Our Identity: Who and What we Are, Part 1

OUR IDENTITY: WHO and WHAT we are - Part 1

Very often as Christians, we don't know who we are, (our identity) why we were born, (what our purpose is) our specific calling, or what we are supposed to be doing. It's common I'm afraid, because we haven't been taught these things and because often, life gets in the way and tells us that we are something different, that we are not worthy, not holy enough, not gifted enough and will never become anything significant. We believe we are just human beings who make mistakes, some of us just feel like failures who won't achieve anything, and some of us feel trapped. Our identity is veiled by what we don't know, who we don't know and what life has taught us. Well, I have good news for you – God says something different about you, and what He says about you far outweighs what anyone else thinks for says about you, including yourself!

In 2 Cor 5:17 it says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he IS a NEW CREATION; the old has gone, the new has come." And in Romans 8:15-16 it says:

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, and by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Although our relationship was broken in the garden of Eden, it was restored at the cross.

We are not just adopted, but we have become a new creation, and we receive a new DNA when we are born again! The Father's DNA! When we are born again, our spirit and God's spirit become one, mixed together with him, which cannot be separated - the old man/person has passed away and all things have become new; we are a new creation, one with his spirit.

John 14:20 says, On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I am you." Verse 23 also says, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him."

To grow in this new life, we need to make room for him in our daily lives. We cannot stay as new-born babies, but we attain to grow and mature as fully mature sons of God. This takes discipline and responsibility on our part. We need to put aside our former selves and lay our life on the alter for Him. We need spend time in the secret place, in his presence, abide in him, desire him, learn, absorb him, receive revelation of who He is and through His Word – the more we do this, the more like him we will become. When we do this, our character is transformed, our minds become transformed, our lives are transformed and our 'flesh' is put away. We will reflect his glory and reflect who we are – his sons and daughters.

Therefore, when we are born again of the spirit, we have a new identity – we have sonship. The old is past. We no longer belong to this world or Satan, the god of this world, because we have been bought-purchased, with the blood of Jesus. So we have a new birth certificate and we have a new name. We bear Christ's image and we bear his name – and his name is powerful - at his name, every knee shall bow, in heaven, on the earth and under the earth!

We carry his presence within us and his authority and power that has been bestowed on us. We have been given a new passport with new ID. We are the sons and daughters of the King, and we belong to the citizenship of heaven. We have access to this citizenship now, not just in the future! We have access to the Father and to the Kingdom of God and to the throne of Grace. We are inheritors of his Kingdom, sons and heirs, and we are priests and ministers to him.

In Luke 22:29 Jesus said to his disciples (which also applies to us):

"I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

We bare a new ID but Satan lies to us (although we may not realise this). We get trapped and tripped up. Satan lies and accuses of and the lies to us. He tells us that we are not good enough, a failure, unlovable, not worthy, that we will never make it, or be happy, we are too old or too young, and much more. His lies get embedded in us, often by our past experiences and we get entrapped. Satan tries to conceal and steal our true ID – he is an identity thief. He tries to steel our passport, our money, our homes, our health, our mental health, our families, our spiritual inheritance: he is the thief that comes to steel, kill and destroy our lives, but Jesus has come to give us life in abundance (John 10:10).

Satan tries to conceal our true identity and destiny from us. Jesus has given a new identity and a destiny that Satan stole from us in the Garden of Eden – God has now restored the Kingdom of God within us and he has restored us back to an intimate relationship with him, as in the Garden of Eden – he has restored Eden within us! We are meant to grow into this relationship with God and become mature sons and daughters of the king, through intimate fellowship with him.