Kingdom Identity : Christ in ME

Colossians 1:27 - To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. NKJV

Blessings everyone,

I hope you've all enjoyed your day so far.  

Yeah so, I disappeared for a hot sec in the middle of my series and I can explain. As a Christian content creator, you need to make sure that you spend more time in the word of God than you are creating content. You don't study the Bible just to post or just to tweet (hence why my tweets are 95% jokes) but you study and then share when you feel compelled to. I'd like to have a ratio of 9:1 (Chopping and studying the word of God time : content creating time) and I most certainly was not doing that the right way round before my hiatus.

One thing I came to terms with during my hiatus was the lack of Christocentric content on here. Some of you may be wondering what that word means and it basically means Christ centered. Quite frankly, I'm a Christian and not a Jew meaning that I can't be focusing on the Old Testament solely. Now I'm not saying that as a Christian you shouldn't go a read the OT but I AM saying that if you go to the Old Testament looking for anything other than Christ, you're going to miss the point. Please, read the New Testament before you attempt to read the Old Testament. Please, put on your Son-glasses because the Bible is a Him-book #PDAK

Look through the lens of Christ when reading the Bible. 

 

Luke 24:27 - Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

When Christ came back, He took His disciples through the Old Testament and highlighted all the things that were pointing at HIM. Remember, nobody can get to the Father except through HIM, so if you're not looking for Christ in the scriptures then where are you going?

This lockdown has really helped my study and my understanding of Christ and His finished works. In addition, I finally feel like I have a sense of direction in my walk and this is all because I understand my IDENTITY in Him. I know some of you may be like

but if you feel like you know what I'm going to say, continue reading. No time given to the things of God is wasted.

Anyways, let's get to it. If you can, please make sure you have your Bible open next to you or you have access to the app. Maybe take notes too :)

I'm gonna take you guys to a passage that most people know - The Temptation of Jesus.

 After Jesus got baptized, He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by satan as it says in Matthew 4:1. Now as we read through the passage, we see that satan tries to tempt our Lord with various things but there's a phrase that he repeats - take a look

Matthew 4:3 - Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” NKJV

Matthew 4:6 - and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” NKJV

Satan was trying to get Jesus to second guess His identity as the Son of God. If satan had succeeded, it would have been over for Jesus. Why? All His authority came from Him being the Son of God not from His human nature. How can something you don't have faith in work for you?  Now, when it came to responding back to satan, Jesus used something that all Pastors make a point of - the word of God. The word of God is powerful tool for a couple of reasons but I'm going to list two

1. The word of God is TRUTH (John 17:17) and the devil is a LIAR. The only thing that can destroy a liar is the TRUTH.  

2. The word of God reaffirms our identity in Christ. Once you know who YOU are in Christ, the enemy will quiver and run. Why? In Christ we have all authority. 

Now let's take a look at this authority. 

When Jesus resurrected, He said to his disciples that ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH had been given to Him (Matthew 28:18) and He then gave this authority to His disciples as He sent them out. If you read Mark 16:15 downwards, you'll see that Christ gave them authority to cast out demons and Mark says that the Lord worked through them - this was the authority that Christ had given them working in them.

If we zoom forward to Acts 19:13 downwards, we see that Jews were trying to cast out demons in the name of Jesus (who they believed to NOT be the Son of God).When they attempt to command the demon out "in the name of Jesus who Paul serves" (they didn't know Christ themselves) and it doesn't work. 

Acts 19:15 - "But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

They knew Jesus (who had authority over them because of His victory), they knew Paul (who knew his identity in Christ) but not the Jews. When we know who we are in Christ, we have authority!

When we backslide and fall into sin, the enemy will tell you lies like "you're not good enough" or "God hates you" etc etc and the reason why most people wallow in sin and maybe sulk is because they aren't firm in their identity or they just don't know their identity.  All those things are LIES and that is why satan tries to get us to believe them because once he does, he can drag us back down. 

Now it would be mean for me just to end this post here wouldn't it. I know there is someone out there who needs guidance re-affirming so I'm going to try my best to take you through what it truly means to have Christ in YOU. 

1. Nothing can ever separate you from God. No sin, no nothing. Get back up and start running. PLEASE. (correct me if I'm wrong, my dm's are open)

Romans 8:38-39 NLT

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Brothers and Sister's in Christ, please take note of all the words and phrases in bold and write them down. NOTHING IN ALL CREATION!

When satan comes with his lies please remember this. The love that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord is there! Some of you may be thinking what happens when you sin or if you backslide. Won't God be angry at me?

God's wrath was unto sin as it says in Romans 1 and 2. If God's wrath was unto sin and Jesus came and wiped all our sins away (even the ones we may not have committed yet), what is there to be angry about? 

Jeremiah 10:24 - So correct me, LORD, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.

God doesn't chastise us in His anger because He does it in LOVE. God is Love and if you look at 1 Corinthians 13 and look at what love is, replace the word 'love' with God and see what that does for you :) 

2.  You are not physically far from God. 

 John 14:20 - When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

Read the part in bold again. 

Has Jesus been raised to new life? Yes. So what does that mean? He is in us and we are in Him. 

People love to quote Gal 2:20 but do you really understand what it means? 

Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

You know the drill with the parts in bold. Christ lives in YOU! If you go back my starting verse, Paul was telling the Colossians that the secret of it all is that Christ lives in you. Now you may be wondering okay so how does this relate to be never being physically far from God. Let's go to Colossians. 

I think it's my favorite book in the Bible at the moment. 

Colossians 2:9  - For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. NLT 

Colossians 2:9 - For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; NKJV

Let's slow it down now. So if Christ contains the fullness of the Godhead (God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and Christ lives in you............

Bingo. 

This is the foundation of you identity in Him. 

Now to top it all off, lets go to Colossians 2:10 :

NLT - So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

NKJV - and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

The word of God is sweeeeeeeeet. We are made complete in Christ. 

Back to backsliding and the lies of the enemy.

So what does this now mean when it comes to falling into sin? When you backslide, ultimately it's because you have shifted your mind away from Christ. How do you continually reaffirm yourself of who you are? The answer is by reading the Bible, affirmations (IAMBECAUSEHEIS on Twitter is amazing for these and by good sis Eyula tweets them regularly) and by constantly renewing your mind.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us to look unto Jesus and there is a reason for it. He started and has finished our faith. He came to do it all now all we have to do is look to Him. Whether that be in prayer, studying the word, worship or even through calling on His name when you feel tempted. Jesus will be there.

Just like Jesus who was in the desert tempted by that jobless thing, we have to be firm and steadfast in our identity. You have the Spirit of God in you so how can be far from Him physically? His Spirit joins with ours to AFFIRM that we are His children (Romans 8:16) and those who are led by His Spirit are His sons (Romans 8:14). Little things like these can go a long way. Like I said, the only way to combat the lies of enemy is by the truth of God's word. 

When you backslide, it's more of a mental separation if anything. You taken your mind off the things of God which is why need to be transformed by the RENEWAL of your mind (Romans 12:2). It's all making sense huh? (if it's not that is very awkward but we move). We are in union with Christ remember and we have been crucified with Him. Remind yourself that you have the mind of Christ and then booooom.

I hope this post has really blessed someone and given them a sense of direction. Please, go back to the Bible and look at these verses by yourself. Study them!!! If you don't agree with me or perhaps you may not get where I'm coming from, my dm's are open - www.twitter.com/johnpaulk01 

Stay blessed saints!