The Heart of Identity
Our identity is so important for survival in our everyday lives. Maybe most of us don't think about how we identify with so much of our circumstances from the smallest detail to major events in our lives. Even the verbal statements and inner thoughts that we repeat start forming definitions of who we are in our belief system of our very being. If we are not careful to tend to our pattern of speaking and thinking, they can easily turn into something not meant for our spiritual make-up. This also starts clouding and building walls up in intimacy from our Heavenly Father.
Here's a little scenario that I have been guilty of in the past so many times in prayer (even catch myself sometimes these days.) I'm also getting past the polite stuff and straight to the heart because that's what God wants--intimacy.
Me: Hi God
Father God: ____, I've been waiting to talk to you
Me: I'm such a mess. (emotions)
Father God: No, you're not, but I see you've had a rough day.
Me: Something happened today and I'm not in a good mood, on top of that my allergies flared up and how long do I need to deal with that? I'm in need of more finances and I am trying to do do everything I can to make things happen, but they aren't!
Father God: Let me ask you a question.
Me: ok...
Father God: Who are you?
Me: uh... me? I'm me.
Father God: And define that.
Me: Well, uh...You know who I am, you created me!
Father God: I do, but do you know who you are? You are not your emotions. You are not your circumstances. You are not your mood. You are not your physical ailments. You are not your bank account balance. You are not your strength. You are mine.
Me: ...
Father God: Who am I?
Me: ... You're God.
Father God: Please explain more.
Me: ... You are God of the universe...
Father God: and?
Me: my Heavenly Father...
Father God: and?
Me: Provider...Sustainer...Protector...Creator...Healer...Love...Giver of all good things
Father God: So, if you are mine, what does that make you?
Me: ...Your creation...your daughter... the receiver of your affections, direction and correction. The receiver of all good things and your inheritance...
Father God: Great! Hello ____, it's nice to finally see you. That's who I made. Now let's start talking...
There's a saying, "We are human-beings, not human-doings." Don't get me wrong. Its not that we sit all day on cushions and humming and not work or do the things that God calls us to do and not be responsible for the placement and callings we have on our lives, but isn't it true that we tend to get so caught up in what we do and what is done to us, rather than who we are.
That is one of the reasons why our intimate times with God seems so distant and unpowerful. We do not hook ourselves up with the ultimate power source of the universe. That strength and power is distributed through the love relationship of intimacy and rest in God in order to do the things He has called us to do.
God has really created values that seem to be counter-productive in the way the world works, but that is the kind of upside-down, inside-out living that He created fulfillment of life and passion to spring forth from. Everything stems from love. First from and to Him and then to and from others.
Love is such a powerful message of the gospel and it is by and through love that all things were created. God is love. Jesus clearly shows the message of ultimate love when he willingly became the sacrifice on the cross in our place, for the sake of love. The Bible clearly says that without love, all things are nothing, useless, rendered nothing (I Corinthians 13.) What a powerful statement...eloquent words, knowledge and wisdom of mysteries, charitable giving is nothing without love. Love is the worth, the remaining is the vehicle. It makes us want to reevaluate what was worth in a day, doesn't it?
God wants us to re-evaluate worth through the eyes of love: ourselves, others, our actions, our motives, even Himself. I have found myself even excluding God from the lens love. This truth always puts me in my place, sometimes with a tail-spin, but (more often than not) with the understanding of God's beautiful, faithful, love on me. With this alignment, love, with who God is and who I really am, we can really live and take on life to the fullest.
Here's a little scenario that I have been guilty of in the past so many times in prayer (even catch myself sometimes these days.) I'm also getting past the polite stuff and straight to the heart because that's what God wants--intimacy.
Me: Hi God
Father God: ____, I've been waiting to talk to you
Me: I'm such a mess. (emotions)
Father God: No, you're not, but I see you've had a rough day.
Me: Something happened today and I'm not in a good mood, on top of that my allergies flared up and how long do I need to deal with that? I'm in need of more finances and I am trying to do do everything I can to make things happen, but they aren't!
Father God: Let me ask you a question.
Me: ok...
Father God: Who are you?
Me: uh... me? I'm me.
Father God: And define that.
Me: Well, uh...You know who I am, you created me!
Father God: I do, but do you know who you are? You are not your emotions. You are not your circumstances. You are not your mood. You are not your physical ailments. You are not your bank account balance. You are not your strength. You are mine.
Me: ...
Father God: Who am I?
Me: ... You're God.
Father God: Please explain more.
Me: ... You are God of the universe...
Father God: and?
Me: my Heavenly Father...
Father God: and?
Me: Provider...Sustainer...Protector...Creator...Healer...Love...Giver of all good things
Father God: So, if you are mine, what does that make you?
Me: ...Your creation...your daughter... the receiver of your affections, direction and correction. The receiver of all good things and your inheritance...
Father God: Great! Hello ____, it's nice to finally see you. That's who I made. Now let's start talking...
There's a saying, "We are human-beings, not human-doings." Don't get me wrong. Its not that we sit all day on cushions and humming and not work or do the things that God calls us to do and not be responsible for the placement and callings we have on our lives, but isn't it true that we tend to get so caught up in what we do and what is done to us, rather than who we are.
That is one of the reasons why our intimate times with God seems so distant and unpowerful. We do not hook ourselves up with the ultimate power source of the universe. That strength and power is distributed through the love relationship of intimacy and rest in God in order to do the things He has called us to do.
God has really created values that seem to be counter-productive in the way the world works, but that is the kind of upside-down, inside-out living that He created fulfillment of life and passion to spring forth from. Everything stems from love. First from and to Him and then to and from others.
Love is such a powerful message of the gospel and it is by and through love that all things were created. God is love. Jesus clearly shows the message of ultimate love when he willingly became the sacrifice on the cross in our place, for the sake of love. The Bible clearly says that without love, all things are nothing, useless, rendered nothing (I Corinthians 13.) What a powerful statement...eloquent words, knowledge and wisdom of mysteries, charitable giving is nothing without love. Love is the worth, the remaining is the vehicle. It makes us want to reevaluate what was worth in a day, doesn't it?
God wants us to re-evaluate worth through the eyes of love: ourselves, others, our actions, our motives, even Himself. I have found myself even excluding God from the lens love. This truth always puts me in my place, sometimes with a tail-spin, but (more often than not) with the understanding of God's beautiful, faithful, love on me. With this alignment, love, with who God is and who I really am, we can really live and take on life to the fullest.
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