There’s nothing I want more than for my kids to know that they are loved, and to know who they are! I believe that’s true of God’s heart toward each of us and why Jesus came.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”
John 1:12
Jesus is everything. He is both the invitation and the access point to everything we teach and believe about INTIMACY, IDENTITY and INHERITANCE
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves [to religion], so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Rom. 8:14-15
And what happens when we come to the Father? He speaks identity and purpose into us.
In Jesus, we ARE defined by God alone. He identifies us as his own. We get to live from this identity, not forever grasping and contending for identity.
You are not defined by the opinions of others or by your circumstances. You are not defined by your successes or failures. How you look, what you’ve done, what you’re trying to do…
Finding our identity in anything other than intimacy with God, from the Father leads to deep insecurity and defensiveness because any image we project we must maintain and defend. This is why many of us have found Jesus, but end up becoming weary in our faith, NEVER FULLY EXPERIENCING THE DEEP RICHES that are available.
Many of us have made the choice to die spiritually and emotionally in private pain and doubt, than let people know what is really going on in our home, our heads, and our hearts because we are more concerned with protecting our image than reflecting His.
This is no way to live!
This is why we seek intimacy first.
Because our beginning point is a revelation of God and inviting Him into our reality – messy and broken reality- discovering a God of LOVE.
- A Good Father who doesn’t judge us, despise us, or throw us away, but loves us fiercely. A God who brings restoration and healing to our broken places, who calls us up into fresh revelation of who He is and who WE are, and empowers US to walk in freedom over what has previously held us in bondage.
- A Good Father who will wrestle with us (fighting for, not against) – until we know who we are and are walking in the identity and value that HE SPEAKS OVER US even if it’s WITH A LIMP!
A Journey of Grasping for Identity
The story of Jacob, found in Genesis 25 is a journey of grasping for his identity as a son. We read how he grasped for it, he traded for it, he stole it, and he lived it (or at least appeared to), but he was always an imposter until God met Him.
- He wrestled with the angel of the Lord.
- God spoke over him what he’d always wanted to hear!
- He could finally stop GRASPING!!
It is often in the darkest night, the most desperate wrestle, OR WHEN OUR WELL MANICURED FAITH, LIFE OR IDENTITY BLOW APART…that we hear and experience God the clearest.
I WOULD RATHER BE IN COMMUNITY WITH THOSE WHO WALK WITH A LIMP BECAUSE THEY’VE WRESTLED WITH GOD AND KNOW HIM THAN THOSE WHO CAN RUN BUT DON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE