When we know who we are in Jesus, we receive the confidence necessary to pursue that identity. What the Lord says about us is a major clue to our inheritance. When we have received scripture from the Holy Spirit that pertains to a particular calling, then all our resources will flow through that identity.
The Lord gave me the identity of Caleb (Numbers chapters 13 and 14, Joshua chapter 14). His identity was that of a man of a different spirit. He never backed down from a flight and had a strong revelation of God’s majesty and favor. He relished the battle. In his 85th year, he reminded Joshua of a promise given to him 40 years earlier by Moses. Caleb was claiming the last stronghold of the giants for his inheritance. Give me this mountain (Joshua 14: 12) giants live there, and I’ll drive them out.
When the Lord calls us a person of a different spirit it makes a huge difference to how we approach life, obstacles and warfare.
Our identity sets us up for the life that God has envisioned for us. Our identity forms the agreement and the alignment that we have with the Lord. All our resources flow to the identity that we uphold in our own hearts. Confession and proclamation rise within us. Identity is where we stand tall in God’s sight. We live in a defined way in his presence. We know what to expect of ourselves because it has become a part of our spirit. We accept the role that the Lord thrusts upon us and we grow into its size.
When faced with the impossible, our identity must rise up and become its true height. Who we are in Christ should always be larger in life than any issue we face. When David faced Goliath, he did so with a perceived mindset. Samuel had anointed him to be king and he needed to grow into it. When David saw the problem caused by the giant, he took charge of events. His identity overshadowed what was impossible to everyone else around him. He behaved like a king.
Power and authority come from within. The internal forces of our identity and our passion for God’s will overcome any external difficulties. Intimidation, stress, and pressure always try to occupy the space between us and the crisis we face. Intimacy, peace, and passion should always be our internal antidote. We never allow the battle to take place inside our heart. That is where our identity reigns supreme. When David was taken before king Saul ( 1 Samuel 17: 31-37) David’s identity spoke to the king: let no man’s heart fail on account of this giant, I will fight him.
It is our identity that pursues God. It explores his possibilities. Identity listens for the voice of God and only does what he says. Identity has a winning attitude. I killed the lion, and I killed the bear, this uncircumcised philistine shall be like one of those. The Lord will deliver him into my hands.
David took power with him onto the battlefield, but he also knew he was stepping into a power that the situation itself provided. Every crisis has the power to overcome enshrined within it. Every adversarial situation contains power. We either use that power to defeat the enemy or we are used by it and overcome. The internal power of our identity provides us with the confidence in God to discover and engage the external power that is provided by the circumstances.
Who are you becoming? What is your current identity? Spend some time meditating upon your present mindset about yourself. Then shift your thinking to the future. Who do you want to be? What is the stirring in your heart?