Identity thieves are everywhere.
A few years back my bank account was drained. I just happened to look at my phone app before a purchase and saw only $0.00's.
Definitely unnerving.
My identity was stolen by someone who captured our card information from a gas station.
We had no idea.
We saw transactions from all different places taking $300-$500.00.
All the way down our account went right to zero.
We freaked out. Called the bank and began the process of getting our funds back.
It took some time. Which put some pressure on our next few weeks.
Our true identities, the one rooted in Jesus since the beginning of time, are idle without the activating power of grace through faith. As we journey through life and encounter our share of troubles and tribulation the enemy tries to hinder, destroy, steal and kill the inklings and hopes of our real divine identity. We all bear the image of God but our identity in Christ is a gift in divine redemption.
There is a spiritual identity thief that robs, kills, and destroys. The problem, most people have no idea their identity is stolen.
The scripture says we were known in Christ before the foundations of the World.
Shaped and gifted by God, when we step into the grace of God through faith we awaken our true identity. It is rooted and established in the love of Jesus. Our identities are glorious and powerful. They are beyond our imagination but not beyond God's imagination.
YET many believers have no idea who they are in Christ and his Kingdom.
The more one knows of the power, love, grace, truth, life that is ours in Jesus, the more the enemies tactics and hindrances fall off and are defeated. The more we press into Christ and walk in the Spirit, the more we come into the understanding of the Kingdom we are part of.
The work and power of Jesus is magnificent and all together effective in every way to do the impossible.
The mind of Christ awakens and we get new understanding and vision. We become more and more aware of the the power available to us, as we surrender to the Spirit's discipleship. He leads us into greater and greater faith and glory step for step. That process awakens us to deeper and deeper understanding of who we are in the Lord Jesus and his Kingdom.
Beyond the fact that we are gifted in grace (I Cor 12:7; Ephesians 4:7) and empowered in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) we also carry the adoption into a family. We are sons and daughters. Children of a divine family born and blessed in Jesus Christ. We have total freedom and run of the house. Total freedom and run of the heavenly temple, our Abba Fathers presence and the abiding grace of rest in Christ.
Grace through faith is unstoppable.
While the identity thief works overtime to distort and hinder the awakening of our divine identity, the Holy Spirit simply and step by step leads us to glory and eternal life. With simple steps of faith walking in the Spirit, we gain overwhelming motion to activate our divine identity.
The Enemy cannot stand against the power of redemption and love in Christ. When we welcome Jesus and abide we activate the Christ in us (Col 1:27). Grace through faith is unstoppable. The progress to recovering every bit of our divine identity is unstoppable in the simple motions of grace.
Believers moving in grace by faith in the fullness of Christ will naturally demonstrate the redemptive power of Jesus through their divine identity.
Recovery is required.
We are moving from glory to glory in the image of Jesus. We all started somewhere. With our accounts drained and the enemy's destructive seeds of offense, hate, bitterness and slander pressing in on our glorious identity in Jesus, we need the Spirit's lead.
We have to recover our Christ image identity. It is not handed over. We contend for it. We fight for it. Pray for it. It is deliberate and clearly established in us by grace through faith. It emerges over time and awakens daily as we abide and walk in the Spirit. (Psalms 144; 139)
So What are some of these identity marks?
Love. God is love. So those who know him and hang around him will end up becoming like him. Identified with love and known for love their life will reflect an identifying mark of love. What kind of life do we live out if it is shaped by love as our identity? Scripture has much to say about that. I John 3:16 Our identity is to love and serve like Jesus and walk like he did.
Joy. God is filled with Joy. As we abide in his presence the joy of the Lord becomes our strength. Our identity is shaped in joy. We are an overcoming people who are members of an eternal kingdom. There is nothing but confidence in heaven for the Father's will and plans. They are altogether good and lovely. We are his plans. He is shaping in us the image of his Son. Everything about that is good. Peace. Time marches on but God is at rest. Jesus' work is finished. We carry his Kingdom in the grace assignments that only faith can make come alive. Rest is the inheritance of believers. And we enter that rest by faith. Jesus is our peace. Abiding and learning to rest in him in all seasons and circumstances is our inheritance in action.
Ephesians 1 lays out a remarkable list - In Christ.
Blessed with every spiritual blessing in ChristChosen before the foundations of the world in Christ
Holy - unblemished in Christ
Foreordained in Christ
Adopted in Christ
Glory is freely bestowed on us in Christ
Redeemed through the Blood of Christ
Forgiven of all trespasses in Christ
Knowing the mystery of his will and pleasure in Christ
We've obtained and inheritance in Christ
Sealed with the Spirit in Christ
Made for the praise of his glory in Christ
Wow. Start each morning off with these statements!
Your perspective will change and you will remember the remarkable grace, love, power that is in us in 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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