WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW WHO I AM IN CHRIST?

Who I Am In Christ

http://www.christianlifecoaching.co.uk/who-you-are-in-Christ.html

Why do I need to know who I am in Christ?

You need to know who you are in Christ so that you can live a successful Christian life.

The more you agree with God about your identity in Christ, the more your behaviour will reflect your God given identity.

Learn to see yourself as God sees you. Accept what God says about you and become the spiritual person you are. God’s opinion is the one that counts.

Understanding who you are in Christ will give you a strong foundation to build your life on. Knowing who you are in Jesus is the key to a successful Christian life.

Your identity doesn’t depend on something you do or have done. Your true identity is who you are in Christ.

When you are in Christ you are a new creation, the old has passed away. It’s time to stop living out of who people say you are and take hold of the truth of God’s word.

You need to know who you are in Christ so that you can know what to do, when to do it, where to go, and how to do it

Who I am in Christ

Because you are in Christ, every one of these statements is true of you.

I am loved 1John 3:3
I am accepted Ephesians 1:6
I am a child of God John 1:12
I am Jesus’ friend John 15:14
I am a joint heir with Jesus, sharing His inheritance with Him Romans 8:17
I am united with God and one spirit with Him 1Corinthians 6:17
I am a temple of God. His spirit and his life live in me 1 Corinthians 6:19
I am a member of Christ’s body. 1 Corinthians 12:27
I am a Saint Ephesians 1:1
I am redeemed and forgiven Colossians 1:14
I am complete in Jesus Christ Colossians 2:10
I am free from condemnation Romans 8:1
I am a new creation because I am in Christ 2Corinthians 5:17
I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved Colossians 3:12
I am established, anointed, and sealed by God 2Corinthians 1:21
I do not have a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind 2Timothy 1:7
I am God’s co-worker 2Corinthians 6:1
I am seated in heavenly places with Christ Eph 2:6
I have direct access to God Ephesians 2:18
I am chosen to bear fruit John 15:16
I am one of God’s living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house 1 Peter 2:5
I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I share His nature 2 Peter 1:4
I can always know the presence of God because He never leaves me Hebrews 13:5
God works in me to help me do the things He wants me to do Philippians 2:13
I can ask God for wisdom and He will give me what I need James 1:5

Simply choose to believe what God says about you.

“How can two walk together unless they agree?” Amos 3:3

Try reading the above list every day for a month, preferably out loud. The more you know who you are in Christ, the more your behaviour will reflect your true identity.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” Romans 12:2

To live an effective Christian life you need to know and believe who you are in Christ. Understanding your identity in Christ is crucial to your success.

The best way to renew your mind and experience transformation is by knowing, thinking and speaking who you are in Christ

Train yourself to say the same things that God says in His word. Become who you are in Christ. God wants to do more in your life than you imagine.

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…the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (Ro. 8:21-22). …[The] created order in its entirety participated in the Savior’s Passion: the earth shook, the rocks were split, the whole cosmos shuddered (Matt. 27:51). In the words of St. Ephrem the Syrian, ‘humans were silent, so the stones cried out’. As the old English poem The Dream of the Rood expresses it, ‘All creation wept.’ This all embracing participation in the death of God incarnate is memorably expressed in the Praises or Enkomia sung in the evening of Good Friday or early in the morning on Holy Saturday: ‘Come, and with the whole creation let us offer a funeral hymn to the Creator.’The whole earth quaked with fear, O lord, and the Daystar hid its rays, when Thy great light was hidden in the earth.’ The sun and moon grew dark together, O Savior, like faithful servants clothed in black robes of mourning.’ ’O hills and valleys’, exclaims the Holy Virgin, ‘the multitude of mankind and all creation, weep and lament with me, the Mother of God.’ Most remarkably of all in what is truly an amazing statement, it is affirmed: ’the whole creation was altered by Thy Passion: for all things suffered with Thee, knowing, O Lord, that Thou holdest all in unity.’ …Do we allow properly for the fact that our Savior came to redeem, not only the human race, but the fullness of creation? Do we keep constantly in mind that we are not saved from but with the world? Met. Kallistos Ware

The Vice of Values (This is an excerpt from Steve McVey's book, Grace Walk, published in 1995. The book has been printed in 12 languages. You can get a copy here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=33 ) I've really begun to enjoy life since I gave up my Christian values. For many years my life was built around those principles which I believed embodied the essence of the Christian life. I thought it was a noble cause to boldly defend those values. I lamented the fact that our country has abandoned its Judeo-Christian ethics. But discovering how to walk in grace has totally reshaped my perspective. I now recognize that no value system, Christian or otherwise, can express the essence of Christianity. The end result of a life built on Christian values is only a caricature of New Testament Christianity. It is not God's purpose that our life be built around a system of values. It is His desire that our life be built on the person of His Son. Value systems may influence behavior, but God is not interested in systems of living. He is interested in relationships. An intimate relationship with Him will produce a godly lifestyle. However focusing on behavior will never create intimacy with God. Two Trees In The Garden Of Eden The basis of a lifestyle built around a system of right and wrong originates with the dawn of man. God's purpose in creating man was that He might enjoy mankind, expressing His loving nature to him and through him. He lovingly placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and gave them reign over the garden and all that was in it. One aspect of freedom is choice. Where there is no choice there is no real freedom. Consequently, two trees were placed in the garden from which man could choose to live. The choice made by Adam and Eve would not only determine their own destiny, but the destiny of all future generations. Genesis 2:9 describes the trees in the garden: "And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." It is not coincidental that these two trees were in the center of the garden. The tree that Adam and Eve would eat from was to determine the standard which would be central in controlling their actions each day. The Tree Of Life The tree of life is a picture of the Lord Jesus. A basic principle of biblical interpretation is that the Old Testament is understood in light of New Testament revelation. The New Testament affirms repeatedly that Jesus is Life. The reason a person possesses eternal life when he is a Christian is because Christ lives within him. To receive Him is to receive Life! Jesus said that he came so that we might have life (John 10:10). As we abide in Him, His life flows out of us like rivers of living water. It isn't a flow of Divine Life that we struggle to produce. His life just naturally flows out of the Christian who is abiding in Him. God intended that Adam and Eve should live by His life all their days. As long as He was the only source they had in this world, questions of right and wrong would have never arisen. Eating from the second tree is where the trouble for mankind began. The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil God placed a multitude of trees in the garden. There was only one tree from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The prohibition was for their own good. Remember that God created this tree and gave them a choice because without the choice there could be no freedom. God wanted man to choose Him. That choice would provide eternal life. But Adam and Eve were told that in the day they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. So the choice was clear — life or death. They could either continue to live in total dependence on God or choose independence from Him. Satan came along and convinced Eve that God was withholding something good from them and she ate from the forbidden tree. Adam did the same and suddenly their eyes were opened. For the first time they became conscious of good and evil. From that day forward every deed of their life would be evaluated by a value system built around the concept of right and wrong. However that was not God's original plan. His desire was that they simply allow Him to be the source and authority of their life. Back To The 1990's Now let's jump back into the twentieth century. As a result of Adam's sin, his descendants today still live by the choice he made. Building one's life around a value system defined by right and wrong is prevalent in every culture, from the most primitive to the most advanced. Every society defines right and wrong according to its own standards and people's lives are judged on the basis of conformity to those standards. Yet God's purpose for man today hasn't changed from His design in the garden of Eden. He still wants our lifestyle to find its source in His life, not in laws dictating right and wrong. When a person becomes a Christian, he possesses the divine life of Jesus Christ. His life is ours. As we abide in Christ, His life flows out of us producing a righteous lifestyle. If we aren't abiding in Him, actions become irrelevant. Before I understood that Christ is my life, my whole lifestyle was characterized by an obsession with right and wrong. Yet if one is not abiding in Christ, every action is wrong. To abide in Him is to walk in faith while to fail to abide in Christ is to walk after the flesh. Any time a Christian does things on his own, it is sin regardless of how his actions may appear. This is exactly what Paul meant when he said that "whatever is not of faith is sin." Sins are not the root of the problem when we fail to abide in Christ. They are the symptoms. The real issue is that we are living out of our own sufficiency. It's living independently of Him that is real problem. Contemporary Christians are involved in endless debates over questions of right and wrong. Is it wrong for a Christian to drink wine? How about a daiquiri? Can a Christian listen to rock group Guns n Roses? How about country singer Garth Brooks? Should a Christian attend R-rated movies? How about PG movies with bad language? The list is never ending. When we realize that the heart of the matter is that our lifestyle should be an expression of the life of Christ within us, we come to realize that we have been asking all the wrong questions! We must recognize that even good behavior which isn't an expression of Christ within us is a sin. Remember that the tree was of good and evil. Christians are quick to acknowledge that the deeds of human goodness demonstrated by one who isn't a Christian means nothing to God. Romans 8:8 says that "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Why? Because they are living out of their own resources, not by faith in Christ. The Bible teaches that "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 6:6). God isn't impressed by human goodness. Human goodness is nothing more than self righteousness. Even if one is a Christian, when he lives from his own resources, his good deeds are nothing more than self righteous behavior. Do you see the problem? His fruit comes from the wrong tree. Ask The Right Question The definitive question in the life of the believer is not, "Would it be wrong for me to do this?" The appropriate question is, "Am I trusting in Christ at this moment, trusting Him as my very Life Source?" (This is an excerpt from my book, Grace Walk, published in 1995. The book has been printed in 12 languages. You can get a copy here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=33 )

WHERE THE WILD ROSE GROWS

obedience is the fruit of sanctification, not its cause. God sanctifies us by his grace, not by our efforts.Sanctification is the progressive work of God in our lives. It is HIS work, not ours

WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW WHO I AM IN CHRIST?

Who I Am In Christ

http://www.christianlifecoaching.co.uk/who-you-are-in-Christ.html

Why do I need to know who I am in Christ?

Who I am in Christ

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Who I Am In Christ

http://www.christianlifecoaching.co.uk/who-you-are-in-Christ.html

Why do I need to know who I am in Christ?

Who I am in Christ

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