Recovering Your Stolen Identity
Isaiah 35:1 Desert Blooms from a morning walk
Everything seen in the natural world was created by Christ. It was created for him and by him. It was created in him and through him.
Col 1:15-17
"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
Powerful knowledge.
Especially powerful against the Identify theft we experience.
When we leave behind the dominion of darkness
and enter into the light of Christ.....
We also leave behind the identity that
Sin
The World
The Devil
Has sown in us from birth.
The enemy of our salvation sows anything and everything to
derail
sidetrack
hinder
stumble
disempower
He sows teaching that debilitates our identity and divine purpose.
He's been working with humans for a long time.
He can guess well, regarding our divine purpose and gifting, and sow derailing and debilitating temptation and sin. His goal is not a fall. It's passivity, passionless walking and loss of heart. His goal is the destruction of first love for Jesus.
So much flows and happens in the walk with the Spirit when first love is alive and well.
His full intent is to wipe it out. Crush our hearts and cause us to become passive.
Our identity in Christ is exactly opposite.
Proving to the impossible the glory and grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The enemy cannot override or delete the powerful identity we have in Christ.
He can only hinder it.
He can only oppose it.
He can only throw temptation our way.
He cannot make us do anything, choose anything, agree with anything.
In fact, the Devil knows he's on a destruction course and time is running out fast. Ephesians 3:10
Here are a few steps to recover your Stolen Identity.
1. Turn your face toward the Lord and seek him in his glory. (Psalms 27)
I don't mean this as a trite reminder. It is essential. To stand you must stand in the presence and in prayer and petition. (Ephesians 6:10-19)
Our real identity is "hidden in Christ" and we must treasure hunt and pursue God to find it. (Colossians 2:3-10) I am saying go after the presence of the Lord and get yourself rooted and established again in his love. That will take effort and energy. It will require focus and real time. But his grace is with you to accomplish it.
2. Take up the Word in the Spirit. Immerse yourself in the Word. Let it dwell in you richly. Take a season of overwhelming yourself in the Scripture. Join in the quest with someone else and go after lots of time in Scripture. (Colossians 3)
3. Pour out your heart to the Lord. Share it all. Tell it all. Anything and everything laid bare before him. Let him know your thoughts, feelings, emotions, all of it. This is not a burden for God. He wants to know us deeply. He already knows the facts his real desire is to know us and walk with us. Open up. Share your disappointments and confusion. He is not thrown off. Share your pain and anger. Share your anger toward him. Fight is out with God if you need to. He always understands and always listens. Powerful reality this is in the face of wavering identity.
4. Start walking again by faith in what the Spirit has called you to do and be.
Constant hindrance or lack of success can wear us down and drown out the voice of the Spirit. We can accept a passive kind of Christian life, then support it with bare minimum walking in Jesus and baptize it as true Christian living. When we are passive, we are not walking in the Spirit. The Kingdom of God is as living and active, as present, as the living rest mentioned in Hebrews 4. God is even active in Rest. He is working for our salvation and redemption, for total transformation of our inner lives so that the image of Jesus will shine in all we do. Sometimes, especially when we feel we have nothing left, if we simply stand and pray and intercede, we gain the strength required for the day. This is a profound insight that we often overlook. The simplest step, action, motion in faith always leads to grace and empowerment. God is with us. Jesus and the Spirit intercede for us.
Take a simple step. Pray a simple prayer. Sing a simple worship song. Rest in the simple peace of Jesus who is our peace. Take courage. Stand in him. Spend your trust that he will make a way where there appears to be no way.
When we move by faith in what we are made for our hearts awaken again. Grace gets rolling. We see what we could not see. Encouragement is one step of faith away. One act of obedience away. One gesture of hope and love away.
5. Jesus must originate and empower your identity.
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ Jesus (Col 2). To birth the image of God, to find abiding grace, to see the Kingdom, to have the power to overcome, we must be moving in Jesus' mind about us. Imitation does not make for true identity. It's a start and a clear path to get on the way, but the revelation of who we are in him and what grace is imparted to us is the discovery we must make in HIM ourselves. The Holy Spirit is remarkable in touch with Jesus' vision for us. He is also always encouraging and strengthening us for the journey. We can entrust Jesus with what is entrusted to us.
I've found that when I am acting, moving, thinking and walking in the direct leading of the Lord and in the calling set by the grace he imparted to me, I thrive and see the Kingdom.
Does this mean everything goes well. NO. Rarely is everything going well. There is always something that needs attention, wisdom, perseverance or endurance. But when I am at work in grace, grace is at work in me.
Your identity is as sure as the seating of Christ at the Right Hand of the Father!
Jesus' work is perfect and carries all the power, love, grace required to accomplish it in US.
Philippians 1:6
"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Hang in there.
Often we start making predictions based on past failures when trouble lands. We start predicting a negative future out of some of our bad memories.
The awesome thing is God is not tied up by our predictions.
He is creative. In love with us. And he is good all the way.
Everything in his heart is to see us live forever with him.
He has provided everything needed in the Lord Jesus and his perfect work.
I have always been a bad predictor of the future....even when I think it turns out bad.
God always sweeps in and something unseen re-writes the story.
That is the heart of God over us.
He re-writes it so we see him, grow deeper in love and learn to walk with him.
In turn he changes us inside forever!
This is all worth it.
Even the days when you are hanging on by the tips of your fingers and you see a 1000 feet of air beneth you. He will catch you.
Or He will sweep in and bring something unexpected.
Believe. Believe. Believer.
Trust in the NAME of Jesus.
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With much love in Jesus
You can do this thing! He's got you.
Jeff Reynolds ---
Brother Jeff
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