I met with a friend yesterday morning for coffee and she used a phrase I cannot shake, she spoke to me about elevated identity. These words pierced me so deeply and have been working on me for the past 24 hours. Elevated identity, it sounds so similar to Paul’s words about us in Ephesians 3 where he says, you are seated in heavenly places with Christ. We are co-heirs with Him. We have been given an elevated identity, not to rule over people, to dominate or dictate, but to do as Jesus did in John 13, knowing who He was and knowing the Father had given Him all things, He got down and washed the disciples feet. The realization of an elevated identity does not puff you up it actually makes you servant of all. It is the people who do not know who they are who want to be served and get puffed up, not those who know who they are. We don’t need a title when we know our elevated identity.

1 Peter 2 calls us a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a people belonging to God. Kings and priests, that is who we are invited to be. However, to know who you are you is seen in what you pursue. Commoners seek gold and silver, mammon and positions, but kings and priests seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness knowing all these things have been given to us (Matthew 6:33). What are you seeking? What are you pursuing? What has your attention, causes you anxiety, makes you feel like a big man or an insignificant man? When we have an elevated identity, we are content no matter what amount we may have for we have met the Man, Jesus the Christ, who is abundance and we know we have access to everything.

Church, if we are going to shift culture, change atmospheres, we must be people who know who we are in our elevated identity. Kings don’t look for money, they are looking for those with wisdom. 1 Kings 10 says, the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon for she heard about his wisdom. Kings and queens have money but they are searching for wisdom. Proverbs 8 says when we pursue wisdom wealth follows. If you want to shift culture you need wisdom for that is what kings are looking for. If you want to change atmospheres as priests of God, you need authority. Authority comes from obedience to the voice of God. When we speak atmospheres shift. Our elevated identity is kings and priests, wisdom and authority, it is time we operate in who we are for we have been sent to shift culture and change atmospheres as our way of serving others. You have been given an elevated identity, come up higher!