Prayer To Own and Live Well The Identity We've Been Given By God

Thursday August 13, 2020

Identity

Many things about ourselves are challenged in the time of this pandemic.

Some people who identified themselves a lot by what they did from Monday to Friday suddenly are not at work and don't know if they will return. Those of us who were regular attenders of a church service on a Sunday feel the strangeness of not seeing and being with people - knowing and being known. We did well to keep up with folks in the beginning of the lockdown but as time apart lengthens, I don't know about you, but I find more and more relationships a bit more "on the edge" of my thinking.

We'd love to be able to be with other family members but if you are like my family, my 98 year old mom, like so many other moms and dads hasn't been able to be with family for 5 months now. That's a long time. Some of us have aged relatives that due to dementia will no longer know us. Who are we?

We are living in a world right now where people are identifying first by their race or by their gender, by their political party, by their approval or disapproval of social distancing measures implemented by the government. How are we meant to interact and identify ourselves?

There is a wonderful song that Hillsong has recorded. I'll put the link below and I hope you'll take time to listen to the song before you go on with what's in your day.

It reminds us that we are who God says we are. Listen to these words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKw6uqtGFfo

WHO YOU SAY I AM

Who am I that the highest King would welcome me?

I was lost but He brought me in

Oh His love for me. Oh His love for me

Who the Son sets free, oh is free indeed

I'm a child of God, yes I am

In my Father's house there's a place for me

I'm a child of God, yes I am

Free at last, He has ransomed me, His grace runs deep

While I was a slave to sin Jesus died for me

Yes He died for me

I am chosen not forsaken. I am who You say I am

You are for me, not against me. I am who You say I am

Today we want to come to God and let the identity He has given us be written on our hearts and minds once again so we can confidently and joyfully go into this day and make a difference as God intended. Let's pray

God, you created my inmost being you knit me together

in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am

fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,

I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven

together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw

my unformed body. All the days ordained for me

were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

So many things challenge us and make us question who we are and what we are doing in these times. I pray God that You would help us ground ourselves in the reality of our being those who are created by You for a wonderful purpose. This season of the pandemic, of social change in so many ways does not define who we are. You made us to care for each other and the earth and to spread the good news about how wonderful You are and how much You love us. You’ve gifted each one of us to fulfill Your purposes for our lives today. Forgive us for getting distracted from these things by all the unexpected and unknown things that fill the news and our lives these days. Brings us back to what matters. Bring us back to Your heart and Your vision of us and our relationship with You. Help us to live in that today – knowing You and letting ourselves be known, loving You and letting the beauty of Your love and care be front and center in our attention.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else,

and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Matthew 6:33

You’ve promised that if we would seek You first, Your kingdom and Your righteousness that everything else would find its place. So we give ourselves to doing that today. Help us to let go of the clutter in our thoughts and emotions and come back to this simple life-giving truth that we belong to You and You live in us. Help us to focus on these words today:

I identify myself completely with him.

Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ.

My ego is no longer central.

It is no longer important that I appear righteous

before you or have your good opinion,

and I am no longer driven to impress God.

Christ lives in me. The life you see me living

is not "mine," but it is lived by faith

in the Son of God, who loved me

and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20