A desire to be free, peaceful and happy is a universal longing. Sometimes what gets in the way of our true freedom is a set of lies that holds us hostage and causes us to pursue the wrong plans.

One day “Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Mark 8: 27-29

In the Gospel of Matthew St. Peter is quoted as saying “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” Matthew 16:16-17

The question to you today is “who do you say that you are?”

If you had to answer this question with just one sentence what would you say?

Sounds like such a simple question, but LIES can obscure the TRUTH, and when they do your true identity will be concealed and your potential will be limited.

At Baptism we acquire an identity as children of God and disciples of Jesus.

Is your Christian identity central to who you are?

Are you living your Christian identity by witnessing to the love of Jesus?

At the summit of my dissatisfaction with my life twenty years ago was a problem it took me years to figure out.

The problem I ultimately realized was that I was confused about my true identity and I was pursuing the wrong dream.

My identity was very connected with my career goals. I thought ‘I am an aspiring business woman and I will realize my potential when I reach the executive office’, but that was what I was being conditioned to think.  It was not a true reflection of my identity.

God interrupted my life and caused me to begin searching for the true meaning of my life. God uses simple ways to give people a nudge and don’t be surprised if it’s God using this post to ask you to reflect on what your true identity and mission in life is.

As I began to search for an answer to ‘what am I really on earth to do?’ my husband helped me by asking me this question: “Who do you belong to?”

This was one of his favourite questions and truth be told it bothered me. I knew the answer he wanted was “You! I belong to you!” but deep down inside I felt like I was violating a deep truth within me.

Time passed and I continued to search for purpose and meaning in my life and out of the blue came my husband’s favourite question: “Who do you belong to?”

And that day I smiled and said knowing I was proclaiming the Truth within me: “I belong to Jesus!”

My husband smiled back and said “I know.”

I realize now that my source of dissatisfaction was that I was not living out my Christian identity. I was NOT living like a disciple of Jesus. I wasn’t actively searching for God’s Will in my life. I was living for ‘myself’ in search of pleasure, money, power and excitement.

Now you may wonder what’s wrong with “pleasure, money, power and excitement”?

Well the problem was all of it was in the way of God’s plan and purpose for me!

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Luke 16:13

My spiritual journey began when I realized that I belonged to Jesus and I wanted to please Him.

The Scriptures say: “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29

That’s what I did I began to search for God. Unfortunately though I didn’t do this until I found myself in a state of distress.

“When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.” Deuteronomy 4:30

“For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.” Deuteronomy 4:31

This was my experience.   I didn’t search for God until I was in distress.  Jesus was merciful to me, a confused, self-centered person. He drew me close to His heart and began teaching me many things.

In the Scripture above from the Book of Deuteronomy there is a reference to a covenant or a divine promise. The Old Covenant was established through Moses. To Moses God gave the Law (The Ten Commandments). God wrote the Law on tablets of stone and told Moses to proclaim His promise to bless or punish His people based on their obedience to Him: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse–the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.” Deuteronomy 11: 26-28

The Old Covenant between God and His people failed because people were disobedient to God, so God in His infinite mercy chose to establish a New Covenant through His Only Son Jesus Christ. The New Covenant would allow for two important things to occur: 1. God would wash away the sins of His people through the sacrifice of Jesus and 2. God would give His people a new heart and a new Spirit so that they could love as He loves and be obedient to Him.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel  36: 25-27

At Baptism this promise is fulfilled.  We are blessed to receive the Holy Spirit of God as we become followers of Jesus.  Yet you may wonder with so many baptized Christians in the world, why is there still so much sin?

My answer is this:

Too many Christians have forgotten that their true identity is that they are disciples of Jesus Christ and that they belong to Jesus.

A casual identity does not change your life, but an identity that you are passionate about changes everything!

At the core of my Christian identity is a focus on the critical importance of prayer and intercession. So many souls need prayer. When we pray for them, we intercede for them calling upon the mercy and grace of Our Lord Jesus.

I pray in particular for criminals because I figure they need prayers the most!

There are so many people who have yet to realize that they belong to Jesus. They are pursuing many lies like ‘money will make me happy”; “the person with the most toys wins!”…. What do people with lots of stuff win? Wealth accumulation is not the path of God’s blessing!

All of us need to question what is our true identity. And if we want to be God’s children then we must also understand God’s true identity.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4:16

“If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” 1 John 4:20

Every human being is a creation of God, but we don’t become children of God until we choose to do God’s will.

“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” 1 John 3:10

We can receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism and then reject that Divine Spirit by sinning and offending God. Every day we should pray for the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts so that we can have the grace to honour God with our lives. Our relationship with Jesus requires that we know Him and desire to become like Him. God wills for us to become like His Son Jesus. That means we have to strive to be loving, merciful, forgiving, charitable, just, kind, patient, wise, courageous and willing to sacrifice in the service of God and man.

Does this sound impossible to you?

If we had to accomplish this on our own, I would say ‘not possible’.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

St. Peter asked Jesus a question you might like to hear the answer to.

Peter said to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Matthew 19: 27:30

Jesus died to cause a ‘revolution’ on earth. The word ‘revolution’ comes from the latin word ‘revolvere’ which means to ‘turn around’. The revolution that Jesus died to spark is all about people getting ‘new hearts’, hearts capable of the love and mercy that Jesus is capable of.

God wants to change our hearts, day-by-day, moment-by-moment.

I remember thinking years ago there a few people in my life that I do not want to forgive. I felt justified not forgiving them because they had hurt me and they had not said ‘I am sorry!’

To help me Jesus encouraged me to create some quiet time with Him and reflect on His Word. I learned the sacred meaning of these words: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

I found myself reflecting over and over again on these Words:

“Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

Jesus spoke these words at the time He was crucified.

The more I reflect on the Passion of Christ, the more Jesus changes my heart and the more He changes my heart, the more I want to be like Him, forgiving and merciful.

Every day @ the Time Jesus died for us, 3pm, I stop to remember the Passion of Christ. As I remember my Saviour Jesus being crucified for me and you and all sinners, I hear Him say, “Father forgive them” and as I want so much to become more and more like my Beloved Lord I pray the same words for those who have hurt me and others.

I encourage you to do three things:

1. Create some quiet time with Jesus and listen to His Voice speaking to your conscience and reflect quietly on His Word as spoken in the Scriptures and contemplate the Passion of Christ every day.
2. Give Jesus the highest place of honour in your life. Trust Him and pray for His grace to embrace His Holy Will in all that you do.
3. Join the prayer movement that is uniting Christians all over the world in a moment of prayer and remembrance of the Passion of Christ @ the Time Jesus died for us, 3pm (in our local time zones). At this time pray for all souls, especially for those most in need of God’s mercy. As you stand at the Cross of Jesus daily remembering how much He suffered to save you acknowledge that YOU BELONG TO JESUS!

Lord Jesus Christ, YOU are my heart’s desire! Sweet Jesus, my Lord and Saviour, help me to be all that You want me to be. I love You Lord above all things and above all people, and I love YOU Lord within all things and within all people.

“Let it be done to me according to Your Word”. Luke 1:38