IDENTITY

 ^{2 Corinthians 5:17}

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Amplified Bible (AMP)

I was in the church the other day and my pastor preached on being blessed and on how for you to be blessed by God you also have to be a blessing, he went on to say that we should be a blessing to our communities, a blessing to our nations and most of all a blessing to God. So i asked God to show me how i can be a blessing to Him, and that's how this blog was born. I pray and believe that as i continue writing He will use it to be a blessing to many people.

This being my fast post i want to talk about IDENTITY. What is your identity, how do you identify yourself, do you identify yourself with your profession?, with your tribe?, with your country? or even with your religion? The only thing you have is your identity, if one is to ask you to describe yourself in one word what would it be? I know what i would say JESUS also known as Christ meaning messiah or savior.

Most Christians know that for you to be born again you must accept Jesus as your personal lord and savior, which is true Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.Romans 10:9(AMP). And then what next? I was brought up in Christian home and we used to go to church like any normal Christian family would, and i remember inviting Jesus Christ into my life, in fact several times(as if once is not enough) but I never really understood what i was doing and i never really knew what it meant.

From our opening scripture one get an idea of what it means to accept Jesus in to your life but before we get deeper into that we first have to understand that you have been save by grace(favor) and that its a gift (Ephesians 2:8 ) not a choice, He died for us while we were still sinners{ But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.Romans 5:8 (AMP)} and that He choose and ordained us(John 15:16) to belong to him before the foundations of the world were laid (Ephesians 1:4), from the last verse we can clearly see that He has love for us, now lets try and see much love He has for us.

Our opening verse says if any person is [in grafted] in Christ he is a new creation(a new creature altogether) in grafted meaning implanted, incorporated or infused, that means you become a part of Jesus and He becomes a part of you, you become co-heirs with Him(Romans 8:17). Christ transforms you to become a new creature, a new person, you enter into a new covenant, this means every thing about us changes and we can no longer be condemned because of our past sins(Romans 8:1), we become dead to sin. He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree[as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. 1 peter 2:24 (AMP).

The second part of the verse says the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away, our morals meaning manner, character or behavior, you become holy(1peter 1:16), righteous(2 Corinthians 5:21), he gives us his mind and becomes our example Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Philippians 2:5(AMP). When you receive Christ he baptizes you with the Holy Spirit(Matthew 3:11), your spiritual condition changes. Most people don't understand that we are spirits[Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7( AMP )], we are created in the image and likeness of God, not our physical form but spiritual because God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality). John 4:24 (AMP).

The last part of our verse says Behold, the fresh and new has come! We have already seen that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit He imparts in our spirit righteousness, holiness, He give us the mind of Christ but most importantly He give us POWER and AUTHORITY. He give us not just power but power together with authority, this is very important because the devil has power but he does not have authority, he only has as much authority as we give him. Most people don't understand the amount of power they have in Christ Jesus, he has given you the power to destroy your enemy(Jeremiah 1:10), the power to cast out evil spirits and heal all manner of diseases(Mathew 10:1), the strength to conquer any situation(Romans 8:37) the strength to do all things(Philippians 4:13), the authority to ask anything you need from the Father (John 15:16). And many more things because He told us I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father John 14:12(AMP).
Guys we need to know who we are, because if you don't have an identity you will fall apart, Malcolm X once said "if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything". We need to know who we are in Christ, we need to know the imminence potential we have in Christ, we need to know that he is the only way, the only truth and the only true life that we can ever have, we need to know that there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved.Acts 4:12(AMP) and that " I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing"John 15:5(AMP)

We can only know and receive all that Christ has done and promised us, if Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.

For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotism's, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].

Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,

And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.

Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God. 

Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people). Ephesians 6:11-18(AMP)

If we take all the things mentioned above into consideration and put them in to practice we will not remain the same, there will definitely be change, it may not happen at once because its a process, its a journey, its a prayer, but it will happen.