There was a man sent from God

Joh 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
What a statement. I want this to be said of me. Even more I want this to be true of me. John was a man sent from God. The "from God" literally means from beside God. John's place his point of origin was the side of God. Interesting that this verbiage is used later of the Holy Spirit Himself.

I get this picture in my head of John, having been filled with the Spirit from the womb, living his whole life in the presence of the Father. Dwelling in the holy presence that was his place, his home. Then one day the Father says, "John go to the Jordan river and say everything I tell you to say. I will bring you back home eventually but I want you to talk to the people about Jesus" so John went, but his place, his home, was the presence of Father.

This was John's confidence, this was John's authority, this was John's ministry plan. He would go and be a witness to the one He knew so well.

The angel Gabriel said something like this to John's own father, "I am the angel Gabriel who stands in the presence of God"

John and Peter were marked with this; they stood before the elders in the temple and it was said, "they noted that these men had been with Jesus"

I want this - I want to be the "man sent from God" and it occurs to me that I cannot be that until I, like John inhabit the "side of God". How can I be sent from the side of God if I am not there. I must be defined by my nearness to Father. I must be shaped by my nearness to Father. Then and only then can I be sent from the side of God.

So my prayer is Father set my identity in you and you alone.

This will be my identity, this will be my authority, this will be my plan of ministry. I will be the man sent from God.