• Parents play a crucial role in helping their children find and restore their identity in Christ.
• Discipleship should start at home, with parents teaching their children the truth of God's Word.
• Developing discernment and listening to the Holy Spirit are key to finding and restoring our identity in Christ.

✰ SOCIALS ✰
✔Website - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/
✔Podcast - https://outofthedarknesswithruthhovsepian.buzzsprout.com/
✔Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ruthhovsepian/
✔Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ModernDayRuthRedeemed/
✔LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthhovsepian/
✔Speaking - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/speaking
✔Books - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/booksruthhovsepian

✰ BUSINESS EMAIL ✰
info@ruthhovsepian.com

✰ MUSIC ✰
hot music - winning-elevation

Transcript

Ruth Hovsepian (00:01.557)
Welcome to another episode of Out of the Darkness. I'm your host, Ruth Hovsepian And today we are having a conversation about restoring our identity. What does that mean? What does it look like? And what actually do we have to do to restore our identity? With my special guest who has a powerful message and a mission from God, this is what we are discussing.

And our guest today is Navontae Hamp. Welcome, Navontae It is my pleasure. So let's start off our conversation. Well, let's just say that we've already had a pretty good conversation going before we started recording, but let's start this conversation. Can you share with us how your journey with God began and what led you to your current mission of helping others restore their identity through worship?

Navontae (00:33.518)
Thank you for having

Navontae (00:41.825)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (00:58.067)
and preaching. I know it's a lot,

Navontae (01:00.653)
Well, I can simply say this. I was a church kid growing up. My mom always took us to church. My family is full of ministers on my granddad's side. So full of ministers. And my mom, like I said, we went to church, grew up Pentecostal, and then we eventually became non -denominational later

So I think for church kids and I think for lot of people who watch this, sometimes we equate the fact that we've been raised in church with being saved. And those are totally two different things, know. One is a culture, one is actually being redeemed. And so growing up, of course, like I said, I was raised in

But at a young age before I could even remember I was molested and so this opened up a door of Perversion and so I struggled with my sexual identity growing up And I can say just pretty much until I was probably about 16 17 and it all culminated To me and you know, like I said, we was talking earlier about hard truths

but it culminated to a point where I found myself in a relationship with a minister in the church at the age of 16. And so of course they were well older than me, it went there. And so through that place, like I said, I've always grown up in church, singing, worshiping, preaching, prophesying, that type of things, but I didn't know how to live holy.

Like I said today we're going to talk about restoring our identity. I thought that's who I was. know, I oftentimes used to tell people this is just who I am. You know what mean? I would say I got to the place where I said this is who I am and it took God, once I got into that situation, I got into that and I became unsatisfied. And I had to ask the Lord, Lord get me out of this. I don't want to be this way.

Ruth Hovsepian (03:18.305)
Yeah.

Navontae (03:20.235)
And so it got out in the church. However, the information got out in the church. Me being a teenager, I was the one that was sort of shunned and everybody kind of stood behind the minister. However, so I left the church for a while, but it was in that season that I met God. And he came to me and he said, I was in that season, ask God, you know, to take me so I don't commit suicide. So I was depressed.

that type of thing. But God in that situation, I can remember one night, I'm a little fat, fat, so I have to be stuck on it. I can remember one night I asked the Lord, said, Lord, I don't want to take my life, so wrap me in your arms. I felt the tangible power of God. And I talked about something that, you know, I heard someone say. So growing up in church, my faith was based off of what my mom or my granddad, you know, ministers in church would say. But I didn't know him for myself in a sense.

Ruth Hovsepian (04:02.667)
Mmm.

Navontae (04:18.005)
But I heard the Lord say to me, he said, Navontae, I never called you that. And that moment, it was like a freedom, like man, you tell me this whole time I've been living something that God never identified me as? And so from that point on, I went on to meeting my spiritual father who was not intimidated by my testimony. Because sadly, a lot of people in church is intimidated with the story of homosexuality.

or bisexuality or any form of sexual immoral deeds. But he was not, and he walked with the, him with the, well, God using him helped me walk through that, seeing how does a man act? Because again, I grew up with just a mother. I didn't have a father. And so he taught me integrity, character. And then on the other end, in my private time with God, he was teaching me how to live holy, what is prayer.

what is fasting, you know, that type of thing. And so it was through that. And it's been what, some 10 years now, I'm married to one wife, you know, and I have three sons and I'm still here. Hold it on. Thanks be unto God. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (05:32.401)
Amen. Listen, you you have. You have captured the essence of many PKs, pastors, kids and those that have grown up in a church with many family members who are involved in the church. I, for one, am one of those. And I, too, have said, and that is part of, you know, what I testify to is

Navontae (05:41.675)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (06:02.133)
Growing up into my 50s almost, I led and lived the life, the faith of my family. It wasn't my own. And, you know, there's a number of reasons for that. And, you know, that's a whole other episode, but, you know, we, you know, I understand that and the identity part of it, that was one of

Navontae (06:11.879)
Right.

Navontae (06:29.579)
Great.

Ruth Hovsepian (06:31.335)
my struggles, you know, through my recovery, because even though what I went through was in secret and my recovery was in secret, I had labeled myself, no one else. I had labeled myself. Now I had a lot of other labels and you know, we, and, and one, you have children.

Listen, you might be able to understand this. I tried to never label my children with what I thought they were or who I thought they were because I had that growing up, not just my family, but in general. I would be told, she's whatever physical characteristics or...

Navontae (07:06.218)
Right.

Navontae (07:24.815)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (07:25.567)
She's such a tomboy or she's so funny or she's so helpful. So those were labels that we wear. And as children, we are never allowed to discover who we truly are because I found that as a child, I wanted to live up to those labels and the expectations of others around us.

Navontae (07:35.588)
Right.

Navontae (07:54.334)
Wow.

Ruth Hovsepian (07:55.723)
Right? And I tried, now I probably failed along the way, but you my kids are, have survived, but they've survived. They may beg to differ on that one. But anyway, but to say that I think as parents, first of all, we need to stop labeling our children and giving them an identity in that way.

Navontae (08:03.492)
work. I love it.

Navontae (08:12.098)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (08:23.891)
If anything, their identity should be a child of God. You are a child of God. End of story, you know, period at the end of the sentence. And we need to show them what it means. If we don't do a discipling, and that is a huge one, right? Whether in the church, actually, I believe that discipling should start at home. And, you know, I was one of those parents that I thought,

Navontae (08:28.503)
Right?

Ruth Hovsepian (08:53.761)
taking my kids to Sunday school, teaching Sunday school that I did, that that was enough discipling for children. And it's not where, you know, parents need to, parents need to be discipled to disciple their own children. And I think that that is, that is important, right? And I think you,

Navontae (09:04.428)
I

Ruth Hovsepian (09:22.601)
You know, your, your journey is not an easy one. And, you know, I think when we talk about our journeys and when we talk about our testimonies, we know that we are opening ourselves up to being criticized to being, and to being judged. So first of all, I appreciate your, your transparency and your aunt. Yeah. I, I say the same thing, right?

Navontae (09:48.321)
That's been a blur.

Ruth Hovsepian (09:52.317)
We took a different journey, talking about our journeys mean that we're exposing things that, sometimes I think, you know, do I really want the world to know at this point? It's anytime, anytime it's out on the, you know, in the worldwide web of, you know, information, it's never ever lost. So, you know,

Navontae (10:06.347)
All

Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (10:20.087)
It's a difficult situation, but I don't know how you feel about this, but I believe that my testimony and my sharing is not to glorify me and to say, look at me, look what I've overcome. But really it is to give, you know, 100 % credit to my Lord and savior, the one who saved me, my redemption story.

Navontae (10:50.259)
You know, I think, and it's so funny because I want to say last year I did a podcast and it was about me telling my full length story in a sense. And my mom and my brother was on, my brother never knew the things that I went through. My mom knew and she didn't speak of it as I was walking through that journey or whatever.

Ruth Hovsepian (11:09.191)
Mmm.

Navontae (11:16.191)
And when I found out that he was going to be watching the podcast, was like, my God. And so I can remember getting ready to start talking and telling the testimony and the words literally choked my, like I was literally choking like, But I prayed before then I asked God, said, God, how am I going to do this? And the Lord said, it's bigger than you.

Ruth Hovsepian (11:34.378)
area

Navontae (11:43.452)
You know, and that's what we have to understand. Our story is bigger than us. Adam, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Nehemiah, they're no longer here. But their stories are bigger than them. It speaks of the God whom they serve. And so I think our job is to die to ourselves, die to our pride. And when we die to ourselves, God can get the glory.

Ruth Hovsepian (11:43.477)
Yeah.

Navontae (12:10.142)
Out of our story because who knows there could be another 16 year old going through what I went through by myself, you

Ruth Hovsepian (12:17.973)
Yeah, pride is the biggest thing. I know. I was told by some family members, you don't have to talk about it in detail. Well, I don't. Just like, you know, I know my audience when I talk about it, right? So, and I don't want this to be a voyeuristic thing, that that's not the point of this. I want to reach that one person sitting in

Navontae (12:21.224)
Yep.

Ruth Hovsepian (12:46.209)
corner thinking that they are alone. That's my audience, that one person. And, and I, yeah, it's, it's difficult. It is difficult. And my story is I had a book coming out, Navontae. Listen, here I am. I wanted to talk about prayer and, and someone who advised me really, and I thank God for bringing this person into my life. Read

You the original manuscript of the book and said listen you have some things that are very personal in here I think the rest of the book should be very personal So it was really hard right because making it personal meant I had to admit to all of these other things because it it that's what it evolved and That's when I said, okay now I've written it and it's gonna be published. I need to tell people

Navontae (13:23.962)
Awesome.

Right.

Navontae (13:44.186)
It doesn't scare far.

Ruth Hovsepian (13:44.535)
Those are hard conversations to have or, or, you know, the other, the other option is you just give them the book and say, go at it. You know, if you have any questions, just come back. I'm here every night at five o 'clock. I'm here sort of thing. But I tell you, it was hard. And the first few times that I gave my testimony, I didn't know what to say.

Navontae (13:48.688)
Right.

Navontae (13:53.872)
Right.

I'm gonna a test message.

Ruth Hovsepian (14:11.637)
where to go, where to take it, because our stories are not your normal redemption story, right? These can be triggering to some people. Some people will be very judgmental as we said, we know that, right? We already know that because we walk that. So we know already the judgment that comes to us. And I remember, you know, being on podcasts, you know, and it was hard.

Navontae (14:25.852)
All

Ruth Hovsepian (14:41.471)
I didn't know what to say, how much to say, but like you, I now know that it's greater than me. It's not about it. It really isn't about me. It really is about to showcase what the Lord can do. and yeah. And, and, and, know, I don't know about you. Maybe you can tell me about this part, but I've come to the point where.

Navontae (14:56.61)
All right.

Ruth Hovsepian (15:09.595)
I give and talk about who I was in the past and what I've been there. But I want the majority of what I speak to after that to be about what I have found in Christ in my redemption. Like the peace, the joy, the contentment, the hope, the purpose in my life.

Navontae (15:34.019)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (15:38.697)
which I didn't have before. And I was, you know, in the world's eyes, I was successful. I was a director in a corporate, you know, corporate America, you know, lots of - I had it. I had the world at my feet, literally, you know, when, when Satan went to Jesus and tempted him, when he had been, you know, praying and fasting, what did he show the world at his feet? But I want

Navontae (15:58.977)
Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (16:08.083)
other people to know that that is that is momentary. It's not what it is. And yeah.

Navontae (16:20.688)
And if I can put a scripture to that, the Word of God talks about in Romans 6, says, it talks about, you know, that we're dead with Christ and we're alive with Christ and that we've been buried with Him resurrected. That's the significance of the baptism. But then later on in that chapter, it says basically, what do you have to show of those things that you are now ashamed of?

Ruth Hovsepian (16:32.395)
Yes.

Ruth Hovsepian (16:38.956)
Mmm.

Navontae (16:48.307)
And so my joy is I don't have to live a life of curtains. I don't have to live a life of secrets. I can live a life and talk freely, not worrying about, somebody see me do such and such and such, or did they see me do this thing? But now there's a freedom, like you were speaking about, there's a peace that comes with serving God.

So,

Ruth Hovsepian (17:20.061)
It is, it's true, you know, and I can't stress that enough. And I always make sure to say, listen, things will not be perfect. You'll still have the ups and downs. You'll still have the tears. You'll still have the struggles. But there is a peace, and I love this, the peace that passes all understanding. I cannot, I know where it comes from. But

Navontae (17:32.543)
Absolutely

Ruth Hovsepian (17:48.449)
put it into words is so difficult because there is a peace. wake up in the morning. I used to wake up with this heaviness in my heart. And now I wake up and it's like, thank you Lord. And again, for those listening and watching, it's not because my life is perfect. Is your life perfect? You have three boys. Listen, you have three boys.

Navontae (18:14.161)
Absolutely not. Yes, it's perfect.

Ruth Hovsepian (18:17.323)
Tell me how

Ruth Hovsepian (18:21.441)
I know what it's like to have three children. It's hard. You have moments you just want to, ugh. But, but there's a peace and nothing in the world, nothing in the world that I had in the past could, could match the peace And even the, even having a purpose, you know, I'm a goal oriented person. I like to know where I'm going and what I'm doing.

And, the corporate world fit me perfectly in that way. Now in full -time ministry. Wow.

Ruth Hovsepian (18:59.423)
It's hard, but where are you taking me Lord? I don't know, do you question that sometimes? I do. Lord, really? This is what you want me to do? I didn't sign up for this or... We don't know where we're going. So tell me, for those listening and watching today, where and how can we

Navontae (19:02.196)
Alright.

Absolutely.

Navontae (19:12.596)
Yeah, it's a Facebook.

Ruth Hovsepian (19:23.359)
whether it's ourselves or whether it's someone that we love and cherish and they're in our lives, to help them find their identity in Christ. It could be restoring their identity or it could be finding their identity, right? Because we have those two different people in that area. What advice do you give to someone

Let's start off with finding their identity. How do you find your identity in Christ?

Navontae (19:57.359)
And I know it's going to sound cliche, but the honest truth is, it's in the presence of God. Simple as that. know, I can, the Bible talks about Jeremiah. The Word of God says, God told Jeremiah, before you were formed in the room I knew you, before you came forth out of the room, I sanctified you as a prophet. And he's, you know, this is God Himself.

the one who knows the beginning and the end talking to Jeremiah and he's telling him as a matter of fact this is who you are. you go and read Jeremiah chapter one this is what Jeremiah tells the all -knowing God. He says I'm a child and God says say not that you are a child for you're gonna go wherever I send you to and so it's amazing how we can go

about life, God can be giving us insight of who we are and we doubt it because of what we've experienced. But I could just speak to that person. It's simply in the presence of God. It's simply knowing Him. And the more we know Him, the more He illuminates who we are.

Ruth Hovsepian (20:56.136)
Mm.

Ruth Hovsepian (21:11.595)
Yeah, I think that's true for all of us, right? Our identity is in Christ. And also if we are told to mirror Him, So I think those two areas we need to keep. Now let's talk about the person who, like you and I, grew up in an environment and I too made a commitment at a young age and went on to be baptized and

Navontae (21:36.667)
Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (21:41.431)
taught Sunday school, you know, I taught Sunday school from the age of 12 and on. My identity was that perfect Christian. And I lost that when I was, listen, 15 years as an addict. You can't, you can't have both identities, right? It was, so how do we help people restore

Navontae (21:45.605)
Also.

Navontae (21:52.123)
Bye.

Navontae (21:59.546)
Mhm.

Ruth Hovsepian (22:10.601)
And we find their true love because you and I had a good start. We had a basis and I, I always refer to it as that, that if I didn't have that, I don't know how I would have done my recovery because my recovery was in secret. So I went back to what I had learned as a child. How does someone restore their identity in Christ? What does it look like?

Navontae (22:16.624)
huh.

Navontae (22:39.035)
I just want to show the identity in Christ. I would say simply being in the Word, prayer, and then I want to make a challenging statement, and I'm going to say it this way. I believe it might be easier for a person who's not known church or God at all to come into the identity of who they are, because oftentimes in church we're taught to be self -righteous.

You know, there's nothing wrong with me. You know, I'm perfect. You know, there's all these layers that God has to rip past to get to, you know, the problem, you know? And so that person, how to restore that identity is going to take, and I think, man, you were talking about this. We're living in a generation where we want everything has to be easy in a sense. I can watch anything.

Ruth Hovsepian (23:14.923)
Yes, yes, yep.

Navontae (23:37.195)
I can do anything. I can go anywhere. You know, I can remember going through my walk with God, Him sanctifying me. And of course, like I said, I've always been church. My friends called me one time, Quick Store, side store, but they called me, hey, we're going to the gospel concert. You know, it's a famous gospel artist coming. And I'm like, yes, I'm going. I'm going to the gospel concert because I know I can go. It's gospel. God is there. I'm going. The Holy Spirit said, you're not going. You're going. I need you to go get in prayer.

Ruth Hovsepian (24:04.753)
Mmm.

Navontae (24:07.413)
I'm like, wait a minute now. You know, this is a gospel concern. But it was in those times that he's saying, no, I want to deal with you personally. We have to know him as our personal savior. And so that person who wants to get back to who they are, I think a person who we can learn from is Peter. Peter, apostle Peter, he was with God, with Christ.

Ruth Hovsepian (24:17.131)
Yeah.

Navontae (24:36.588)
and then he denied Christ and then here it is he's back with Christ and now he is like the chief apostle you know what I mean and so again that person the word of God says he'll leave the one he'll leave the 99 to come after the one and so that person

Ruth Hovsepian (24:49.837)
Thank

Ruth Hovsepian (24:54.111)
Yes, that's awesome, isn't it? That is so awesome. I love that. Yeah.

Navontae (25:00.918)
The amazing thing is, is that he's chasing you. wow. You know, a lot of people, might not want to hear that. Just as much as you want God, he wants you so much more. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (25:13.495)
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. think discernment is something that we need to develop. I encourage everyone to develop a time of reading scripture outside of what you do in the church or, you know, in groups.

Navontae (25:36.725)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (25:39.759)
Bible studies, read the word of God for yourself. Get to know it, get to know it so that when the, and this to me goes with also when I'm asked, don't know if you get this question, I get asked, how do you know when the Holy spirit is telling you what to do? Well, unless you sit silently, unless you develop that muscle to

You don't know whether it's, it's you or you it's the Holy spirit and it's, it's something we need to develop. And I've come to understand that it was all great. I used to pray and you know, take all my needs to the Lord and pray for my, everyone on my list. But then I was convicted in this one area and that was just shut up and listen.

Navontae (26:25.161)
All

Ruth Hovsepian (26:37.495)
It's hard. For people who know me, I admit it's hard, but I had to develop that muscle. I used to pray, pray, pray, pray, pray all my needs, all my wants. I thank you, Lord. I praise you, Lord. And I was like, okay, I'm done. And onto my next activity, right? Now in my prayer time, I pray and I intentionally

Navontae (26:38.281)
awesome

Ruth Hovsepian (27:06.625)
quietly. It's hard, right? We're, we're, we're busy. We have things to do. We have schedules, we have phones ringing, but the more I sit there with the Holy Spirit and say, Lord, what is it you want from me? I think you start to develop and I don't want people to think I hear voices because that's, that would prove to the world. I am nuts, right?

Navontae (27:33.906)
Alright.

Ruth Hovsepian (27:34.187)
But it's not just that I hear voices, but the Holy Spirit does speak to us through different means. It could be through someone else, through the word, through even, it could be an audible sound. don't, you know, like everyone is so different, but we need to, that is part of who we are. If we don't develop that, how do we say that the Lord has,

Navontae (27:40.924)
Yes, he does.

Navontae (27:48.124)
Yep, okay.

Ruth Hovsepian (28:03.399)
shown to me and told me this this is what it is we

Navontae (28:12.719)
I think one thing I will say to that is with having children we speak to them in a way they will understand. And so God is not going to come to you and if you're not, I mean somebody

Who was a rocket scientist? He's not gonna come to you with these huge humongous words that you're not gonna understand He's gonna speak to you on your level And so I think it's like you said it's about discernment. We was talking about discipleship earlier and then also It's if you know the word the Bible talks about The Word of God in the beginning was the word and so in the word was God. So if I read his

I'm going to know his voice. You know, and so I think it's just as simple as that. We make it more difficult than it has to be sometimes, but it's simply as knowing his word. And I tell people all the time on this side note here, even with the gift of prophecy, the prophetic is not going to trump the written word. You know, there's logos and then there's rainbows.

Ruth Hovsepian (28:58.529)
Yes.

Ruth Hovsepian (29:02.401)
Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (29:21.043)
Amen.

Navontae (29:24.738)
And so the Ramah is like a downloaded word right now hot off the press, but that logos is like a pillar.

It's like a, it's a measuring stick, you know. So if I could give an example to that, the Bible says that in the beginning, God made them male and female. And for this reason, shall the husband leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. And they shall be no longer two flesh, but they should be one flesh. So you have a married couple.

Ruth Hovsepian (29:35.649)
Yeah.

Navontae (29:55.769)
but God is not gonna have a prophet come to that married couple or go to another person and say, that person over there is really, you know, your spouse, you know what mean? Because it goes against his principles. It goes against his word. And so if I know him, I'll know his voice. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (30:09.879)
Yeah, agree with you. you know, we could, this is another full episode of talking about, you know, having people. Yeah, I struggle with that one as well. When I have people say, the Lord told me this is your person. mean, why did he tell

Navontae (30:33.294)
Why did he still pass me?

Ruth Hovsepian (30:37.547)
Yeah, why did he just tell me I'm here? I'm in the room. I was talking to him this morning. Yeah, like why would it, I've been praying about whatever. Why didn't he come and tell me? Yeah, that's, know, look, again, we all need to, and we kind of touched on this prior to our conversation on this subject, but I...

Navontae (30:43.918)
Right, just this morning.

Ruth Hovsepian (31:03.997)
I sometimes say things that rock the boat and this is one of them, right? I believe that the Lord speaks to all of us. And yes, sometimes if I'm not listening, he will tell someone else what I'm hearing, but choosing to ignore, you know, he'll say, but it has to be, think someone in my life that the Lord knows I respect and will listen to.

Navontae (31:07.409)
Bye.

Navontae (31:16.428)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (31:33.851)
not a stranger coming out of a crowd and saying the Lord gave me a prophetic word to tell you. I don't know. This is this is something I've I've had to deal with because I've had people do that to me and I and I take it away and I'll I'll think about and say, but Lord, why the stranger that doesn't know me? I'm praying about this. I have other people who are praying about this.

And I think discernment is what we need to have. And I, I never turn, you know, I never turned my back on these people, you know, on someone who believes in this, but I really say, take everything the way the Lord wants it to be. And as you said, be in tune with what, you know, the Lord is telling

Navontae (32:06.133)
Yes.

Ruth Hovsepian (32:30.999)
Just before we end it, how do you teach your boys about the identity of the Lord? look, we live in 2024. I'm glad my children are in their late 20s and their 30s because man, man, man, it's a tough time right now to raise children.

Navontae (32:56.619)
Yeah, it is.

Ruth Hovsepian (32:58.615)
How do we, identity is a buzzword. How do you deal with that and your boys? How old are your boys, by the

Navontae (33:09.312)
a one -year -old, a three -year -old, and a five -year -old.

Ruth Hovsepian (33:11.111)
gosh.

Ruth Hovsepian (33:15.477)
I'm praying for you, brother, for you and your wife. I am praying for you. So, okay, they're too young maybe for this, how do you deal, how do you think you will deal with it? Because is it gonna get better out there? I don't think so. How would you deal with it? For children that are maybe a little bit older, how do we deal with this whole identity thing?

Navontae (33:17.117)
Thank you so much.

Thank you so

Navontae (33:43.808)
as simple as the

What is the truth? What did God say? What does the nature that God created say? know, it's as simple as that. The devil deals in gray areas. The devil deals in the spirit of perversion. Like I said earlier, the Bible says a little leaven, leaven of the entire

Ruth Hovsepian (33:58.516)
Amen.

Ruth Hovsepian (34:14.603)
Yes.

Navontae (34:15.717)
And so we have to, as much as there's perversion and as much as there's darkness and gray areas being promoted in the world, the church, and like you you said earlier that you believe that discipleship starts in the home. We need just as much truth to be speaking into them so that they know, because Jesus said it this way. He said, I'm gonna send you, I'm not gonna leave you comfortless, but I'm gonna send you back a confeder.

Ruth Hovsepian (34:36.215)
Yeah.

Navontae (34:44.636)
the Spirit of Truth who's going to bring back all things what I have told you. And so it's our job to tell them the truth. And when something isn't correct, it's being spoken to them, I believe the Holy Spirit will bring back, that's not what daddy said. No, that's not what mommy said. That's not what my pastor said because I'm speaking the truth in

Ruth Hovsepian (35:10.997)
Yeah. I think one of the things that you said really struck to me because I believe this with my whole heart and that is parents are, you know, are looked upon by children from a young age. Like your boys are young, but they're watching you and your wife. And the way you are speaking of certain things or maybe not is

Navontae (35:39.9)
Yep.

Ruth Hovsepian (35:40.371)
is how and what these children, that's how they react. They are our mirrors, right? They will listen when kids are cussing and when kids are misbehaving, I'm sorry, they're learning it somewhere. And if it's not from you, then you better reevaluate what they're being surrounded by. That's my parenting tip on this one is parents,

Navontae (35:55.11)
Great.

Navontae (35:59.804)
Hooray!

Ruth Hovsepian (36:06.603)
You are responsible on what your children believe in because you have a small window. Parents have a small window. By the time they're seven, they are already looking around to the outside. So listen, from the birth to about the age of seven, usually it's because that's when they're in grade one and grade, you know, even at the age of six, you better have captured their heart.

because then they're going. And then I think that by the time they're 12 and 13, their personality and their morals have already been developed from what you have done. After that, it's hard to change them and hard to...

reformat their way of thinking. It can be done. I'm not saying it's not possible, right? Look at you, look at me, right? We, we had a huge change in our way of thinking, but we have a lot of, you know, back, you know, rewind and watch stuff. So, you know, parents out there, I'm telling you, your jobs, your, your, your career, your, your, trips.

Navontae (36:59.654)
Every

Navontae (37:08.964)
Yep.

Ruth Hovsepian (37:25.832)
Never mind those. Look after your children, you know? Yeah, support your family. I'm not saying not to, but let's be parents.

Navontae (37:34.862)
You know, I think the assignment of the enemy, and the Lord was speaking to me about this earlier, is that he wants the enemy, one of his tactics, I would say, is to get the parents so busy that they're not watching.

Ruth Hovsepian (37:50.419)
We have to talk about this one day honest to goodness you come back and we will talk about this because I believe you know what? With after the war World War two we started to lose the fabric of what a family looks like So let's let's just leave that there Namontae I want to thank you so much I want to thank you for your you your You sharing your journey and your insights on this. This has been

Navontae (37:51.009)
Ruth Hovsepian (38:19.147)
This has been a great conversation. I've enjoyed it. talking about our identity in Christ is huge. So thank you for being

Navontae (38:29.679)
Thank you so much for having

Ruth Hovsepian (38:31.255)
And to my listeners who want to connect with Navontae and learn more about what he does and what he believes in and Where he is check out the description for how you can find him online Thank you for tuning in to Out of the Darkness If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe it helps every little bit helps leave a review and share it with your friends and together Let's continue to walk out of the darkness and into the light of god's love

Until next time, I'm Ruth Hovsepian. Stay blessed.