Nancy Taylor Tate
What does it mean to live life in identification with the Lord? How do we get there?
My husband shares a fond memory that makes us smile. His oldest daughter was four years old when he was doing construction around the house. His daughter wanted to join in and she wanted her own toolbox. He got her one!
Whenever he worked, she would get her tools out, watch, then do the same. Because of the bond between them, she identified with her dad and his goals, as her own character and talents were developing. Today, she not only has good work ethics, she still has tools and is handy in using them!
Similarly, a place of identification with the Lord is available for those who seek it. It is a place of being, where His heart has become so formed in us that it is now Christ who is seen in us, enabling us to become a witness, or, a sample of Him (Galatians 2:20; Acts 1:8).
As we position ourselves to know the Lord and follow His ways, His heart becomes our heart, His ways, our ways. From that deeper place of experientially knowing Him, we begin to move beyond the facts we know about the Lord into experiencing His life, the very life of Christ, in our life experiences. His thoughts and ways begin to find greater expression through us. Now, in identification with Him, we can act, speak, or pray as the Holy Spirit leads.
As we “follow on to know the Lord,” simply knowing facts about the Lord is not enough. Philippians 2:5 admonishes us to “let this mind be IN you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Within the body of Christ are those who have a deep, inner relationship with the Lord. Their lives are governed not by what they can do and still make it to heaven, but by a desire to know the Lord more, and a deep, inner commitment to walk in His ways. These are the people I want to be a part of!
Quality times of fellowship apart with the Lord and practicing His presence throughout the day, are central to this kind of walk. As we spend time with the Lord, we come to know His heart. As we allow His inner working in our hearts, we become a greater reflection of Him and expression of His heart.
The call of God is always, “Come.” We never outgrow our need for time in His presence. As I cultivate an open and sensitive spirit toward the Lord, my recognition of and appreciation for His presence grows, as I also become more receptive in His presence.
Paul prayed that we would have “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17).
We can pray for this too. As I learn to linger in His presence and become receptive, there comes a Spirit-given impartation into my spirit. I receive divine enabling from the Lord to “be” or “become” a witness of Him. I learn to hear and obey, living a Spirit-led life and a life of integrity.
As I spend time with Him, I am being changed into His image and likeness. As I become more like Him, I understand more deeply who He is, His thoughts, and His ways. From that place, I can begin to identify with Him in my life experiences and in my times of prayer for others.
From that place of identity with Him, He calls us to come further.
“Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.” Song of Solomon 7:11–12
The call is always to “come!” Then, in identification with His heart and purposes, we go with Him—in His nature, character, strength, and authority.
Spiritual authority is something we must qualify for through our own personal relationship with the Lord. We are to live in right relationship with the blood and the cross. The blood relates to repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The cross, to our nature being changed, as we deny ourselves and follow after Him (Colossians 1:14; Matthew 16:24).
When we come to know Jesus not only as our Savior, but the Lord Jesus Christ, and live in submission to His Lordship, He can then entrust us with His authority.
We are to become places marked by the presence of the Lord—places where not only His presence, but His power can find expression. What a glorious calling!
“They that know their God will do exploits.” Daniel 11:32
Not those who have degrees, titles, positions, or money, but those who know their God! This means we can all qualify for God to use us, when and in whatever way He would so desire, as we make ourselves available to Him.
A prayer my dad prayed many years ago has become a very personal prayer for me as well. I have changed the words from “place” to “people” and I have seen heads nod in agreement as I pray, “Lord, if there could be a people in whom You could be who You want to be and do what You want to do, Lord, we are available.”
Today, I invite you to make this commitment to the Lord as well, if it is in your heart to do so.
The closer we grow to the Lord, the more His heart will become our heart and His ways our ways. As faithful witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, like Paul, may we
“press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).