Lost Identity. Found Identity — Part 1 of 4

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. Luke 15:11-12 NKJV.

But when he came to himself … Luke 15:17a NKJV.

Allow me to briefly tell you how this Brief Word came about. On a Tuesday night recently, I didn’t sleep a bit – I was awake all night! I’ll fess up. I’d mistakenly taken my morning medications the night before. I got through that Wednesday OK, and I did have a great sleep that night. Next morning, Thursday, I got up and after my usual routine sat down to have my quiet time. And I distinctly heard the Holy Spirit say, Go back to bed. I argued a bit, about that, saying this is not usual, I’m here to hear from You Lord. Then He says, I’ll download stuff to you later. Oh OK.

So, I did, I went back to bed and slept very well for a while. It was a great sleep. Then I got up and resumed my place where I usually read God’s Word, write, meditate and pray. I opened up Luke 15, and wow, it was like a torrent of truth came at me. In recent times I’ve come to be excited about the new identity I have in Christ, so this was familiar but fresh. It was known but expanded. It went from a small understanding to much more. It was as if I was discovering things about God my Father for the first time. God is amazing.

This Brief Word is a portion of the things I saw and wrote down.

Did you know that your identity can be lost? The Devil is all out to steal, kill and destroy our identity, and he is especially working among our young people today. He even tried to steal the identity of Jesus. (Matthew 4:1-11).

John the Baptist said of Jesus and of himself.

• Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29
• He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

He once knew who he was and he knew who Jesus was as he says.

• I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’as the prophet Isaiah said.” John 1:23
• “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” John 1:26-27

But the great John the Baptist, at the very end of his life, lost his sense of identity.

He was in prison put there by Herod, and he actually sends some of his followers to ask Jesus this question; Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another? Matthew 11:3 NKJV.

Ah yes, our sense of identity can be lost.

The prodigal son lost his identity. He was with his brother and his father, and possibly already had a robe, a ring and sandals.

There was something missing however in his understanding of who he was, as he wanted to leave his father’s house. He didn’t know at that point what he really had. He didn’t begin to understand the scope and the magnitude of the position he was in, being his father’s son in that household.

So, he leaves. Now he’s on his own. He ended up in a bad state with nothing.

But (Praise the Lord) he came to himself, (Luke 15:17 NKJV). He has a revelation. He has an awakening.

And we’ll deal with the rest of his story in the next Brief Word.

For many years I thought I knew who I was. A man of God, husband, father, grandfather, provider, and Pastor, leader, mentor, helper, teacher, church builder, minister. But for a period of five or more years, I went through an identity crisis. It was a terrible and dark time. I thought, if I was all those things above, if that’s who I was, then surely certain things should be happening. But they weren’t. My expectations of what would be the fruit of my life and ministry just wasn’t happening.

So, I walked away from all I knew about ministry and pastoring and church leadership. I still loved God, read His word, loved my family, but I was lost.

But the Lord in His incredible grace and love, began to open to me a revelation. Over a period of years, you could say, I came to myself. I discovered God, the Almighty, The Lord of lords and the Name above all names, was my Father. My. Father! It was an incredible revelation. And still is.

I discovered who I am more and more over the next few years. That without any of the trappings of what I had in the past, without doing anything at all, I am the son of God my Father. I am who He made me to be.

These are days in which we need to be absolutely secure in who we are. Insecurity is a killer; of ministry, of callings, of emotions, relationships, it wrecks businesses, groups, people’s lives and even churches.

We can become so upset and distraught, because of the circumstances, that we forget who we are. We forget that we are a Son or a Daughter of the Living God. And we react, we respond, from our old nature, from who we once were, but in reality we are no longer.

Have you, or someone you know, lost your identity? Who tells you who you are? Where do you get your identity messages from? Has life, or health, or just bad things robbed you of your identity?

I thank God for the revelation of who He is and who we are in Him.

There’s good news though. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Revelation. He loves to reveal to us the truth about Jesus, The Father and ourselves.

Let’s find out more about that in the next Brief Word.