Personal Identity

 

 

When we seek our personal identity from our mate, family, job or material possessions, we can lose it overnight. Then we are adrift without an anchor to stabilize our life. We may look to our character, talents and independence for our identity until we are accused, or even falsely accused of a crime and put in jail or dismissed from our job. However, if we draw our personal identity from Christ in us, we find a solid rock on which it can stand for eternity, regardless of our circumstances in life.

Paul related his struggle with his personal identity in Romans 7; and at the very last verse, he realizes that God freed him from sin, as well as the condemnation of sin (Romans 8:1). He comprehended the fact that the law of sin and death no longer has any power over the Saints of God, because we are set free by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). Our sinful self died in Christ, and we are raised to walk in His new life (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:4). Jesus did only those things, which He saw our Father do (John 5:19). We have no separate identity apart from the Father either. We live only to please and bring honor to our Lord. His life flows through us and we bear much fruit (John 15:5). We grow in the knowledge of God, and He fills us with endurance and patience, as we joyfully thank Him for His love for us, for His blessings in our life and for replacing our identity with His (Colossians 1:10-12).

We wait on God to give us His thoughts, living from our spirit instead of from our human soul – our mind, will and emotions. We refrain from listening to our human thoughts, so that our words and thoughts come only from Christ within us. We desire God with our whole heart, seeking only His will for our life, and using the gifts, which He provides for us, as He opens doors that no man can close.

Prayer:

Father God, we relinquish our dependence on our self and we rely totally on You. We hunger and thirst after Your righteousness (Matthew 5:6). We thank You for increasing our faith and for helping us to live for Your glory. We totally surrender our life to You, and we thank You for Your spiritual wisdom and understanding (Ephesians 1:17). We succeed in life only through the power of Your might (Ephesians 6:10), not by our human reasoning and efforts. Regardless of the circumstances in our life, our personal identity comes from our relationship with You.

Thought for the Day:

We wait on the Lord until Christ is fully developed in us as our personal identity. – Galatians 4:19

Unity in Prayer

By repenting of our sinful lifestyle, we are made children of God. We are set free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). We exchange our old nature for a new nature in Christ, which is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). God disciplines us for our good, in order that we can share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:10).  We know that when Christ does appear, we will be exactly like Him, because we shall see Him in all of His glory (1 John 3:2).

Growing in our union with Christ starts each new day in a time of aloneness with God. Night owls do this before they go to bed, and morning doves pray when they wake up. We keep God company twenty-four hours a day! We enter a realm of oneness with His Spirit and pray according to His will. We thank Him for His daily provision of our needs and appreciate Him for who He is. Then we share our apprehensions and questions with Him. We feel His presence in our spirit; and sit quietly, listening for His still, small voice in answer to our prayers (Philippians 4:6; 1 Kings 19:11-13).

Once we make our requests known to God, we release all anxiety. Discarding all doubt and fear, the peace of God, which transcends human reasoning, protects our soul and spirit in Christ (Philippians 4:6-7). As we live in a place of communion with God during every waking moment, we have so much assurance of His love for us that we are able to rejoice regardless of the circumstance surrounding us (Romans 8:28). Giving God thanks for everything that happens to us - the good, the bad and the ugly, we know this is His will and He always works all things out for our ultimate good (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17; Romans 8:28).

Carrying on throughout the rest of our day, we continue to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:18). There is a penchant in humanity to take things to the extreme, however. Many in our society will make desperate attempts to gain more intimacy with God to the point of neglecting their duties to family and society. They will cloister their self from life and spend their time in their prayer closet, reading God’s Word and listening to sermons. In an attempt at holiness, they desert all aspiration to give or to receive with anyone other than God.

Yet, in doing this they prevent God from using them to reach the lost and dying world around us. A balance of devotion and obedience is what God calls for from His Saints, until the day that He returns to claim His Bride for His own. Then He will take us home to be with Him for eternity. Our position in Christ allows us to see life from God’s perspective and to choose our words and actions according to the will of God. In this way, we are always moving toward perfection, which is the prize of the high calling of God (Matthew 5:48; Philippians 3:14).

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You were God, yet you spent hours communing with our Father while you lived on this earth (Luke 6:12). You taught the disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13) using the formula of:

1.) Praising Your majesty

2.) Anticipating of Your coming Kingdom
3.) Requesting our needs to be met
4.) Repenting of our sins
5.) Forgiving those who sin against us.

Thought for the Day:

The Lord draws near to everyone who comes to Him with sincerity and integrity in the motives of their heart. - Psalm 145:18