Good Morning, Meet Pastordan Readers…When I take a moment and step back and look at who we are in Christ, I am overwhelmed with joy. The description that is on the front on Neil Anderson’s incredible book “Victory Over the Darkness”, is the source of that confidence, that giddiness and that joy. Those words pack a wallop: “Understanding your identity in Christ, and the power that comes with that identity.” WOW! Our identity reveals these incredible “inheritances”: we’re sin-free; we’ve inherited eternal life; we are grafted into His family; we are now worthy and acceptable in His eyes; we are no longer a sinner, but a saint; we’ve inherited every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, and we’ve inherited all the promises that are in the Bible. That IS our new identity in Christ! “The old is gone (we are no longer a slave to our sin-nature), the new has come.” (the Holy Spirit) (2 Corinthians 5:17) That new identity should give every reader goose-bumps! It’s not a result of what we did or didn’t do, and we certainly did not deserve it. No indeed! It is a gift; it is an inheritance!
Now, if that identity transformation were not enough, hold on to your seat, because I’m going to tell you about your new inherited POWER. God knows these facts: we are slaves to our flesh (our sin-nature); we are constantly barraged with the secular teachings of the world, and we are no match for satan. Yet, as Christians, we are still called to live according to His standard, the same standard that was etched in stone and given to Moses thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, Man had from Creation until 2020 years ago to wrestle with the eternal dilemma of Sin, and as we all know, Man, even though committed to his best effort, proved himself to be an absolute failure at this challenge. This is how Apostle Paul viewed our best effort: “When they were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time, and died for us sinners!” (Notice, Paul included himself in that indictment…and quite an indictment it was.)
But here is the good news. Our loving, gracious and merciful heavenly Father has given us the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s role is to empower us to do things we just can’t do through our own best effort. All we have to do is call the Holy Spirit into action by asking (out loud) for His wisdom, His perspective, His eyes to see, His courage, strength, patience, perseverance – whatever it is we need to make choices that bring honor and glory to Him. – and every promise in the Bible says He will answer that prayer. James 4:10 substantiates that statement: “When we come humbly before the Lord and admit our dependence on Him, He will lift us up and give us honor.” When the truth of our new identity takes root in our hearts, coupled with the reality of the supernatural power that we now can plug into, how can we not feel confident, secure, loved and absolutely joyful?
Now, let’s superimpose all of that truth over our culture, our nation, and the world in which we are living. According to 2015 figures, Christians, even though we make up the largest religious group, account for only 31.2% of the world’s population. That means there is a plethora of counterfeit religions and non-believers running around professing all sorts of “enlightened revelations.” Since everyone is searching for “something” to fill that proverbial “hole in the soul”, many fall for these new revelations because they are designed to titillate our carnal desires. Think about this: That’s exactly how satan entrapped Eve. First, he cast doubt regarding God’s motive for forbidding that particular fruit, then he convinced her that if she ate of it, she would know everything God knows. The temptation that we can be “our own god” is irresistible to our “human nature.”
I want to stress, in no uncertain terms, that regardless of how crazy our world becomes, “we have everything we need for living a Godly life.” (2 Peter 1:3) We are in Christ! We have the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above our circumstances, and to serve His purpose In fact, “He has promised that we will escape the decadence of the world around us, and that we will share in His divine nature.” (2 Peter 1: 6) What we must not forget is this: God is a mighty God, a sovereign God, and He is still on the Throne. While it might not seem like it right now, we can rest assured that He IS in control. In Psalm 2, God spoke through the psalmist, David, to give us His perspective.
“Why do the nations rage? Why do the people waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains” they cry, “let us free ourselves from this slavery.” But the One who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger, He rebukes them, terrifying them with His fierce fury. For the Lord declares, ‘I have placed my chosen King on the Throne in Jerusalem, My holy city.” The King proclaims the Lord’s decree: The Lord said to Me, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance; the ends of the earth are Yours to possess. You will break them with an iron rod, and smash them like clay pots.’ Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling. Submit to the Lord’s royal Son, or He will become angry and you will be destroyed in the midst of your pursuits -for His anger can flare up in an instant. But, what joy for all who find protection in Him”, referring, of course, to those of us who are in Christ!
So, why do we worry? Why do we get caught-up in the crazy shenanigans of the world? No doubt, it is our human nature that leads us in that direction. But if we can just detach ourselves from the reality of the world and focus on who we are now – and most importantly, focus on how BIG and FAITHFUL our God is – we can get our feet on a firm foundation. Here are three truths you can add to your platform of faith. Our Father said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:8) “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” (Isaiah 54:17), and Jesus said, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Now let me restate 2 Peter 1:6 two paragraphs above: “He has promised that we will escape the decadence of the world around us, and that we will share in His divine nature. All of these encouraging words are promises from our loving God. They are nuggets of Truth that solidify our faith.
I would like to close, using Apostle Paul’s perspective of our relationship with the world, as found in 1 Corinthians 1:19-21, 25, 30 and 2:8) “As the Scriptures say, ‘I will destroy human wisdom and discard its most brilliant ideas. So where does that leave the philosophers, the scholars and the world’s most powerful debaters? God has made them all look foolish, and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense. Since God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never find Him through human wisdom, He has used our foolish preaching (Paul’s and Timothy’s preaching) to save those who believe. This foolish plan of God is far wiser than the wisdom of human plans. For our benefit, He has made Christ to be wisdom itself. If the rulers of this world would have understood this, they never would have crucified our glorious Lord!”
I hope this message leaves you feeling “particularly special.” You should feel that way, because that is how God sees you. He delights in you! In fact, you are His Masterpiece, as described in Ephesians 2: 10: “We are now God’s Masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can now do the good things He planned for us long ago.” Therefore, bask in your new identity, and your new supernatural power. Don’t let satan steal the joy that is rightfully yours.
Feel free to respond to this posting, and please share it with other social media friends.
May God Bless You Abundantly,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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