IDENTITY DETERMINES WORTH

Have you ever asked the question, “Who am I?” “Where am I going?” Have you ever felt as though your life had no meaning, no value or no purpose?

Jesus Christ came to us life and that more abundantly. If we are to experience the life God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11) we must have an accurate answer to these questions.

God created you fearfully (with awe) and wonderfully (with majesty) and God ordained that you and I should do several things as His representatives on earth:
1. Be fruitful [Productive]
2. Multiply [Increase in everything]
3. Have Dominion [Take the lead and rule over]

It is only as we are fulfilling that first work that God has ordained for us that we can ever experience the fullness of life and our living have meaning and worth.


The challenge we face is that most of our lives we have been told and conditioned to believe that we cannot accomplish what God has called us to because we had lost our identification with God when Adam sinned.
That fact is true, we did lose our identification with God when Adam sinned…however, our identity, our calling, our position, our authority, our power and our legal right to rule over the earth was reestablished at the Cross of Calvary.


Now, through study of the Word of God, through prayer and meditation you can reestablish your true identity and purpose and thereby experience God’s wonderful gift of life more abundantly.  Do you know what you are worth? You are worth the life of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Most High God!

DISCOVER YOUR TRUE IDENTITY

What you perceive as truth will greatly influence your feelings, your beliefs and your actions. Satan has sought and to a great degree succeeded at having Christians perceive as truth, his lies. As a result when it comes to our true identity, most Christians perceive themselves through the identity placed on them by Adam – rather than the redeemed identity given to them by Jesus Christ.


Someone once said that it takes about three weeks to form a new habit. Over the next 40 days beginning April 01st we will seek to form the new habit of seeing ourselves as God sees us and perceiving our worth from God’s perspective rather than from that of Satan or traditional thinking or what other people have defined as our identity.

Always remember that your birth, not your performance, determines your identity.


There are six practical and simple steps that I suggest that you take each day as you are praying and meditating on the Word of God. For each of the verses that I share with you, take the following steps to RECALL your true identity in Christ and in the sight of God:
R - Read and Remember the Scriptures
E - Express the promise and identity to yourself
C - Confess your identity to someone else
A - Apply action and begin acting like your identity in Christ
L - Let it sink in by meditating on your identity
L - Love God and yourself and your neighbor will benefit


As you are going through your life changing identity formation you will experience wonderful new breakthroughs, write me at pmdavis@nationsford.org and let me know what God is doing in your life.

FAITH- TAKE THE PLUNGE

I have always admired the person who is willing to be the first! Whatever the challenge maybe, even when all the data is not gathered and the outcome is not guaranteed…there is usually someone in the crowd who is willing to take the first plunge.

 

The most interesting thing about this type of person is that once they have taken the plunge, they will turn and encourage others to join them in the adventure. Faith is willing to be the first to take the plunge. People of faith are always early adopters of God's plan.

Genesis 6 tells the story of Noah, who is one of the great examples of this kind of faith. Noah was willing to build a boat when there was not one drop of water in sight. His encounter with God is a story that provides a lesson in faith for every believer.

 

1. Faith Believes Without Proof

Noah built the ark without ever seeing rain. Think about it, it had never rained on the earth…but God said to Noah, “Build an ark, because I am going to make it rain.” When we live by faith we must learn that most of our faith-facts are not within our line of sight. That begins with our belief in God. We don't need to see Him to know that He is real. Peter reminds us that “though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,” (1 Pet. 1:8).

Faith is, believing without proof, whether it is faith in God's promises to us; faith in His eternal plan for the world, or faith in His specific plan for our lives. We trust God, even though we cannot see all the details.

2. Faith Stands Alone

Noah and his family were the only people in their community (in the world at that time) who feared God. Yet we notice that Noah would not be intimidated. Noah stuck with God’s plan even when he had to do it all alone.

People of faith don't need to be members of an elite club; they are willing to hold fast to the promises of God even when that means being different from others. To stand against the crowd and for Jesus requires a firm conviction of the truth of God's Word. Noah's experiences drives home another point worth pondering: the crowd is often wrong.

3. Faith Takes Action

James wrote, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead,” (James 2:17). Noah not only believed God and the promise of God that, it would rain but also did something about it…he built a boat.

What is the action to which God is calling you? Will you step out in faith and just do it?  Will you take the plunge and dive into your destiny by faith? 

4. Faith Sees Results

Being a person of faith means being willing to trust God regardless of the outcome. Noah was a man of faith.

 

The promises of God are true, and those who trust in them; rely on them and take the plunge of faith - are never disappointed. God promised Noah that it would rain, and did it ever! Having acted in faith, Noah and his family were saved from the flood. They believed that it would happen, and they saw it come to pass.

When you step out and take the plunge of faith and follow God, you will see results in your life also! Now while it will not be as dramatic as Noah's flood (God has promised that there will be no repeat performance of that event), but when you take the plunge of faith and trust in the promises of God and act according to His plan and His Word, the results will be no less meaningful in your life!

So when you pray for rain, you better be wearing a raincoat or go get an umbrella; because all of God's promises are true. Take the plunge and walk by faith, not by sight.

 

PMD