Carved

It is so easy for me to join in one of the largest lies told in the church these days, "I'll pray for you." One of the ways that I try to keep from that is by keeping prayer cards to file through. I wish that I could say that I pray for as many of them each day as I hope to. But still, having index cards that stay on my desk or fit in my wallet help me get there. Tonight as I was praying I came across a card for a friend of mine who's in ministry. He's a man that God has restored, but He was restored through a painful process and time of restoration. And like many of us, the fall always beginning with forgetting who we are. Though He is currently back in ministry, the top of his card is for a greater understanding of his identity in Christ and learning to rest in Christ. As I prayed for him I began to shift my prayers. Not from what the desire was, but for who it was for. As I prayed for him I began to think of all the times that I forget what God speaks over me and how vast His love for me truly is. For that is the identity of everyone who is truly found in Christ. We belong to our Abba, and He loves us. He loves us now, not as we will one day be. As I prayed I began to think of three things that often refocus my shift onto who God is, and as a result, who I am. In Isaiah God tells us that He has engraved our names upon the very palms of His hands (Is. 49:16). The creator of all things, He who needed no improvement carved upon His hands my name. Your name. He placed the names of His beloved a place that would be seen. He didn't put our names on his back, or behind his arm. But upon the very palms that formed the Adam are found the names of all who are formed new through the second Adam, Christ. As I continued to pray and allow the Holy Spirit to remind me of the love that is mine in Christ Jesus another portion of Scripture was brought to mind. The prophet Zephaniah writes, "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." (Zeph 3:17) God rejoices over me, over you. He doesn't look at us and think of how we could be better children, He sings over us. As a loving father would sing to sleep a scared child.

So often I can look at my identity in Christ and my ability to rest in Him and see something other than the love shown here. And when we forget who our Father is we don't understand who we are. We can focus on the fact that Abba God has adopted us into His family. But if we don't know who the Father is, we aren't sure if His adoption is as good as we're told. So look to the Father, see His love. See your own name carved upon the hands of God Himself. Allow His love to quite you so that you may hear His song sung over you. The song that you are not left alone, hear the verse of His protection, be washed in the chorus His love. For when we allow ourselves to be in the quiet places with God, when we give Him the time to do this. Then we shall be reminded of who we are, for it is in these times that we are reminded who's we are.