Do you see yourself as the sum-total of your life experiences up to this point, or do you see yourself as God sees you? Do you see yourself as you currently appear to be, or how God has made you to be through the blood of Christ?
We must close the gap between how we see ourselves and how God sees us. The closer we get to His vision and view of who we are, the more Christlike we will become.
This teaching explores our identity in Christ. Knowing who we are is the foundation for effective ministry and balanced spiritual growth. We are saved by believing in Jesus, but we are set free when we think and believe like Jesus.
Understanding our new identity grounds our understanding of who we are in God’s eyes, rather than relying on our own fallen experience or worldly opinions to dictate who we are. The truth is, our identity in Christ is so radically different than what we know about ourselves that it seems almost impossible to believe.
Our past life and experiences have a loud voice. And yet, in Christ our past life is dead. Our sin nature is dead. Even though we see the fruit of our fallen nature manifesting itself in our lives we are to consider ourselves dead to it. This requires a faith that few Christians have attained to and yet it is a vital part of the good news of the gospel.
Who we are is determined by what we believe, not necessarily how we act. What we believe is subject to change according to what voice we allow to speak the loudest in our life. We must all come to the place as believers where God’s Word has the final authority on what we believe about ourselves. To do this we must practice hearing His voice more than all other voices. If we practice this, how we act will change. This can be a real challenge in this day and age.
It is only by faith that we can embrace the reality of our new identity in Christ. We will never be able to figure it out rationally, we simply must accept what God said to be true. It sounds easy, but without renewing our mind it is impossible.
Identity by Faith
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
What does justified mean to you?
In the Bible, “justified” refers to being declared righteous in the sight of God, not based on one’s own merits, but through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s a legal term, implying that God, as the divine judge, acquits the sinner and accepts them as righteous because of their belief in Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
Peace with God in this context is a profound spiritual state of reconciliation and restored relationship to our Heavenly Father. Jesus made a way back to the Father.
It is important to note that this “peace with God” is different from “the peace of God”. Peace with God refers to the fundamental change in a person’s access to, and relationship with God, while peace of God describes the present-day ministry of the Holy Spirit within the believer that assures us of our salvation, and leads and guides us by the unction of Christ’s Spirit. The Peace of God can only be experienced by those who have Peace with God. John 14:27
Did Jesus die FOR you? Or AS YOU?
Technically, Jesus died for the Father. He died AS YOU.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
What does it mean to be a new creature in Christ?
Do you have to feel like a new creature before you start believing it?
No! We are not to be moved by feelings
What are the “Old things that have passed away”?
Our carnal nature, old habits, old sins, old behaviors, and old mindsets.
How can you tell that they are passed away?
Only by faith. Because God said so. If we will just believe it and take God’s word for it, it will soon begin to bear the fruit of that belief in our lives.
It’s not about ceasing the outward actions of sinning but changing one’s belief about sin itself and dying to the fallen nature that we inherited through Adam. Actions follow what we believe.
Romans 6:1-6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
What does “our old man was crucified with Him” mean to you?
What does it mean for us to die to sin?
Romans 8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We Must Fight for Our Identity Because Satan is fighting to keep us from understanding it.
Spiritually speaking, we are in a war, but what are we fighting for? Who and what are we fighting against? Where do the battles take place when fighting this war? These are questions we all must answer for ourselves if we are to have any chance of victory.
People are not our enemy. I know it can seem so at times. People will inevitably come against us, but they are being motivated and used by spiritual beings and forces that can’t normally be seen with the human eye. Our battle is spiritual. Spiritual warfare is not a conflict between men but warfare against a spiritual realm that relentlessly influences the thoughts and values of mankind. There are unseen spiritual beings and spiritual forces on Earth that are determined to persuade men to think and believe anything other than the truth.
Satan and all of the evil spirits that are under his control fight against people to prevent them from accepting Jesus as their savior and Lord. If he loses that battle, he then shifts his focus to fighting against the discovery of who we are in Christ Jesus. He attacks our identity. Our mind is where the battles take place, and our souls (mind, will, and emotions) are Satan’s target.
He can’t gain governance of our souls in a fair fight, and he knows it. He has already been defeated. So, he must use deception, distractions, and subtle manipulation to trick us into handing over our souls willingly. History tells us that he has been very successful in this tactic.
We mature as Christians only to the level that our identity is understood and our souls are sanctified. Satan works overtime to prevent that from happening. Our soul is his ultimate target because the condition of our soul determines the source of our identity.
If the devil can shake us in our faith, he can make us question and even doubt our identity. He tries to keep us at a certain level of immaturity to prevent us from ever discovering who we are in Christ. It requires a developed faith to maintain our identity. However, even mature Saints can be deceived into letting go of their convictions and dropping their shield of faith. When faith is weak, our strength is small.
Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.
Faith is not a tool for us to get our needs met, our bodies healed, our bank accounts full, or bail us out of trouble. Faith is a perspective. It is a very narrow way of seeing, thinking, believing, behaving, and speaking. It is impossible to please God without this perspective.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
It pleases God when we fight for what He has done for us.
Our primary call, once we are born again, is to be renewed in our minds and sanctified in our souls. Our spiritual growth and progress depend on our soul’s sanctification. We are triune beings created in the image of God. We are a spirit being. We have a soul, and we dwell in a physical body. The soul (mind, will, and emotions) is the seat of authority in our three-part being. It makes up our personality and is the seat of our God given sovereignty. Our ability to say “NO” to God proves that we are sovereign.
Man was designed by God to be completely governed by the spirit, not the soul. When man ate of the tree, sin entered the world, and man then became governed by his soul. God gives us the Holy Spirit at the new birth. When we submit our souls completely to the will of the Holy Spirit, we return to His original design. The soul always has, and will always have, the final say over our spirit and body. This is why we must cast the crown of our sovereignty at God’s feet daily and say, “not my will, but yours be done.” As our soul goes, so does our walk with Christ.
The Holy Spirit will not force or coerce us into submission. He will patiently wait until we choose to submit our souls willingly. Without a submitted soul, we will never fully understand our true identity and will be unable to fulfill all that God has called us to do and become. This is why spiritual growth must be our top priority.
The sanctification of our soul is not simply an academic process where we study and acquire knowledge. Sanctification is about transformation, and this is a lifelong pursuit. Sanctification occurs more rapidly in the context of communion and intimacy with the Father. Intimacy with God is the greatest catalyst for discovering our identity and facilitating our transformation into Christlikeness. Satan hates it when we discover that we can have intimacy with God. He fears it, he hates it, and he will send every distraction available to keep us from it.
Think of the impact of having a soul completely submitted to the voice and direction of the Holy Spirit. A soul living in constant communion and awareness of God’s indwelling presence. At this point, the soul will cease to be only a battlefield. It will become fertile ground where divine thoughts and supernatural creativity can flourish. A place where obedience becomes our joy, and rivers of living water pour forth from us and impact the world around us for God’s glory.
We will still experience conflict and confrontation. Even the most dedicated Saints will face times when old thoughts try to infiltrate as Satan tries to reclaim space in our soul.
Old thought patterns and memories can have roots that are entangled with the enemy’s lies. These are the strongholds that 2 Corinthians speaks of.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
The issue is not just recognizing these thoughts for what they are but knowing what to do with them when they come. When a contrary thought resists the Holy Spirit, we quickly realize that we can’t fight it in our own strength, nor can we ignore it until it goes away. We need to remember that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual. We cannot win this battle with willpower, human strategies, or worldly philosophy.
The enemy’s weapons are lies and deception. Our weapons are truth, prayer, wisdom, and understanding.
So, let’s break this statement down from the book of Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:10-17 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
If you notice, the truth is to be girded about our loins. Why does it use the analogy of loins instead of the mind? Because the loins contain the reproductive organs. Words and thoughts are seeds. Our minds are the fertile soil where thoughts take root and reproduce after their kind.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We must not sit by passively and allow Satan to sow seeds of doubt and unbelief in our minds. If we do, we will soon water and fertilize those thoughts by meditating on them and speaking about them. When we give voice to Satan’s evil thoughts, we reveal that we have accepted them, showing him our weakness. He then proceeds to water and cultivate those with more thoughts, eventually building a stronghold he can hide behind and wage war against our souls.
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Whatever gets planted in our minds has the ability to reproduce if we feed and water it with similar thoughts. We must have constant exposure to the written word so God’s thoughts and ideas can choke out and destroy evil thoughts and tear down enemy strongholds.
1 Peter 2:1-2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
Concerning the breastplate of righteousness, understand that it has two parts of equal importance. Without both parts, our breastplate has cracks and holes in it where the devil can gain access. The two parts of the breastplate of righteousness are faith and love.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
We know from the scriptures that faith works by love. We also know that by faith we are accounted as righteous.
Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
If our breastplate is lacking in love, not only does our breastplate have holes in it, but our shield of faith becomes ineffective against quenching the enemy’s fiery darts.
Our spiritual armor is all tied together and interdependent. It is important that we have constant exposure to the truth of scripture and are diligent to meditate on them, internalize them, and allow the word of God to become a filter through which all thoughts must pass. This will require discipline, perseverance, and humility.
Satan even attacked Jesus’ identity in the wilderness, trying to infiltrate his thoughts, offering shortcuts and false promises, saying, “If you are the son of God….”
Matthew 4:3-11 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Satan is still attacking Jesus by attacking His body. We are His body! And just like the head, we must have the correct answers to fight off every demonic attack.
Let’s follow the Lord’s example and respond to every demonic attack with the word of God, spoken from a place of intimacy with the Father, not just acquired knowledge and memorization. If God’s word is alive in us, we will be well equipped to fight against every evil thought, tear down every stronghold, and dispel all darkness.
Are you a SINNER or a SAINT?
We can’t be both. If we try to be both, we are double minded and we are trying to serve two masters.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
Do you believe that you are a part of Christ’s body?
Is Christ’s body unholy?
If you are Christ’s body and you are holy, then how can you sin? When you make a mistake and fall into sin, are you no longer a part of His body?
Does Christ sin? Can He sin? Has He ever sinned?
1 John 3:8-9 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
Are you of the devil? Is Christ of the devil?
What about your fallen nature?
If we are a part of His body, we can’t sin because we have incorruptible seed dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, the incorruptible seed. Paul puts this into perspective in Romans.
Romans 7:19-20 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Paul does not identify with his fallen nature because that old man is dead. He understands that Jesus died AS THAT MAN. That sinful man is no longer who he is, even though he may see evidence of it in his life. He is completely disassociated with the carnal man. He has a new identity in Christ that he received BY FAITH!
We must “reckon ourselves” dead to the fallen nature, even though we are still tied to it while we live on the Earth.
Romans 6:8-11 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What does it mean to reckon yourself dead to sin?
Believe, consider, treat it as dead.
Consider the phrase “You’re dead to me.” This indicates extreme rejection and complete emotional detachment. It signifies that you no longer consider the person to be a part of your life, intending to end all interaction. For all intents and purposes that person no longer exists. Most people have not died to sin. They live sin consciously, not really conscious of their adopted position as righteous sons and daughters.
Why is it so hard to believe that our old man with its fallen nature is dead? Because it sure doesn’t look like the old man is dead. It is hard to believe because we have a fallen tendency to walk by sight and not by faith. It takes faith to walk this out.
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
The Quickest Way to Die to our Carnal Man.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
To behold God with an unveiled face means to approach God with complete confidence, honesty, and a receptive heart, allowing His glory to transform us. It signifies a state of understanding our identity as righteous children. This understanding sets us free from most things that would hinder a direct and unhindered relationship with God.
The veil represents a spiritual blindness or a lack of understanding that hinders our intimacy with God and prevents us from fully beholding and appreciating His glory. Now that we are in Christ the veil has been removed.
What is the mirror are we beholding in the above passage?
The mirror is God’s written word.
James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
When Moses asked God to show him His glory, God said, “No man can look into My face and live.” (Exodus 33:20) Looking into God’s word is our carnal man’s face-to-face encounter with God. This “face-to-face” encounter is what empowers us to die to the carnal nature. This is the way we die to the old man and keep him in the grave. When we continue looking into the mirror of God’s word and obey it, we are constantly reminded of who we are. Our carnal man cannot live if we continue to behold Him with an unveiled face.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Galatians 4:6-7 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
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JESUS IS COMING!
