renewal

I think in the hustle and bustle of our lives and even in the well-intentioned effort to be used by the Lord we frequently lose sight or perspective on the very basic concept that allows us to even be used by the Lord. That concept, though frequently heard but rarely received fully, is the truth of our identity and relationship to Him. Yes, this is another blog about our identity, and yes, I am going to talk about who we are in Christ, and I would suggest that if you are tempted to quit reading now for cause of having heard this then you just might be the very person that needs to hear it- which is exactly what the Lord convicted me of recently.

Our place in Him or our position relative to Him shouldn't be something that we approach casually and receive as a spiritual Advil to whatever aches or pains we are feeling. It shouldn't be a band-aid or even a spiritual energy drink. It should be the very thing we live FROM. As soon as we lose perspective and start living outside of identity and inside our own realm of ability, then we unplug ourselves from the very outlet which supplies the life of our lives.

The importance you place on this perspective stems a lot on your expectations or your perspective on what your life should look like. I know just in my experience when I am content to live the comfortable Christian life where I am nice to people and I walk in joy (not that that is a bad thing), the truth about who I am is just a periphery idea that makes me feel good. That pool of complacency is one I frequent occasionaly. But when I consecrate myself to Him and declare in song "Here I am I, all of me. Take my life, its all for the," there is a prodding in my Spirit of a deeper level intimacy and annointing the Lord has called us to. I mean this Christian complacency, when matched up with the intensity of Jesus saying "these things I do you shall do also and greater works than these," just does not compare. And it seems that no matter how much we like to reason our way into justifying something short of His perfect calling there is still something in our spirits that cries "THERE IS MORE!"

I believe this is where identity comes in. Who are we really? If our hearts confirm that there is more then something must be out of place in our reflections of ourselves. Well let's look at what the Word says! It says we are ambassadors, sons, new creations, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, we have an annointing from the Holy One! This is the identity that matches the Father's commands to "lay hands on the sick and they shall recover," speak to the mountain, declare the Word with boldness, to live supernaturally, to look for sick people to pray for, to boldly rebuke the devil, and to boldly declare what the Word has said about you.

And as our hearts begin to long for this, to strongly desire the Lord to be completely the Lord in our lives, His response to our searching hearts is "that is what I've already done for you!" We don't have to DO anything to become more spiritual so the Lord will make us into that vessel. He has given us a picture of who we really are and all we have to do is become familiar with it! And this is not some self-empowering I-am-my-own-God thing. This is COMPLETE SUBMISSION, complete humility and the place where you say "Lord none of this is because of me, be YOU in me!" Then we must really examine what we mean by "YOU in me," and take Him out of the box of our small expectations! THIS IS GLORIFICATION TO HIS NAME!