Just for a moment I want to speak on IDENTITY CRISIS

This place where it seems women are the most easily besot to finding themselves in, for a myriad
of reasons.
This identity crisis place, I speak of, is found in the married and the unmarried, the abused and the
un-abused. The Christian and the non-Christian.
However, I speak to the Christian at this time because you have a positional authority to get you –
not through an identity crisis – but can keep you from one!
This identity crisis seems to strike both man and women however today i am speaking to the
woman kind. So if you are a woman please say amen

Allow me to be clear –
The world has decided that if it chooses
The mind-over-matter -positive-thinking route,
A person can overcome anything.
Or ‘if I can control the situation, ‘we can beat this thing’
Alas – it is futility – meaning the wrestling
Is a fulltime job and sometime folks get testy because things are not going ‘their’ way.

Allow me to define an identity crisis so we all are on the same page:
A person who finds themselves walking in life where ‘everything’ seems to be in: Upheaval.
That may include finances- job- children- spouse- loneliness- unloved- unappreciated and the list
goes on…. It seems anything is able to trigger an identity crisis these days.
The news, the usher at church that couldn’t sit you in the back, but only had the front seat
available so couldn’t even pay attention to the service because you didn’t get your way.
Seriously, any unintended consequence seems to be a trigger for delving into the depths of
despair and so defining the Identity Crisis : You lose/or have lost the conscience awareness of
“who you are’ and ‘to whom you belong’
Now we are going to hit the headlines quickly and not do a study on this.
So THIS IS YOUR CHECKLIST, should you find Yourself in the middle of an Identity Crisis:

You are the only voice you will believe – so you must speak to yourself on this issue.
Because if you are in this position – you have already ruled out others and how they cannot
understand “how bad it is”
You belong to the Creator Of Heaven And Earth and He is the One who created you and knew
you before you were born and still, He created you.
That makes you valuable to Him.
The plans He has for you are “good and not evil”. Which means His plans. Which means
perhaps your plans are messing things up or others plans… either way – you must have a personal
relationship that is confident in His plans for you. That even when things are ‘messed up’ – you
have direct access to re-enter a place of peace in the midst of the mess because of Him.
God does not destroy or mame his children to teach them a lesson. There are a thousand
things that can lead to the messes we are in – and 99% are our ignorance or our disobedience.
Even the trees must have strong and mighty winds to blow against them to make them lean into
the wind and stand instead of being uprooted.
You have peace with God. Meaning you can enter to His presence and be received in His courts
because of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one needs to pray for you when you have full audience with
Him all day – every day and in literally everyplace. This is your resting place, He already knows
everything and created you to walk forward with Him.
Calling all of your friends and family to review your distress and actually make things worse if
you choose not to go to God with the issues you are facing. Trusting God means literally trusting
Him to deliver you, heal you and get you through everything you will face without someone else.
A testimony is not that you never faced an issue in your life – but when you face an issue – God
took you to the other side where you relied on Him for the outcome – not your idea of what that
should look like.
‘Prayer’ is not you begging or asking for things! When you find yourself begging or asking for
your way of what you think is right there is no trust. If you need to know the outcome before it
happens.
His plans are already for good and not evil… a future and a hope and your hope is secure if you
know the word of God that shows that to you.
The Word Of God is your best friend. Not because you can quote it but because you understand
it from Genesis to Revelation. These accounts with man and God are to reveal to you who God is,
what He does for those He loves and what your role is in the relationship with Him. This is your
sure foundation that He already knows you and has your way of escape from the problems of life
so you are able to keep moving forward with confidence.
You need the Holy Spirit in your life. There literally is no other way to ever have confidence and
assurance that the Love of God is more than just a story written on a page. When you trust in God,
with the infilling of the Holy Spirit, He will renew your eyes to see more of Him and comprehend
His Word. When you pray in the Spirit, He will pray the words you never thought of and bless your
prayers because of your love for Him and trust in him.
God is Love. There is no love without Him.
Love needs to be redefined to who God IS to comprehend what we are feeling.
The Love Of God is for you Eternally – not temporally – meaning this life on earth. There is a
hereafter.
But you are to desire to fulfill your life on this earth.
The days on earth are not counted for each of us as a matter of issue. But what we do while we
are here is the issue. Each of us may have a different number of days on the Earth. God is in
charge of our Life and its length. There should be no concern or wonder on why or how long when
we trust in Him for our Life.
God planned for you to be here these days and these hours. Some of us will live long like Abraham
and Moses and some of us will live short like Jesus.
The key is how you choose to live.
Will you continue in wallowing in your grief
Or
Consider who you are in Christ Jesus
And whom you belong to … When you begin to focus on what Jesus did for you – He took the
mocking and the beating and the berating and the death and overcame them all so you could not
simply go to heaven but to live on this earth an overcoming obstacles-type-of-life that says – “yea,
though I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death I will fear not evil…” Remember that is a
SHADOW of death… Christ Jesus already took death off the table and you will enter immediately
into Eternity WITH HIM because of what He has done! Again, what do you have to fear? Nothing!
For, when you recall to Whom you belong…
The Creator Of Heaven And Earth…
The Master Of The Universe…
The One who knew you before you were ever born… and still created you, Loves YOU and wants
you’re here…
The One, who is the only one that gives life…
The One who is your Deliverer…
The One that made your steps order by Him… so you know they will be good in the end..
The One that loves you more than any person but
Believes in you so much and trusts you so much
That He has you here for this time and season
For your benefit and the benefit of others.
You matter – God made you to matter to us.
You matter right now. You matter to those you’ve not even considered and those you know.
In fact, your presence impacts those around you that you do and do not even know.
YOU and your relationship with God is a valuable asset on this Earth.
Consider THIS as a reminder you how YOUR Presence Is Requested here on Earth (even when you
face life and death issues)…
When we follow up with the account of Paul on his appeal to Caesar to address his case. We find
him in the deep storm in Acts 27: 21. We find Paul addressing those in charge of the ship in this
worst-case scenario account, being tossed in the storm on the ship. As you read this account, we
see an Angel of the Lord told Paul what was to come. For Us, this would be the Holy Spirit in our
everyday life because Jesus Christ said YOU AND I NEED HIM, and we have studied The Word
(Bible) and comprehend His leading.
In this situation, we see Paul did not consider his own demise (as the Angel said “all those that sail
WITH you” – meaning they would only be saved Should they STAY WITH Paul. Those on the ship –
slave and free, that would remain with the one-that-had-a-destiny-tied-to-his-survival would be
saved. Paul entered into the complete Word the Angel delivered and saw the blessing was for all
who would choose to be saved in the situation. Thinking not of his own situation but focusing on
the Word of the Lord to lead him through the situation they were in the middle of to the other
side of the turmoil.
We follow along in this account to see the men of the ship were about to let down the skiff to
escape the tossing ship (verse 30) and Paul immediately addressed the Centurion in charge of him
and warned that all lives would be saved If they stayed on board (paraphrased). This account of
Paul thinking about more than just himself in the middle of a crisis is astounding! Paul took hold
of what the Word of the Lord through the Angel said and made sure that all lives had the
opportunity to survive as well!
This account continues. Where the men had then been fasting for fourteen days in the storm and
Paul told them to eat and nourish themselves and Paul took bread, broke it, blessed it and ate of it
and then men ate. (verse 34-35) The communion is so integral to the relationship we have with
God. The action alone before the men brought courage to the forefront during the storm, before
the next steps that would be required! After eating, they sent all of the food overboard to lighten
the ship in the storm as needed to survive a little longer.
As the ship hits the place where two seas come together and hits even harder than the storm they
have been in for so long, beginning to break apart the ship; The commanders of the ship were
giving the order to kill the slaves (as custom) before departing the ship themselves to try to
survive. Remember, there are 275 persons on the ship! However, Paul, again reigns in the
command so that everyone has the opportunity to survive as the Angels Word said was possible!
All were able to reach the Island of Malta. (verse 44)
You and I have a unique position in Christ Jesus and all He has given to us!
We may be going through what WE consider dire, yet others around us have the ability to walk
along with OUR deliverance when we see more than ourselves alone are impacted by our
situation! They can also experience walking into living when they would not have otherwise,
should YOU NOT BE THERE!
The final portion to share with you continues into Chapter 28 and the first few verses. Paul is
gathering firewood and a viper takes hold of his hand. (verses 1-6) and the natives to the Island
assumed he was bad “because the viper that would kill a man bites him and he should die because
of it”. Yet, there opinion of good and bad does NOT hold water! Paul did not experience any side
effects of the bite! He shook off the viper and continued without complaint! Why!
He had the Word of God on HIS LIFE! He knew he WOULD survive and see Caesar as appointed by
God!!
In fact, should you continue in the account Paul visits a sick leader of the island father and prays
for him and the man is healed!
The confidence and the continuous path of Paul is to do what HE was called to accomplish on this
Earth. His days and accounts and encounters with the Lord God Almighty are written down to
encourage YOU to never lose heart, never give up and always seek the Lord, Trust the Lord and
know you have a mission from God to fulfill and YOU WILL BE HERE UNTIL IT IS COMPLETE when
you hear His Word on it! Others need YOU here – even unbelievers – to walk through to the your
blessing from the other sides of the hard days! Remember – YOUR PRESENCE IS CREATED BY
GOD AND NOW REQUESTED BY HIM TO FULFILL YOUR GLORIOUS CALL THAT WILL – I SAY WILL –
IMPACT OTHERS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ON THIS EARTH!

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Just for a moment I want to speak on IDENTITY CRISIS