-Strenght for Today- “The Quest for Identity.” - Philippians 3:13-15.
I can testify that that “there were seasons” that I “spent in worldly drought,” seeking?“with exceeding vigor” to find “my identity.” But “deep down inside,” I could sense “the convicting presence” of the Holy Spirit.” And I knew “that quiet voice was speaking only to me.”?
??? But now “that lustful season has passed,” and “the path,” and “the place” I thought?“Motown in Detroit, Michigan had for me and my singing group,” is now just “a distant memory.?
?And with the?prayers of my “mom,” “dad,” and “others,” “God mercifully propelled me into a journey for Jesus Christ. ?
I share this because yours and my true identity “isn't about the deep entrenched ways of the world!” So,?“reject the fleshly compulsion,” and “focus on establishing your identity on God’s platform of righteousness,”?you must “first be conformed to His death,” that is “you must personally know Him.”?
But most importantly you must remember that, “our Lord Jesus was stripped of His identity and took the form of a servant.” And as a servant on the cross: ?
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Yet, “Jesus walked by faith,” believing “that God would raise Him up according to the promise,” (Hebrews 11:19).?and “submitted Himself to death that He might attain to the resurrection of the dead.”
Now He’s “glorified bodily as we’ll also be someday.” For:?“He will transform our lowly body that it may be?conformed to His glorious body,?according to the working by which He is able even to?subdue all things to Himself.” -Philippians 3:21. But for now, “we can walk in the reality of His resurrection,” being “transformed into His image,” which is “the very purpose of His laying hold of us in the first place.” -Philippians 3:14.?
When Christ, “who’s our life, is revealed,” then “we’ll also be revealed with Him in glory.” It’s here “that we find peace and rest regarding the loss of identity.” Because “having come to the cross,” and “being conformed to His death,” by faith, “we touch the reality of His resurrection.” In His resurrection,?“we touch His life,” for “He has become our life” since,?“we’re dead.” And “when Christ, who is our life,” is revealed through us “then who we truly are is finally revealed!”?
Therefore, “our true identity,” “our unique expression in the earth,” is only found “when Christ is revealed through us.” This “is a great mystery.” And this mystery “can’t be found in any human endeavor.” For you see, He’s “our destiny,” “our purpose,” and “our identity.” And to search for any other “place,” or “venture,” is “to miss the mark of the prize!” Because it was “the lonely cross” on “a barren hill,” that took our “inherited disparity,” and “re-created?it,” into “His glorious identity,” which is a wholesome?“interaction between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!”
Author: Plez Lovelady, Jr., PhD
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