The Identity/Purpose Connection : Bishop Tony Samuels
There is a direct connection between your identity and your purpose. If you do not learn to walk in your identity, you will not effectively be able to walk in your purpose. When you are walking in your identity, you are walking in true freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from past labels that were based on your behavior; freedom from the opinions and perceptions of others. True freedom is walking in who God has created you to be.
Many have not found their identity because they are walking in, and focused on, what others have labeled them. Identity means: the state or fact of being the same as described. That is amazing! So the next question is, who has the most accurate description of your identity? You have to go back to your Creator, the One who has the original design. Jeremiah 1:5 says, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Notice, before the womb and in the womb was the place that the Lord brought your identity and purpose together.
When we were born into the world, we were separated from our identity and purpose; when we were born again, we were reunited with our Creator, the One that knows our identity and purpose. Look at Ephesians 2:10: We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned our destiny in advance and the good works we would do to fulfill it!
It has to be one of the most challenging things I have seen. God delivers people from an old life (a wrong identity and purpose) that was basically destroying them; then they fight with their new identity and purpose, and would rather go back to the old. I think there is a sense of comfort in something that is known versus something that is unknown, even if it’s wrong. But you have to decide: do you want to live life truly to its fullest? Then you must walk in the new.
Ephesians 4:22-24: And he has taught you to let go of the lifestyle of the ancient man] the old self-life, which was corrupted by sinful and deceitful desires that spring from delusions. Now it’s time to be made new by every revelation that’s been given to you. And to be transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ-within as your new life and live in union with him! For God has re-created you all over again in his perfect righteousness, and you now belong to him in the realm of true holiness.
It’s so important that you stick with the Lord. It’s in and through your relationship with Him that you will walk in your true identity. You are probably asking, why have we not discussed purpose? Well, purpose is actually the easy part. Because once you begin to walk in your identity (which is what God calls you), and He calls you out of the old and into the new, you almost automatically begin to walk in your purpose. It’s easy to be yourself. Romans 8:28 says: So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfill His designed purpose.
So walk in your identity and fulfill the purpose of God for your life!
