Knowing Our Identity in Christ

Dear Blessed Saints, I feel lead to write a different message and sound the alarm to each one and like God tells to ARISE (Luke 7:14). We are at war fighting against the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness (Eph 6:12) and we need more then ever to have that God confident warrior spirit within us. He wants to equip us to become real warriors because He tells us to put on the armour in the first place. It's very evident as we hear about so many Christians being tried and going through severe trials in many areas of our lives. We definitely can never overlook the fact that we are fighting a spiritual warfare. Even though it seems like we are being defeated, if we are bold in our faith in God, we can say no matter what: That even through the midst of our trials, we are "more then conquerors" through Christ who loves us (Rom 8:37 emphasis added). Too many Christians are being defeated these days and only by His Grace, we can reverse that trend. Therefore, it is more important than ever that we know deeply and intimately who God is and know our identity in Christ if we are to expect to live the life Christ suffered and died to give us. One of the many identities I like is knowing and understanding fully that the power of the Life giving blessings of His Word are reserved for us who have invited Jesus(the Word) who dwells in our hearts and have received Him as our Lord and Saviour. Again, when we think our circumstances are out of control and we go through the severest of trials, we need to fan the flame within us (2 Tim 1:6) that will rise up and become a fire within our belly. As a testimony of my past, when I was continually being buffeted by the enemy and unfortunately, I often surrendered that inherited a defeated mentality. I realized later that the warfare itself was not the problem. The real problem was myself carrying that defeated negative attitude in my spirit because I believed the lies of the enemy instead of believing the truth of what God says who we are. I was sinking farther and farther and grew depressed by giving in to the devils lies. God was showing me that I needed to ARISE in my spirit and showed me how I have failed to know my identity in Him and forgot about who He really is. When I realized I have been deceived by believing the lies of the enemy and how I have failed to realize my identity as an inheritor of God, I got a Holy Spirit anger within me at that moment. I especially got angry at the enemy when I see how he continues to deceive so many of Gods people to believing his lies and keeping many of them prisoners. God tells us in Hosea 4:6 that My people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge (of Him and His Word). When we realize we have been listening to the lies of the enemy, God wants us to get a righteous Holy Spirit anger that will move us. God tells us that it is the men/women who are strong and confident in God are the ones who are forcefully advancing the Kingdom of God (Matt 11:12). Even though Gods Spirit was living within me, this did me no good unless I was feeding my spirit with Gods Word, boldly praying in faith so I could rise up by having that bold confidence in Him. I failed to see the power of Gods Word by not using the Sword of the Spirit as I should have. God revealed to me a picture of a warrior going into battle. He doesn't win a battle by having his sword hanging down, he wins the battle when he picks up the sword and forcefully attacks the enemy. That's how we do it by taking the Word of God and boldly speaking the Word of God against the enemy and saying as it does in Jude 9 "The Lord rebuke you satan", and remind him that he was defeated at Calvary which means we do not receive his lies and we don't allow him any power over our lives when we submit our lives to God (Rom 6:8; Rev 1:5). I learned the power of victory of speaking Gods Word boldly when I was verbally attacked by one of my bosses back at a military base around 1992 when I was a relatively new christian. I was hungry for the Word and when the enemy used that person to speak his words to try to defeat me, the only way I was able to have victory was when I told the devil he is nothing but a liar and a counterfeit. I clenched and raised my fist with the Bible in my hand and told the devil like Jesus says in Luke 4:4,8,10)...IT IS WRITTEN: and I quoted the Word from Phil 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". After having said that with boldness and authority, I felt the power of the Spirit come down to break down that thick wall that the enemy tried to imprison me with. It's an experience that I never otherwise had in my entire life. I realized the power of His Word when we use it with authority like we should all because we should know our identity as His Children whom He had given us His authority (Luke 10:19). Even though we have the Spirit of God living within us and we have the promises of God that says "Greater is He (Jesus) that is within us then he (satan) that is within the world" 1 John 4:4, these promises of God do us no good if we don't take action to use His Word and take a bold stand like He teaches and encourages us to. I know I would have been defeated otherwise. It just so happened that what was said about myself not being able to do a certain task by this person, was later mentioned that the operation I ran was the best many people have ever seen. I can only give God the full credit for giving me the insight and power to do just that. We have victory when we choose to boldly put our confidence in Him and use the power of His Spirit that is within us. To understand our identity in Christ, its extremely important to first know God, which is why I just published three recent articles about the Blessings of knowing God that you can read when you go to my Blog link. When you realize who God is and who we are in Christ by knowing the power of God within us and how we should be walking in confidence knowing He is all powerful and loves us immensely, we will start to understand that we can walk in His authority and the enemy has to bow down when we boldly use the Name of Jesus and the Word (Jesus). If we are going through severe battles, God is teaching us to exercise our faith in Him and RISE UP, just like He told Job to do (Job 38:3). I believe as we are living in these last days, God wants to raise an army who will choose to stand up in the power of His might because we know who He is and we know our identity in Christ as His blessed Children (Eph 1:3). Unfortunately, many people are not because we are not taking a stand against this injustice (robbing the goodness and power of God working in us) and allowing the devil to rob Christians of knowing their identity in Him. The passage in (Matt 12:43-45) Christ talks about a house being swept clean after an evil spirit has departed, and the demon who was initially cast out will be able to bring in other ones seven times more wicked and the man/woman will be worse off. This is telling us that when we clean up our hearts by repenting, renouncing and casting out every negativity we have allowed to enter into our minds and hearts, we need to replace this empty house (our heart and mind) with the powerful truth of Gods Word by reading and speaking His Word into our heart. Otherwise, if we fail to fill our minds and hearts with the blessings and life giving message of His Word, other deceptive words will come in, in its place. When we get the power of His Word into our mind and heart, the enemy will find it harder to try to put his deceptive lies into our inmost being. He can fill an empty cup, but he can't put anymore into a cup that is already full. As I believe we are truly living in the latter days, we desperately need to go back and know the power, presence, wisdom and love of God for us in a great way and ask Him to help us know our identity in Him in order to live the life He suffered and died for us to be able to live. We need to ask God to also help us remain humble before Him so we can be confident to invite Him to help us Rise Up in the newness of His power and strength as we live through this time. Then we can truly start boldly speaking His Word with confidence like two of one of my many favorite verses: "Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.37 Yet amid all these things WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us" (Rom 8:36,37) I capitalized the five words to put emphasis in them which is how we should speak to the devil. For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith.5 Who is it that is victorious over [that conquers] the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on that fact] 1 John 5:4,5 Therefore, let us come boldly (with confidence) to God (to His Throne of Grace) with petitions and thanksgiving and we will receive His much needed Grace and Mercy that is the only way we can live in victory (read Heb 4:16 and Heb 10:35). Let us always remain humble before Him under His mighty hand and He promises in due time, He will exalt us (1 Pet 5:6). In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/