In my last post I introduced the idea of a spiritual GPS (God’s Positioning System). I think there are some two key functions of this GPS: one function about identity, the other about location.
What about identity? Who are we? We need to know from His word that we are His children by virtue of receiving Jesus in the new birth.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: John 1:12 (NKJV)
In our language rife, with cultural baggage, we tend to say we ‘accepted’ Christ. In reality He accepted us and enacted our salvation when we submitted to His Lordship. At the moment of our conversion we became a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and were moved from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14 (NKJV)
However, most of us still struggle with identity after conversion. Our battle is in our mind and heart. When we use God’s Positioning System we can embrace and believe the reality of what happened, no matter how we feel, and declare this truth to ourselves – ‘I am a new creation. I have been bought with a price and live in Jesus kingdom under His love.’ When this declaration moves from our minds to our hearts it becomes reality in our lives. If/when this reality begins to fade in our lives we simply return to declaring this truth to ourselves.
Speaking God’s truth into our lives is well established in scripture. Moses commanded the children of Israel to do it, Yahweh commanded Joshua to do it, David practiced it and Paul called us to practice it (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16).
What about location? Where has He placed us? Just like identity, we use His word to locate ourselves in Him. Look at the words of Paul and his desire to ‘be found in Him.’
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; Philippians 3:9 (NKJV)
We need to be found in Jesus (for example there are many ‘in Him’ references in Ephesians). Where we are physically is far less significant than Who we are in spiritually! While physical location and many other things are important we are called to discern these areas of our lives from the place of being in Jesus. When we get Identity and Location right we have a solid foundation for the rest of our walk. How is your GPS working?
Good post. I am interested in what you think about decerning our physical locations. I often find myself restless but I think it is more about growing in my rest in identity that’s manifesting in a desire for physical change.
I think He calls/sends us to physical locations and key relationships. Acts 17:26 says He appoints boundaries for people groups. In Acts 13-14 we see Paul (Saul then) and Barnabas both with an apostolic call but it was in ministering together and sowing into the spiritual life of the church at Antioch that they were commissioned and released fully into their apostolic calls.