‘His’ Identity Series #6.

Sis, it’s time to wave ‘goodbye’ and close the chapter on this series. But before we go, I want to remind you of where we began with all of this talk of identity and operating out of our original designs… my beautiful, blush pink peony bush. The one I’ve watched faithfully reach, grow, and bloom into something extraordinary every year.

At the beginning of our series, I spoke about reaching, growing, and blooming. I wrote to you about the risk found in the reaching. How Jesus calls us to risk the comfort we find from hiding behind our walls and masks and asking us to respond to the call to reach for Him. How it’s in those still, quiet moments of growth that our roots reach profoundly for the heart of the Father and learn to withstand the storms because they’re wrapped in faithfulness and broken surrender. How it’s this hardship of reaching that brings forth the most beautiful blooms. How this is where we begin to operate within the identity He has so freely given us…

His. 

Now, I want to share with you one of the greatest blessings you’ll ever encounter once your reaching reaches the heart of the Creator.

It’s simple, yet beautiful…much like my peony bush.

Your identity – the identity you’ll find at the Maker’s feet, spending time in His presence and listening to His voice – is one called ‘Beloved’. 

According to Google, Beloved translates to dearly loved, cherished, treasured, prized, esteemed, precious. 

Your identity is that you are dearly loved, cherished, and treasured by God. 

At the beginning of our series, I spoke of blooming… but so did the Creator at the very beginning of time. Let’s dive into Genesis chapter 1, verses 26-27 (NIV), and I’ll show you what I’m talking about;

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

And then I want us to take a look at Genesis chapter 2, verses 7-8 (NIV);

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 

I’m almost done… just one more look at 1 John chapter 4, verse 8 (NIV);

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Your destiny, Sister, from the very beginning of time in the Garden of Eden, was to be an image-bearer of Christ. If you are an image-bearer, if you were created in likeness with the God of the Universe as Genesis chapter 1 tells us, and God encompasses the very definition of love as 1 John chapter 4 illustrates to us, then you were created to love God and be loved by God. 

Be loved. 

Beloved. 

God breathed His own holy breath into the nostrils of man in the Garden of Eden and by doing so, mankind bloomed His image into the world just as you were created to do. Sis, you come from the very breath of God Himself and there is nothing on this earth that could separate you from a love that potent (Romans 8:38). 

When you love someone, you pursue them. 

You listen to them.

You see them and accept them fully as they are and all that they will become. 

You are loved, so dearly. 

That’s why cultivating an intimate relationship with the Creator who intricately created you is the key to living out your identity as His Beloved. When you know someone, you trust what they say to be true. When you draw close to the heart of the Father and spend time at His feet, basking in His presence, you start to believe the words He says over you;

Chosen. 

Redeemed.

Worthy.

Beloved.

When we know the love He has for us, we can choose to believe it, and when we believe it we can receive this undeserved love that He so freely gives to us in His merciful grace. Once we receive this identity as His Beloved, we bloom His image into the world and risk losing the very soul weeds that keep us from a life lived fully in His presence. When we learn to live loved, dearly Beloved, we are able to love others. 

The insecurities and the opinions of those that once mattered begin to shed their snake-like skin to make room for grace-breathed, beautiful truth. The truth that you matter because Jesus chose you to be His. 

Your Heavenly Father is after your heart and everything He does and speaks over you is rooted in love. Take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 2;

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

And you were created to grab hold of that extravagant love that will follow you all the days of your life, and believe it as truth. Sister, you are so dearly loved by Jesus who created you with purpose and intention. Do you think that God would waste His own breath on mankind if He didn’t see a purpose in His creation? You were created to glorify God and spread that glory around with your awkward quirks and amazing gifts. And you cannot do that until you know the heart of the Father and how vast and how deep and how wide His love is for you (Ephesians 3:13). 

You find that love at the feet of Jesus, cultivating an intimate and close relationship with Him and familiarizing yourself with the sound of His voice. 

Beloved, love has and always will be the point and it will always be what changes everything. When we look through the lens of His love, it changes how we see ourselves, how we relate to God and how we interact with the people around us. 

Love changes everything. 

We have the power to be world shapers and changers with the love of Jesus being the driving force of everything we do. With love at the root, planted firmly at the feet of the One who calls you ‘His’. But it begins with our own hearts being surrendered fully to the presence of Jesus in our lives. It starts with putting on this cloak of righteousness that Jesus so freely gives us and walking in the love that we already have access to. 

You just have to receive it from the hands of Jesus who waits expectantly and excitedly for you to make room for His presence in your everyday life. 

 I understand though, that I don’t know your history. I can’t see the deeply rooted soul weeds that are a result of old wounds and painful memories. There are circumstances that you might be facing that I may not ever fully be able to grasp the pain of. All I can tell you is that I have tasted the sweet freedom and the joy that comes from surrendering my brokenness to the Creator, and I have watched Him take the ashes of my past and turn them into something beautiful. 

And it all began with drawing closer to the heart of Jesus and giving Him a chance to move in my life in ways that only the power of the Holy Spirit can. It all changed when I realized that God was after a relationship with me; an authentic, deep, intimate relationship. 

His love truly changed me from the inside out, and it still continues to shape and renew me. 

My biggest prayer over this blog series was that you would walk away having a greater desire to pursue the heart of Jesus and live in His love for you. Sis, I pray that over you even now as you read these words, and I hope that the words of Scripture I’ve cited in this post will be like medicine to your tired, weary soul. I pray you find your place at the feet of Jesus because the reality is that you always have a place at His table.

As we wrap up our identity series, I want to leave you with this truth;

Your identity as a Daughter of the King has never been lost. It has been rightfully reserved for you since the beginning of time. Learning how to cultivate an intimate relationship with the Creator by sitting at His feet and listening to His voice is where your identity as a loved daughter of the King is restored. 

Just like my blush pink Peony bush at the beginning of our series, you were made to reach and bloom in your original design, Beloved. 

You were created to flourish in this life as His and His alone. 

Xoxo, 

Celia

But now, this is what the Lord says—

    he who created you, Jacob,

    he who formed you, Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,

    I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

    they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

    you will not be burned;

    the flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord your God,

    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give Egypt for your ransom,

    Cush and Seba in your stead.

Since you are precious and honored in my sight,

    and because I love you,

I will give people in exchange for you,

    nations in exchange for your life.

Isaiah 43:1-3 (NIV)