Identity

WHO AM I?

You may have a title in a job, in a ministry or in your family, but is that who you are? What about when all is stripped away, when the title is not longer yours, who are you then? Maybe you have not been in a position of relinquishing a title, a position or a place yet, however, situations, circumstances or opportunities will tend to move the chess pieces of your life at some point, and when that happens, and things shift in your life, where does your identity lie? Who or what defines you?

If it is found in a title or in man’s approval, you will always be holding onto it with everything you have because you believe that is where your worth lies.

If it is found in Christ, your assurance will be in the fact that you are not only created in the image or God, that He calls you by name and it is He who anoints and appoints you for service, but understand that greatest thing He does for you, is give you your identity. You and I are the sons and daughters of the Most High God.

If you could grasp hold of whose you are, then no matter what changes around you, what titles come and go, you will remain steadfast in the assurance that you are God’s child. Our Father God is unshakable. His word never changes. He has a plan and is working out that plan for humanity daily, and He has chosen to take you along with Him and be involved in that plan. As His children, you are His inheritance and take part in His inheritance.

IDENTITY

If your identity is found in your title, you will continue to be rattled and feel insecure if that title comes into question or is your main focus. If protecting your title is the main focus, it takes the focus off why you have the title in the first place. Your unquestionable identity must be found in who God says you are, and everything you do will flow out of His approval of you, not man’s.

HE CALLS YOU BY NAME

God calls you by name. He knows your name. He knows the number of the hairs on your head. That is how intimate God desires to be connected and in relationship with you is and His desire is for you to fulfill the calling He has for your life. You are not a mistake. Your birth, no matter what the circumstances, is not an accident. You have been created by God. Your parents or carers may have given you a name, but God saw you and named you before anyone else knew you existed. He is interested in you and committed to you, one hundred percent.

ANOINTED AND APPOINTED

Andy Stanley says, ‘Replace yourself, and you will always have a place’. Being obedient to letting go of something to take hold of something else is one thing, but being obedient in letting go of something and, like Abraham, not knowing where you are going next, can be daunting for sure. Either way, there is an adjustment to be made. After the initial letting go, you can find yourself in a place of feeling empty with nothing to grab onto as your own, that title, for a season. All kinds of emotions well up. The greatest of all is, ‘Who am I now’, especially if the season ahead is either unclear, delayed or doesn’t actually look like you expected.

You have to know, it is God who anoints and appoints you. The word tells us that when we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will lift us up, He will position us. It’s a fact. Don’t worry about what your future looks like, God has it all planned out.

CHALLENGE TO YOU

You have to choose fact over feeling. The fact is, you are a child of God. The fact is, He knows you personally, intimately, and by name. The fact is, He is the one who anoints and appoints you and He organizes the seasons. The fact is, He has put His stamp of identity upon you.

In the ‘transition season’, don’t miss what God is doing in you and preparing you for. Remain humble before Him. He is not preparing you for a title, although a title you may receive, but He is preparing you to take hold of His banner to represent Him as His ambassador where He plants you in each and every season.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:7 (NIV)

Trust God in your journey.

Deb