Understanding our identity IN CHRIST...

"The first attack of the enemy will always begin with an attack on your identity"

 

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

We are saved by grace through faith, not by our works...

  • Man is a tri-part being made up of body, soul and spirit.  We are very aware of our body and the communicaion of its five senses (our sight, taste, touch, smell, hearing).  We are also very familiar with our soul (intellect, will and emotions), easily understanding our desires and feelings. Our spirit however has been much neglected as it remains largely dormant until we are born again (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

 

  • When we are born again, we become a new creation (a brand new species of being). We receive a new spiritual nature and our dormant spirit is re-energised by the Holy Spirit.  Our spirit is immediately made new and perfect and from this point God declares us to be righteous.  (2 Corinthians 5:17  AMP)

 

  • Until now our actions had been led and directed by ether our soul (intellect, will and emotions) or our body (our five physical senses). From this point onwards however, we should no longer seek to be directed by either our physical senses (carnal nature) or by our intellect and emotions (soulish nature).   All our actions now need to be guided by our spirit  as we are directed by the Holy Spirit.  From now on,  we need to allow our born again spirit to be the predominant animating force in our lives to lead both the body and the soul  (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)

 

  • Our born again spirit now becomes  our root of holiness. This is because by our confession of faith we have been  born out of CHRIST  (Ephesians  4:24)

 

  • We have now become holy, not because we no longer sin but because our new nature is holy.

 

  • Prior to this experience we were sinners, but not because we were sinning, it was because we had the root of sin (the old sin nature) operating within us.

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  • However, we still have the  ‘old nature software’  running in our mind.

 

  • When we were born again, although our spirit was renewed, our bodies and minds remained the same

 

"Be not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind.... ." (Romans 12:2  AMP)

 

Transformed by the renewing of our mind..

  • Because it was only our spirit (inner man) that was born again and our minds remained the same, we have  yet to renew our minds (soulish nature) in order to bring about a change in our outward lives (physical body) (Romans 12:2  AMP)

 

  • We need to pray that the eyes of our understanding (spiritual understanding) will be enlightened whilst becoming acquainted with God's will and His word, so that we can renew our minds to the truth about our new identity and our new nature in Christ. (Ephesians1:17-19 AMP)

 

  • We need to renew our minds to the Gospel (good news)  of God's grace 

 

  • We need to renew our minds to the 'precious promises' God has left with us so that we can share in His divine nature

 

  • We need to renew our minds to the truth that right now,  God sees  us as  righteousness, and identical to Christ

 

  • We need to renew our minds to the fact that there is NO LONGER  ANY CONDEMNATION for anyone who is considered to be "in Christ"

 

  • We need to renew our minds to the New Covenant (or new agreement) between God and His people.

 

"Looking at the Old Covenant Versus the New Covenant" 

 

  • Under the Old Covenant (agreement), our righteousness was attributed to keeping the daily sacrifices and keeping the law. We kept the law in order to receive God's blessings, although all the rituals of the Old Covenant law were only a foreshadowing  (a picture) of a reality that was to come.

 

  • Under the New Covenant (agreement), we are made righteous not because of the things we do, but because of what Christ has already done on our behalf. We can now produce true acts of righteousness because Christ is now working in us and through us (by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit). This helps us both to want to do,  and actually follow through to do, the righteous things that please him.

 

  • If however,  we don't put an end to our self effort, the Holy Spirit will be unable to freely move within us.  He will be hindered from both producing the fruit of righteousness in our lives and guiding us to our personal destiny

 

  • We will continue to struggle to see change if WE are the ones trying to bring about that change by our self own efforts.

 

  • We have to let go of all our self effort, and allow the Holy Spirit Himself to bring about the changes we need in our life

 

  • We do this by continually surrendering to the Holy Spirit, listening out for His direction and then relying only on the power of grace to carry it through.

 

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