Establishing our identity in the truth

As the seasons of our lives change, our function, occupation, ministry role, and relationships will inevitably change. However, the Lord longs for our spiritual identity – who we are before God – to remain constant throughout our lives. But there is a great war in the spiritual realm over our identity, because our identity determines who we will worship and who will possess the passion of our heart.

We can only walk in wholehearted love for God as we have revelation about our identity in God. The enemy is waging war on us by attacking our heart and our spiritual identity. Rather than focusing on our spiritual identity, many believers spend a majority of their time focusing on their outward circumstances - what they will do and what they have. Some of this is absolutely legitimate, but often times these things become more important than the development of our heart before God. Having our heart grow in love towards God and feel love back from God is not just an exciting way to live our Christian life. It is the reason that we were redeemed. God does not need more servants. We were redeemed so that God would have wholehearted lovers that love Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Our identity is determined by the way we define our value or measure our success. If our identity is rooted in biblical truths, then we will experience God’s power on our hearts to remain steady even in difficult times. Otherwise, our lives are filled with strife and fear even with prosperity in our life circumstances. If we are uncertain about who we are we will never win the war. The enemy wants to confuse and cloud us about who we really are. Success is normally measured by having bigger influences, more possessions, and more finances. This is the complete opposite of what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. He told us that the bigger our heart is, the more successful we are. We must define how we are successful in the way that God does. Believers genuinely love God, but then agree with the world on how they are successful.

Is there more pain in your life because of your external circumstances or because of your heart not growing in love and being right before God?

The most important questions we can be asking in our lives are like those about our identity. But the answers to these questions and the truth of our identity in Christ only comes by divine revelation. We must continually ask the Lord for it. Just as Peter understood Jesus’ identity by the revelation of the Spirit so also we only understand our identity in the same way.

Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said, "Blessed are you…for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven...” (Matthew 16:16-17)

We must understand that the Lord is not primarily looking at how well we build our ministry, business, or sphere of influence. He wants us to understand that our value and success should be fully and solely determined by our intimacy with God (the first commandment), our meekness before others (the second commandment), and our heart cultivating the spirit of revelation on the Word. These are the only things we will be able to carry with us on the day we stand before Him. It really matters how we carry our heart!

Our confession should be “I am loved by God, and I am a lover of God and of others – therefore I am successful.” Lord, help us to realize this is why you put us on the earth, and let us not determine our success in any other way.