Do You Know Who You Are?
Blog Post 3 - October 2022
One key thing to understand in pursuit of the “more” life that God has to offer, is truly understanding who you are through Jesus. We need a clear understanding of the new creation and the new position that Jesus has placed us in. If we view ourselves as the same defeated, messed up, lowly, broken down individuals we used to be before being born again, we will never walk in the “moreness” of God. I have experienced a common theme when hearing a lot of other believers talk about their circumstances and their lives. It’s as though they think they have to live out the rest of their earthly life in that defeated, broken down state they were in prior to their salvation experience with Jesus. But the good news is that we don’t have to live that way on the earth. The old has gone … the curse is broken…the blessing has come! We don’t have to wait till we get to heaven to live victoriously and with authority. We were meant to live it now.
Something shifts for the believer who realizes who they are. The one thing that Satan does not want you to know, is who you are. Because he knows who you are, and he knows if you know who you are, then his days of pushing you around and stealing from your life are over.
I’d like to start in Matthew 28:18-20 AMPC: “ Jesus approached and, Breaking the silence, said to them, all authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go then and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you…” Here Jesus expresses that he has all authority in heaven and on earth. And then proceeds to tell his disciples “to go.” Just like the chief of police sends the police officers beneath him to go and operate in the same authority on his behalf, upholding the laws of the land, Jesus sends us out to go and use his authority in this earth and do His works for His glory and show the world Jesus.
In Colossians 2:13-15 AMPC it says: “And you who were dead in trespasses and in the circumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross. [God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were arranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].” This is very good news for us and very bad news for the devil. This shows us that any legal claim that Satan had against us because of sin was wiped away, we were set free from it. We no longer have to pay the penalty for it. But this also says that God took all power and authority away from Satan, made a public spectacle of him, embarrassing him and showing him as the loser. Now that Satan has been defeated and we are victorious through Jesus’ victory, the only power Satan has over us is the power we give him. So when he tries to rear his head in our lives, we now have the position in Christ to tell satan “to get lost”- resist the devil and he MUST flee (James 4:7).
But God doesn’t just stop there, forgiving us of our sins, taking care of the punishment and stripping Satan of his power, here is the cherry on top. Let’s read Ephesians 2:4-6 AMPC: “But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation). And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).” Let’s bring this together with Romans 8:17 AMPC: “And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.”
God must think highly of us to not only forgive our sins and make sure that we have eternal life, but also be so specific as to set us in heavenly places with Christ Jesus sharing in the same life as Christ. And also to make sure that we were made coheirs with Jesus. That means, that whatever power, authority, life, blessing, righteousness, holiness that Jesus received as an inheritance for what He did, we are co-heirs, so we receive that same inheritance.
I’d like to wrap it up with these two more scriptures:
Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT: “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.”
Luke 10:19 TPT: “Jesus replied, “ While you were ministering, I watched Satan topple until he fell suddenly from heaven like lightning to the ground. Now you understand that I have imparted to you my authority to trample over his kingdom. You will trample upon every demon before you and overcome every power Satan possesses. Absolutely nothing will harm you as you walk in this authority.”
I know this week we had a lot of Bible verses to examine. But so often I like to let the Word preach itself. One place that I feel Satan has done a really good job at deceiving the body of Christ is in the area of knowing who we are. He has done a good job at making it seem like he still has the power over us. We have allowed him to push us around and make our circumstances go to and fro. But if we are going to step into the fullness of the “more” that God has for us, we are going to have to put the enemy in his place and stand confidently in our place that Jesus died to give us.
So my question remains, do you know who you are?
Do you know that Jesus gave you His authority to operate in this world and to go and do His work? Do you know that He gave you His authority over all the power of the enemy? Do you know that He already stripped Satan of any and all power that he ever had to come against you? Do you know that you’re seated with Christ as a co-heir, getting to reap all the same benefits that He has?
We must reject the mindset stemming from man-made doctrine that says, we just have to get by…let life come as it may until we get to heaven…then we can experience our victory. We don’t need victory in heaven because in heaven everything is perfect there. Victory is for now. We need our authority and our victory now on earth in the face of a world that is messed up and full of the curse. The “more” that God has for you includes, you walking with your head held high because Jesus thought so highly of you that He gave you His authority, His power, His inheritance, His seat in heaven. Take time studying this and receiving revelation and understanding on these verses. Then when the adversary is pushing you around you can tell him where his place is, under your feet already defeated. You can tell him to get out of your way and shut his lying mouth. We must stop letting him rule in our lives and walk in the authority that Jesus died to give us. Yes, Jesus did die to give us eternal life but He did more than that! Let us not allow the other things that he made available to us to sit on the table and go to waste. Let’s feast on His goodness! On the overflow, the “moreness” that He made available for us for right here and right now.
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