A New Identity!

"By faith..Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive a inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith...he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God" Hebrews 11:8-10

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (3:29, ESV). The promise God made to Abraham—of covenant and blessing—is the same promise God makes to us and we are then given a new identity in Christ. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (3:29, ESV). The promise God made to Abraham—of covenant and blessing—is the same promise God makes to us and we are then given a new identity in Christ.

"As Christians we are defined by what God has done for us and in us and through the relationship e has with us and the destiny He appoints for us. God made us who we are so we could make known who He is. Our identity is for the sake of making known His identity to others" ~ (anonymous)

In Christ, we are new. We are complete. We have a new identity. We experience a fulfillment where God comes into our heart and fills a void that only He can fill despite our many attempts to search, find and try to fill that very place deep within in our soul that was made for only Him...we were made for our identity to be hidden in Him.

We see this change as we read of Abrahams life. God changed his name from Abram meaning 'high father' to Abraham 'father of a multitude'. When God changed a persons name it was usually to give a new identity. A new life He gives in Christ, a new beginning, a new purpose and new identity and for purposes that are too many to even be numbered...purposes that are eternal. We are promised a heavenly home, with a family in Him that will fellowship through all eternity. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy' 1 Peter 2:9-10

As a Christian God's grace changes everything about us...when we accept him and believe we are made new. We no longer identify with the person we were before but we are transformed into the image of Christ...a spiritual transformation takes places and we are continuing to be transformed more and more into the image of His Son. As a result of Abrahams change it marked a new beginning in his life. In order for Abraham to be changed and to receive God's covenant with him Abraham had to 'walk with God'. Great change happens in our lives as we walk with God daily...to fellowship with God will bring change and this change will touch all areas of our lives. When our identity is changed it happens on the inside out. As God does a work in us it is seen outwardly by the way we are living....everything begins to change. We read of the result of Abrahams change in his new identity, God established a covenant with him that will serve as a blessing to the whole world! The fruitfulness of his life and blessing many generations was a blessing from God. It was something God did. In ourselves we are nothing and we have nothing to give to God...to accomplish the tasks that we have before us. This too is true of the New Covenant as we will never stand before the Lord because of anything we have contributed but because Jesus has paid the price for us to stand before Him...we contribute nothing to gain His favor but He only asks to believe and receive and in doing so we are given a new identity in Him.

Our new identity in Him means we are hidden in Christ and in Him is our new identity. In our new identity we come to know our calling and we must be sure of our calling and the ministry the Lord has given us and follow God in that calling. Out first calling is to know for certain our relationship in Christ and then our highest calling to our husband and then to our children and in that order. My husband always shared this truth and this truth is what made him persevere through all things and follow Christ's calling on his life as a husband, father, grandfather, and servant of Christ... at all costs he lived with the confidence of God in his life...always believing in His grace that overrules all things...our pasts failures and our inefficiencies and shortcomings...that God's grace produces remarkable conclusions to unpromising beginnings. This is truly the life of all believers whose identity is now in Him!!

As women we want to be women after God's own heart and as David heart, "serving our generation by the will of God". To hear and heed the call of God on our lives in serving this next generation....and obey that calling. This is the will of God and I was reading this morning a quote that said, "When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die...and in dying to self God does the unthinkable!" Through our lives and serving our families often means we must first die to self but through it is a beautiful refining of our own hearts...we first bring blessings to them and through this we bring blessings to the world, this was seen in Abraham's calling from God. God first got a hold of his heart and through him his family was blessed and then the world. The LORD describes His priorities for Abraham, "I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him" Genesis 18:19. We read here that Abraham's primary calling was to teach truth to his household....to his wife, children, grandchildren and this is our first ministry as well. By being faithful to God and His Word Abraham and his descendants would bring blessings to themselves and to the world. No matter the past failures God's grace can overrule all setbacks and bring amazing works of new beginnings...and we remember this work of God in Abraham's son Jacob's life and in his grandson Joseph's life, just to name a couple of people of faith who have gone home before us. The workings of men have no affect on the workings of God in a persons life...for with 'Christ all things are new' and today is always the day of salvation, the day of new beginnings...a new identity given in Him.

As I think of putting the practice of the Word of God in our families and in our lives I think of Abraham. The foundation of the nation of Israel was built upon a few generations of men who loved God and who lived by faith. As God first called Abraham to 'go' to a new land and leave Ur, he would go to a foreign land that the Lord led him to travel to...he would establish new things in his heart and in the lives of his family. This is true of our lives today..as we follow God...as men follow this calling and as women come by their side as his wife Sarah, 'without fear or trembling whose daughters we are if we do the same". In our flesh it is impossible for a man to lead and lead spiritually and it is the same for a woman that in her flesh she cannot possible follow her husband but only by the spirit can this union which God has ordained work beautifully together but each needs more of the Lords help each and every day. He takes us to new places and does a new work in our hearts and in the hearts of our families and others around us as we recognize our need for Him as we pray more and more that, "I have a great need for Christ, and I have a great Christ for my need" ~ Charles Spurgeon...because our identity is now in Him.

We read in Hebrews 11 of this family and extended family. Faithful men, women and children that followed God. We think that these were extraordinary people since God felt it important that we read about them and we think that they must have been great saints who had great favor with God. How we think that Abraham must have been so great a man of God to receive the Promise and that this man's life of faith could never be me? But, as a faithful follower of God, we also read the scriptures and we see the history of this family and the many trials, setbacks, the jealously, slavery, deceit...the famine that comes, rape and even murder...all they endured through the many problems this family had and the many afflictions...they endured because their identity was now in Him.

However, in the many blessings and testings...a legacy of faith always brought them back to their God. Abraham began this legacy of faith as God called him to come out of Ur and to walk with God. God built him and God built his family and his family passed a life of faith down from generation to generation as he seen his identity was now in Him.

It is true that you hear so much good out of a life when a person goes home with Christ as many people share their memories and thoughts with you. One thing that many have shared with me is their great desire to pass on a godly inheritance, a legacy lived for Christ passed to their children and grandchildren. Many have asked questions and realize more and more that this is the highest calling they have that as they leave this earth someday they will know that the greatest thing they could ever leave behind that is also eternal is the assurance of faith given to their children and grandchildren. Nothing is more important or more rewarding. So often the most important things that God has for us to do are the hardest but they reap the most rewards and the results are eternal and nothing is more rewarding than knowing you are training up another generation for Christ and for souls will be with Him for all eternity! How often though, does our mundane responsibilities that life brings make it so easy to forget how important this calling really is. ..but we can consider all that we do Gods intended purposes for us as we see our identity in Him.

My husband found the Lord and never looked back and this calling became etched upon his heart and always on the forefront of his mind. Following God first, wherever he was led, at whatever cost, through many afflictions and victories. The legacy of faith is eternal and it was what he desired as his first ministry in being a Christian and devoted fully to Christ. . Sharing Gods truths and teaching our family in Word and example and how to love and serve the LORD all the days of our lives. Abraham did not know where he was going but he obeyed God and went, and this was Gods Word for Randy that we held on to in bringing him to different cities to live and finally to Richmond Va in December 1996. He simply went leaning on the promises of God, walking by faith, knowing the path He pursued was God's not his own. His service to God in Richmond then began 2 years later and through his devotion to God he greatly influenced our family's faith, leading by example, leading us all in Christ.

His love for the LORD led him to serve his family and the church for many years until the LORD took him home and he now is part of the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us all...and we all continue in the things we have learned from each of them as all their lives have much to teach each of us as we continue to take their baton and run the race that God has put before each of us.

As Abraham, he left a city that he knew, to follow God and live a life of faith...with his eyes always looking for a city whose builder and maker is God...his eyes on heaven. It has been a glorious life lived with my husband and I am most thankful for the godly legacy he left behind as I think of Mother's Day and the opportunity we all have to pour the Truth of Gods Word in the lives of those around us. His godly legacy continues in the lives of others as it is important to glean from one another.... and I carry it in my heart mostly...to continue to follow the Lord, serving Him with all my heart soul and mind and teaching others all the things that God has taught us as this was his prayer. This is my prayer for our family and our church body and all he knew...as it was his prayer each day. His greatest desire was to etch on others hearts - his children's, grandchildren's and other's, the truths of God that would far outlive him because his identity was found in Him alone.

Life becomes less complicated when we know our priorities and we walk in them. Wherever we are we are influencers for Christ...and we have a role in building the next generation for Christ. We are spiritual father's and mother's to all God brings in our life. This calling begins in our homes and then in the church. To know our calling, to share the Word and Truths of who Christ is. ..our calling is now affirmed through our new identity in Him.

As a Christian woman I remembering being set free from the worlds lies and lies of the enemy when I grew to understand the importance God placed on my calling as a wife and mother and the great fulfillment I began to find in these roles that God had given me. To come by my husbands side and to fit in to His plans as the scriptures tell us. This required a refining of my own heart. The Lord showed me each day that my relationship with my husband was parallel to my relationship with God and the importance of maintaining my relationship with God each day that then would overflow in my relationship with my husband. After my first priority being God, my husband was next. God blessed my obedience each time as I was learning more and more that nothing was right if these relationships weren't first right and this was so true with Randy. He often shared with many, that a husband and wife and God are in a circle and everyone else is outside this circle. There must be a strong bond of love and unity continually worked on...and everything after will fall in order. Next being the children but there is nothing more important to the children than to see our unity in love and faith...a triple cord with God and each other that cannot be easily broken.

As a new mom I struggled with this as we would look back. So easily in the busyness of life we can get caught up in over extending ourselves to our children first and our husbands are sitting on the side lines. We have so much more to give our children when we are first fulfilled in the roles we have been given by God towards our husbands...these are the eternal works and often the ones we don't see fruit of immediately but our example in the love we have for our husbands and our children as Titus 2:4-5 teaches us eventually this bears good fruit beginning with a refining first in our own hearts as we embrace our new identity in Him.

As we embrace our first calling as a child of the Most High we will want to serve and honor the Lord and glorify Him alone all the days of our lives. That is where we will find our purpose first. If we are single moms then Christ will also be our Husbands and our All. As mothers He will give wisdom and discernment and serving our families is one of the ways we will be serving and glorifying Jesus. As we trust in God and seek Him through His Word and through prayer we will have all that we need...and much more...even more than seeking all the books ever written on the subject. An obedience to His Word He blesses and fulfills our hearts as women. It is hard to even understand at times the amazing privilege we have been given as mothers to shape a soul for Christ in that our children and grandchildren will live in all eternity and that we have been entrusted by the Lord for this....this is a great reward and privilege we see when our identity is found in Him.

Part of my assignment as a mom and grandmother is to pass on the things of God to those growing up around me....and to continue to encourage those God has put around me...those children I have and those spiritually speaking who God has brought on my path...as we all who claim the name of Christ are Mother's and/or spiritual Mother's to those God has brought in our life. To declare through the remarkable opportunities God gives us all whose identities are in Him...to share of the powerful actions of Almighty God to all those listening.

Building a lasting legacy, a spiritual legacy, begins with our choice to follow Christ. It is a call of peace and restoration to all who are far from God. And if you are a Christian, still He says to us, come nearer. Come closer to the God who loves you. The way is open to you...it is not found in religion or in the 'outer court'....but in the 'Holiest of Holies' entered by the blood of Jesus. This spiritual legacy begins as you recognize your need for Him...and the moment you accept Him and claim the power in the blood of Christ on the cross...this blessed and unfailing love 'lets you draw near in full assurance of faith' and you become complete in Him and receive an eternal inheritance with a new identity in Him.

This is the first calling. To believe and claim His enabling grace. To be a part of the household of God, having first found a home for your weary heart....that guarantees your identity in Him.....

"This is all that is eternal. This springs from the life that is now within a heart. Eternal Life is given, so that you and many too will live forever.....how vast, how glorious, is the work of any soul that has Eternal Life. The words, the godly influence, go on through the ages forever."

"FOREVER , O LORD, Your Word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations" Psalm 119:89-90......FOREVER, as those who follow the Word, they too will endure forever as well...because you Promise all those who call on Your name and believe...that their new identity is in You and You alone.....forever!

Michelle A. Guerra