THE PROCESS IN FINDING YOUR IDENTITY II

Saul lost his kingship because in the hour when the people were anxious for him to move into battle, he lost touch with reality of who he was and why he was anointed king. He moved out of his anointing as king when he acted as a priest by offering in hopes to gather the people unto him to fight the Philistines before the Philistines could attack them. (1 Samuel 13:8-14)

In this mistake of identity (1 Samuel 15) Saul disobeyed God’s command to kill everything in the battle against the Amalekites. He brought the king back as a hostage and brought back sheep and oxen to offer as sacrifice to the Lord. Now, he lost his anointing as king. He feared man more than God and forgot that he was responsible only to God as the leader of Israel, not to the people.

“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward …” (1 Samuel 16:13) To be anointed is to be specifically separated unto God and for His purpose. God anointed David because of his attitude of heart. “…For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

But the process of David becoming a king had only begun. Let’s look at the difference between Saul and David as they each had to face the crisis point in their lives between identifying and trusting on the God of power.

After the anointing had taken place, the Spirit fell upon David to form a new identity in him. David was not born a king; he would have to be formed into a king. He grew up as a shepherd and now the Spirit would form within him a new self-image.

The Spirit is poured out upon man to give him the identity of the Spirit, but it is only possible for those who have the attitude of heart like David, who was not attached to his self-image nor limited by it. David yielded his flesh to the will of God so that he could be formed into His image, the King of Kings.

As David came to the camp, he was a new man already. To all Israel present David magnified the strength of his God. David’s confrontation with Goliath did not cause a crisis in his life, because his self-image was in the strength of God and because of that he saw the situation in the Spirit.

“Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26)

Because of David’s attitude, he did not see Goliath’s size nor the possibility of failure on the part of the armies of God. He saw only as the Spirit of God wanted him to see. That vision came through the image formed by the Spirit of God which had already established the ruling ability in David to recognize the hour and to take possession of that which was his to take.

“Then David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:32) David, the young man without experience or maturity of years destroyed Goliath’s identity.

“… You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD …” (1 Samuel 17:45)

David said to Goliath that he fought as a soldier but that he, David was not a soldier, he had no skill and he did not pretend that he was something he was not. He knew that his strength made no difference. He took on the identity of the Lord, in whose name he fought. He became one with the name. He was no longer a shepherd but was a king. We will no longer have identity crises when we identify ourselves with our anointing and the One who anoints us.

Before people recognize us for our outward appearance and position, we will first have to become our new identity on the inside. David was king even though by outward appearances, he was still clothed as a shepherd boy. He was already changed from within.

In His Love,
      Sigi

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