Hey everyone! So today we're going to talk about our identity based off of our
oneness with Christ. So our identity, first of all, let's understand that our
identity is actually the unique point at which our spirit unifies with God. That
unique juncture is our identity. So our identity can't actually even be
described. So a lot of times, you know, whether it be, I don't know, special
personality workshops or mindset coaches or whatever, we'll talk about our
identity if it's something that we can actually describe. Well, you know, write
down what are the types of things that you like? What's your personality? What
are your characteristics? But that's actually not our identity, all right?
Those are strictly the expressions of the uniqueness of our identity. But
our actual identity is the point at which our spirit unifies with God's
Spirit. It's very unique, very different, sets you apart from everyone else. Even
though we are all one in God, even though we are all unified in God, the unique
point at which we, our spirit, unifies with His Spirit, that is your identity. So
today we're going to talk about what it means to be unified with Christ and how
the Lord reveals all throughout Scripture the depth to which we are
actually unified with Christ. We haven't strictly been joined with Him as if we
are linking arms together going through life. We're actually
unified with Him as completely one, even more unified than the type and shadow
that the Lord uses of unity on the earth, such as a man marrying a woman. So
first of all, let's look at Ephesians. Now, Ephesians is a great book of the
Bible that focuses very heavily on our identity. So if that is something that
you especially struggle with or you just want to understand more about, the book
of Ephesians is a really great one. It goes all throughout it.
It goes into great depth. Paul talks about our identity from a variety of
different perspectives, comes at it from a variety of different ways
in order to make sure that the Ephesians had a very good solid
understanding of who they were. You know, about the uniqueness of the way
in which they have been joined by their spirits with the Spirit of Christ. So
Ephesians, one, all throughout Ephesians, but there are some
specific chapters that are especially strong as Ephesians in discussing this
topic. Ephesians 1 is one of them. And so I recommend that when you have an
opportunity that you go back and read all of Ephesians, but specifically
Ephesians 1, 3 through 14. Now right now, all that I'm going to do is I'm just
going to focus on verse 4 and verse 11 just for the sake of time. So this is
actually where everything started, where our unity with Christ started. And this
begins to explain the, again, the depth, the intimacy with which we are one with
Christ and how it all started and came about. So,
for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and
blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as sons
through Jesus Christ and according with his pleasure and will. So, for he chose us
in him before the creation of the world. So before the creation of the world,
before people were born into the earth, he chose us in himself. So in other words,
we were birthed out of God. Literally. We were literally birthed out of God. He
looked inside himself, chose us in him, and then separated us from himself and
made us who it is that we are. Now, there's one more, verse 11
references this idea. Also, it says, in him we were also chosen, having
been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in
conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we who
were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. Now, so
again, it talks about in him we were also chosen. So it mentions it twice just in
case we didn't get it the first time or just in case we thought, yeah, but maybe I
misunderstood that.
he repeats it and he even puts a slightly different spin on the phrase.
So in him we were also chosen for he chose us in him before the creation of
the world. We were originally in God. Originally. It's not just that we've been
reinserted, that we've been inserted back into Christ. We've actually been
reinserted because that's where we came from in the first place. Remember that
everything that that Salvation and the Good News talks about is always
restoration. It is always bringing everything back to what it was before.
Restore. Redeem. So it had to have originally happened first in order for
it to be happening yet again. So we were actually taken out of Christ. We were
taken out of God himself. Now how do, what are some other places in
Scripture that talk about this that we can use as, in order to gain again
breadth and depth of understanding about this? Well you know that the Lord always
uses types and shadows all throughout creation as an example of, and as kind
of like a crayon children's drawing of what things are actually like in the
heavenly realm. So how, where does it very, very, very first talk about and
reference the fact that we actually came out of God? Adam. Adam and Eve. So in
Genesis 2, 21 through 24, it talks about the fact that Adam's side was opened.
Adam's side was opened and Eve was removed from Adam. She was the very
essence of Adam. You remember what Adam talked about? He said, he woke up, he
saw her and he said, you are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. You are of me.
You have my very DNA. You have my very nature. You have my very essence. It was
literally taken out of Adam. Adam's side was opened if we would have, you know, if
we would have had any doubt whatsoever that Eve came out of Adam. Adam's side
had to be opened in order for Eve to actually be removed out of him as an
aspect of his very essence. So it's a type and shadow of the fact that we were
taken out of God. We were taken out of God because remember, Eve was Adam's
bride. It said right after that, you know, that a man will leave his father and
mother and cleave to his wife. You know, she was separated from him only to be
reunified with him. But see, now she was able to be reunified with him in a very
unique and special way because she was now separate, joined back together as one
as opposed to having never been separated. So there's an added
benefit, an added blessing. There's an additional enrichment in being
separated first and then reunified because then there can be
fellowship between the aspects as opposed to it's never been
separated and therefore it's just one. Now it's two. Reunified is one
which allows for an aspect of each one to feed off of and invest in the other.
There's an enrichment circle. Again, the reason why God took us out of
him. If we were already in him and he was already unified with us, why on
earth take us out of him only to reinsert us back into him and make us
make us as one? There was something unique and enriching about taking us out
of him and then to only to separate us and then to put us back
into him that now with that reinsertion after making the two
separate, you can actually have a relationship. Again, it's one not two and
yet there's a different aspect of relationship than you had before the two
were separated. So just know that there was a reason God
desired to have that fellowship with us. Otherwise, he would have just left us in
him. He desired there to be this feedback, this way that we affected
one another, this give, this take, this feeding in and investing in and being
enriched by each other that he desired to actually put on
display and to bless himself and us by. He desired relationship. Remember what he
when he when he created Adam. It's not good for man to be alone. Well God was
alone and God wasn't missing anything and Adam is the type in shadow. So and
this is before Adam sinned so in other words there's nothing wrong so but God
still said there's something more it can be better so let's separate an
aspect out of Adam rejoin it back to Adam and now there's a different aspect
an element of a relationship that actually makes the two when they come
back together something unique and something different than strictly the
sum of the sum of the parts being being connected. So remember that just like Eve
was taken out of Adam and she was of his very nature and essence so we are of the
very nature and essence of God. We were taken out of him we have his very DNA we
have again his very nature anything if God is love we are love if God is
righteousness we are righteousness if God is holiness then we are holiness.
Now it doesn't we're not saying that we are the creator we're not saying that
we're the creator who created us we're not saying that we are God the Father
we're not saying that we are exactly equal with Christ because why because he
always has the preeminence Christ always has the preeminence and everything was
placed under Christ except what God the Father and we're in Christ we've been
reinserted back into Christ it says which are some verses we're gonna look
at in a minute says we were we were reinserted back into Christ but Christ
always has the preeminence Christ is always described as the head of the body
he's the bridegroom of the bride and yet we've been rejoined and reunited with
him as one it's it's quite it's quite a mystery so where do we see that we have
been reunited with Christ so we see how the type and shadow that God showed of
in in scripture where the first Adam was a type and shadow of the fact that we
have been taken out of Christ that we were taken out of Christ so where does
it show as a type and shadow to prove that we were actually reinserted back
into Christ so that is going to be John 1934
here John 1934 okay now so Jesus is hanging on the cross and it says well
let's start in 33 so Jesus is hanging on the cross and remember they're trying to
take all of the all of the crucified men off of the crosses before Sabbath
because it's about to it's coming close to six o'clock and they need time to
remove him off the cross and then quickly quickly bury him it is as best
as they can and prepare him and to make sure that there's enough time to that
they're not touching a dead body and everything else and nothing and no dead
bodies are hanging on the cross during the Sabbath so but the thing is they
they had to break the legs of the criminals beside Jesus because they
weren't dead yet and they had to make sure that they and that they died very
quickly however see the first time you've been
christened in those either but okay so let's start with verse 33 but when they
came to Jesus and found that he was already dead they did not break his legs
instead one of the soldiers pierced Jesus's side with the spear bringing a
sudden flow of blood and water the man who saw it has given testimony and
testimony is true so so they're just talking about the fact that that that
actually proves that Jesus was dead that is why the centurion drove the spear up
through the side of Jesus is because when you drove that when he drives the
spear at the side of Jesus it comes up into his heart and when he removes the
spear if outflows blood and water they actually knew that the body was dead so
that's why he did it but see why is this significant with what we're talking
about Jesus who is the second Adam who came to restore everything that the
first Adam lost Jesus who is the second Adam had his side opened again in order
to after he died after he died for the sins of man in order as a type and
shadow and picture
the fact that now the bride had been reinserted back into Christ. So the second
Adam's side was opened just like the first Adam's side was opened. And when
the first Adam's side was opened, the bride was removed. When the second Adam's
side was opened, it was a type and shadow of the fact that the bride
had been reinserted back into Christ. So those are the pictures that the Lord
used of the fact that we were taken out of Christ and that we have been
reinserted back into Christ. In other words, we had to have been there in the
first place in order for us to be reinserted. So if we look at Ephesians
again, because Ephesians is such a great reference to anything about talking
about our unity with Christ and which, as we know, is our identity. Let's see, if we
look at Ephesians 5, let's look at 31 through 32. So for this reason, a man
will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will
become one flesh. Interesting. It doesn't talk about one spirit. It talks about one
flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ in the church.
So what Paul is referencing here is he's referencing the fact that it was a
mystery hidden in God from the beginning of the world that he always intended us
to be unified with him. A man will leave his father and mother and be united to
his wife and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I
am talking about Christ and the church. So this was a mystery that God hid in
himself. Can we think of a bigger mystery? Can we think of a
bigger one? This is even a bigger one than Christ dying on
the cross and saving us from our sins. This is a bigger mystery. The fact
that the God of the universe would allow himself to receive into himself as one,
not as two, not us jumping in him like a Joey would into a
kangaroo pouch or something, but actually uniting with the God of the universe as
one. Can we think of a more profound mystery than that? I don't know
about you, but it sounds easier to me to believe that Jesus would die on the
cross, save us from our sins, so that we could we could talk with God and have
fellowship with God than the fact that he would allow himself to be made one
with us. One. Completely. Not married, not linking arms, not hanging out. Completely
one. Now we're gonna talk in just a second about how exactly one we are and
how there is a complete lack of separation. But first of all, let's also
look at Revelation 13. This ties a bit in with, as everything does, with the
fact that we've been talking about love in the past few sessions. So let's check
out Romans another description of the extent of God's love for us. I've got all
of these little notes here. So I like I like a little stickies that
hold a lot of a lot of notes. I like to put sticky notes in my Bible because
sometimes I run out of room. I write so many things here in the
margins that I run out of room. And so then you have to start
putting in stickies in order to continue making notes. So looking at Revelation 13
8, it says, all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast, all whose names
have not been written in the book of life, belonging to the land that
was slain from the creation of the world. That is how important it was to
God that we be reinserted back into him. He wanted to make sure that there was no
way at all that we could ever be permanently separated from him, that he
would ever be without us, where we would not be reunited and reinserted back
into him as one. He made such provision that he made sure that the lamb was
slain from before the creation of the world not not you know back in what was
that I think that they figured out it's somewhere around like 27 AD because they
believe that the original Jesus was born I think about like was it 4 BC I
believe something like that so it is so the Lord was that serious about making
sure that we that he provided he made provision for himself and for us that he
would never be without us and that we could be assured that we would never be
separated from him that he made sure that the lamb wasn't only slain for our
sins but that he was slain before anyone was ever put onto the earth before he
even created it because you know that he didn't even create man until the sixth
day that he before anything was created he made sure that the lamb was slain so
he could be assured that he would never be separated from us it is extremely
important to him so we again we can begin to understand not only a greater
depth of our identity but a greater depth of his love for us so let's look
at 1st Corinthians 617 we are going all over because in this one it is talking
about our oneness with Christ 617 but he who unites himself with the Lord is one
with him in spirit not connected not joined together like conjoined twins or
something like that one with him in spirit one single single unit now let's
look at another example and this is probably my favorite description that
the Lord gives of the extent to which we can understand we are actually one
and not simply two that exist in the same being almost as if there were two
different entities in the same being we're actually one and that is Galatians
Galatians is another really good really good book to to study for regarding this
topic so we're going to look at I've got a lot of scripture verses here so
Galatians 3 I want to make sure that y'all understand the foundation that God
has given us of this revelation that this isn't new this is this is
entrenched all throughout scripture and God repeats it over and over and over
again so let's look at Galatians 3 where do I
want to start let's start in certain 16 and then we're gonna jump to 26 so I
recommend in that you all of these all of these passages that I am recommending
that you actually expand your reading on and one of them is Galatians 3 reading
15 go to through 15 through 25 talking about the law and the promise talking
about Abraham so we're just going to focus on a few here so we're gonna jump
to 16 the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed the scriptures
the scripture does not say and to seeds meaning many people but but instead it
says into your seed meaning one person who is Christ so Paul is making very
very clear here it's like when he says okay what does scripture say scripture
said that the promises were spoken to Abraham into his seed singular and he
says very specifically not plural he's referencing that scripture referenced
it to be a singular seed not a plural seed and what we would think of is well
Abraham was supposed to be the father of many nations so surely it was meant to
be plural surely seed was just well that seed housed the multitudes and so
therefore it was actually many no he's saying it's very serious very specific
here it was a singular word now going to Galatians 3
Staying in chapter 3, but now going to 26 through 29. It says,
You were all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. I'm just gonna stop
there just for a second. Notice there, all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourself with Christ. Remember what we talked about in the
last session. We were talking about the importance of clothing in Scripture to
reference identity, that we're clothed in Christ. Christ is our identity. It is a
declaration of who we are, of our pricelessness, etc. So there is neither
Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus
Christ, Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and
heirs according to the promise. So this is the same chapter, just a few verses
later from Galatians 3 16 to now Galatians 3 29 specifically, where
originally in 16 he was saying, hey look, the Scriptures say, you remember, that
that this promise was given to Abraham and to his seed, singular, not seeds plural.
And that seed, Paul said, that seed is Christ. So we think, okay, seed, singular, so
therefore he couldn't be talking to the multitudes. He's therefore only talking
about one, Christ. We can kind of get the connection. But then he goes on in 26
29, but specifically in 29, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed
and heirs according to the promise. Again, seed, singular, one spirit, one, not two,
not seeds, not seeds that are born of the same womb. No one seed, no separation.
They share everything. They're one essence, one being. We're that
unified. So God gets very, very deep in his explanation, and Paul greatly helps
be able to explain this, that God is very deep in his
explanation and his description of where it just leaves no shadow of a doubt
the extent to which we're one. We're one more than in the way that a man and
woman are one together. Now in John 14 20, it talks about the fact that Father
Christ and we are all one, which I would actually really like to read. So let's do
that. I don't know if you can hear that cat. There's a cat out there that likes
to make a lot of noise at night. I don't know what the deal is. Let's see here.
Okay, so John 14 starting in verse or just in verse 20. On that day you will
realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. So we're all
one. The Father, Christ, and us. And of course the Holy Spirit is there, you
know, flowing between all three. You know, it's his spirit. The essence is flowing
between all of us. So in other words, it's like we're the fourth
part of the Trinity. We're an element of the Trinity. We would say we were the
fourth part except for the fact that we are one with Christ and therefore
there's no separation. Therefore there is Father, there's Christ, which is us,
which we're in, and then there's the Holy Spirit. So Christ, again, he always
has the preeminence. So we're not saying that we are equal with
Christ or Lord over Christ. We're equal in a way, but he always has the
preeminence as the firstborn, etc. But we are part of the Trinity. We are that
much one. Now looking at Psalm 82.6 is very interesting. Let's see here. This is
actually a very unique passage.
If I can get there a little faster. Psalm 83, 82, 6. This can actually shock most people,
but this is actually a, 82, 6, so this is actually,
here we are, um, does it go to the next page? No, it does not. Okay, this is actually the
scripture that we'll find in the New Testament that Jesus uses to prove to the Pharisees,
to prove to the Jews, that he is the son of God. This is absolutely fascinating. So Psalm 82, 6,
I said, this is God, by the way, I'm talking, God the Father, because if you read the beginning of
the Psalm, it's, God presides in the great assembly, he gives judgment among the gods,
and then quote, so in other words, this is God talking in the assembly of the gods,
how long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked, etc. So going down
to verse 6, it says, I said, meaning, this is God talking, I said, you are gods, you are all sons
of the Most High. God is saying, God is calling us gods. How is he able to do that?
Because we are of him, we are of his essence, we are of his nature. Now we're not the God who
created us, we are not God the Father, but God himself declared, I said, you are gods, you are
all sons of the Most High. Now, should there be any doubt that God is talking about humans,
maybe people think, oh, well, that's not talking about humans, he's actually referring to angels,
or he's referring to some other, maybe he's talking about the 24 elders, or maybe he's
talking about whatever. No, this is the passage that Jesus uses to prove to the Jews that he is
the Son of God. So let's actually look at that. So let's look at John 10, 22 through 38.
Okay, so, when came the feast of dedication at, then came the feast of dedication at Jerusalem?
It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's colonnade. The Jews gathered
around him saying, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you did not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name
speak for me, but you do not believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice,
I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.
No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all.
No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Again, the Jews picked up
stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, I have shown you many great miracles from the Father.
For which of these do you stone me? We're not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews,
but for blasphemy because you, a mere man, claim to be God. So this is what Jesus is addressing,
the fact that the Jews said you, a mere man, claim to be God. So Jesus, a very typical
debate-style rebuttal, addresses exactly what they asked. Their issue is the fact, Jesus,
you're a man, you're claiming to be God. So Jesus is going to address the fact, yes, I am a man.
And let me show you that, let me prove by the scriptures that that proves that I am God.
Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law? In other words, he's like, hey, look,
I am referencing your scripture that you already know, that you already preach,
that you already understand, that you already agree with, that you already believe.
So in other words, he's calling on something that they already believe to be true,
and he's using that as proof that their, in other words, their belief in scripture,
and the way that they interpret scripture, is proof that they are God.
That he is the son of God. So, is it not written in your law, I have said you are God?
So he's referencing the fact that God in Psalm 82, God the Father in Psalm 82, 6,
said, I have said you are God's. Why does he bring this up? Because he knows that
the Jews know that in there God is addressing mankind and calling them
God's, sons of the Most High God. And he's addressing the fact that they had
just said that they wanted to stone him because they found it a problem that
Jesus was a mere man claiming himself to be God. Jesus is saying, but even you
yourself know from Psalm 82, 6, that God the Father is the one that called man
God's. If he called them God's, to whom the Word of God came, again, proof that
God's is referring to mankind. God's, if he, God the Father, called them
God's, who's them, them God's, those to whom the Word of God came, the Word of
God came to humanity, right? The Word of God came to us. Called them God's, to whom
the Word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken. What about the one whom
the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you
accuse me of blasphemy? Because I said I am God's Son. So he's doing a
variety of things here, but just to make it succinct, he's saying, look, in that
passage, God the Father declared that men were
God's and men were sons. So he's saying, so why are you having a problem with the
fact that I'm declaring that I am one with God if God the Father is the one
who first declared me to be God and to be a God? Because men are God's, it says.
And then the fact that I am declaring that I am God's Son,
because that's the second half of Psalm 82, 6, where it says, you are sons of the
Most High. Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does, but if I do it, even
though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and
understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. So Jesus
continues to repeat the fact that, yes, I am God, meaning I'm God's Son, I'm from
God, and God the Father declared it first because he declared it over mankind.
He declared that they were that they were God's, declared that they were sons.
Why did God the Father do it? It's like, well, it's their nature. They're born of
me. They're my children. If my children aren't God's, what are they? They came out
of me. I didn't create them like a giraffe or like a rhinoceros. I created
them of my very essence. So they're natural, that is their natural DNA.
I'm declaring to themselves and to the world that that's their natural DNA to be
not only God's, but also sons of the Most High because I bore them. And so
Jesus is referencing that. He's also constantly and continually referencing
the fact I am in the Father and the Father is in me. The oneness, that unity,
because that's what God's, again, anything that is born of God and is the very
nature and essence of him, as well as anything that is born of God and
therefore is his son. I am in the Father and the Father is in me. This continual
theme of oneness and unity with God is extremely deep throughout scripture.
And in fact, Psalm 82 6, that is referencing man, is the very scripture
that Jesus uses to prove to the Jews that he had the right to be declared by
God the Father first to say that he was God's son. So remember that union with
Christ means that no separation is possible. We can't be separated from him
anymore. There's no way for you to be divided if you're not a
separate being. We're completely unified. You can't separate something
that's one at all. It's just one. It's just one thing. Like you can't
separate this hand
into two different beings, or two different aspects,
because it's one thing, you can't,
if you were to divide it, it would be itself divided.
It's not two, it wouldn't be able to be
two different things.
There's no way to separate,
there's no way to separate a one.
So remember that we're of this very nature
and of this very substance,
meaning that nothing that can be,
that can't be, nothing that can be said,
or what is said, I should say, of Christ's nature
is what can be said of us, because we're one with him.
One, one seed, Abraham's seed.
Anything that can be said of Christ's nature
can be said of us, and anything that can't be said
of Christ's nature cannot be said of us.
Then, the last thing I wanted to just give y'all is,
oh, before I do that, just wanted to jump back
just really quick, just as an interesting side note
about when we were taken out of,
when the bride was reinserted back into Christ,
as, or, you know, we have that type and shadow
of Jesus's side being re-opened,
and the spirit going in,
and the fact that it was blood and water coming out.
Why is that significant?
Okay, scientifically, we see why that was significant.
We understand why the soldiers needed to see
blood and water, because it proved physical death,
but there was a type and shadow going on
with, symbolically, with this picture,
the fact that Jesus's side, his second Adam,
was opened, the fact that the bride
was now being reinserted back into Christ,
but what also was going on, blood and water.
Blood, which was for the purchase of the bride.
That's what the, that's why the blood was important,
you know, spiritually, to be able to see.
The blood was for the purchase of the bride,
and the water was to represent the fact
that the husband, the bridegroom, Christ,
was washing his bride with the water of the word.
You remember that Jesus is word.
So, if you look at Ephesians 5.26,
so y'all may have noticed the passage
that I was just now referencing,
but let's look at the actual passage, let's see.
So, Ephesians 5, going back to Ephesians 5,
looking at verse 26.
Okay, so, well, let's go back it to 25
so that we can actually start
at the beginning of the sentence.
Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.
So, when Christ's eye was open,
blood came out proving the purchase of the bride,
blood had to be shed for the purchase of the bride,
and the water flowed out,
symbolizing the fact that Christ was washing his bride
to cleanse her by the word, he's the word,
cleansing her by the water of the word.
The water was coming out of word
with the capital W of Christ.
I just wanted to point that out really quick
because that's a very unique aspect
of how Ephesians 5 was talking about husbands and wives,
and it's talking about the fact
that this is a profound mystery of Christ and the church,
how that was symbolized in the crucifixion
when the spirit entered the side of Jesus.
So, the last thing that I wanted to cover really quick
is what I do, this is something that the Lord,
that the Holy Spirit just kind of impressed on my heart,
and that I just began to declare
in order to help give my soul something
to kind of latch onto so that I could begin to shift
into remembering my identity in Christ
in a particular moment when I needed it,
because we have to understand our identity in Christ
and be standing in that identity in Christ
in order to operate from a place of rest,
in order to be able to hear the spirit,
in order to be able to operate in the spirit.
Our identity is crucial, absolutely vital.
Nothing else can be understood without it.
We can't stand in the promises,
we can't receive the promises,
we can't stand in our rightful power and authority.
We can't grow and mature without understanding our identity in Christ, the
unique point at which we have been unified with Christ, where our
spirit and his spirit have been unified. So when I'm about to do something and I
feel suddenly inadequate, I'm somehow struggling with my identity at a very
root level and I might just be struggling with what it is that I'm
about to do. I might feel fearful, like I said, I might feel inadequate. I might
feel like I don't fully understand what it is that I need to do. I know that I'm
going to need to lean on the Spirit to know how to handle a situation or
what to even say in a situation because perhaps I don't feel prepared. Perhaps I
feel like I'm about to walk into a situation within a relationship where
I'm concerned that triggers are going to come up, that I am
going to forget who I am, that I am going to approach the situation in a
victim mentality. In order to shift my understanding from
believing that I am flesh and blood and I'm a soul, switching it from that to an
understanding, no, I am spirit. I am one with Christ. I am seated in heavenly
places with Christ. I'm unified with him. I am, as the Bible symbolizes, a type and
shadow with husbands and wives. I am one with him. They were one with
him in flesh. I am one with him in spirit. So to make that shift, this is what I say.
It used to take me longer to shift into my understanding that I
was a spirit and that I was one with Christ and that I had that position and
the power and the authority of being, of having that identity of oneness with
Christ, but now I can actually shift very quickly. But before, it would take me
sometimes repeating this for about two, three times before I actually got my
soul to be able to shift, my soul to choose to believe this. So what I would
do, what I do, what I still do sometimes is I say, okay Christ, I believe I was
taken out of you. Christ, I believe I was taken out of you, that I've been
reinserted back into you and that I abide in you as you abide in me and we
abide in the Father and as the Father abides in us. Therefore, I am always about
my Father's business because we're all one. I'm in Christ. Christ and I are in
the Father. The Father is in us. Therefore, I am always about my Father's
business. I'm never separate from him. I'm never, I'm never alienated. I'm never
abandoned. And by residing in that place, residing in that understanding of my
identity, residing in that unity, residing in that connection, then I'm all, God is
always flowing through me. I'm always uniquely united with him, which is my
identity. And then from that place, I always can operate out of the Father's
heart. Understanding I am in that place, acknowledging it and believing it and
operating from that position, I always operate according to the Father's heart
because I'm in it and it's in me. It's when I'm believing I'm outside it that I
begin to do things that aren't always according to the Father's heart. But when
I acknowledge and understand and receive and believe the fact and reshift my
consciousness to the fact that I am spirit and I am one in Christ, I am in
the Father. I am in his heart. Therefore, I am always about the Father's heart, the
Father's business, and everything it is that he wants to do. So that's what it is
that I repeat to myself. So hopefully that is helpful and you can put
your own tweaks on it. There might be something else that you want to repeat
to yourself in times where and in moments where you need to make that
shift to remind yourself, nope, this is what I am choosing to believe. Because I
said it, I didn't say, Lord, please help me to believe. I declared it. I repeated
God's words back to him and said, Christ. In fact, it was almost as if that it
I wasn't just repeating his words back to him.
It was even more than that.
I was making a declaration.
But I was making a declaration after he already said it.
Christ, I believe I was taken out of you.
I've been reinserted back into you.
And I abide in you as you abide in me.
And we abide in the Father as the Father abides in us.
Therefore, I am always about my Father's business.
I am telling my, I am making an intentional shift
in my soul that that is what I believe
and I am turning myself towards it.
It's very intentional.
And walking myself through that and declaring that
to Christ, this is what I believe
and I am declaring that this is true.
As opposed to telling my soul that,
well, okay, you need to believe this
and I need to believe this, I need to believe this,
I need to believe this.
That I have found personally for me
to be a bit more difficult to latch onto.
But if I make that soul shift and I decide,
no, this is what I am choosing to believe is true
in reality, I'm simply declaring God's words after him.
He's already said it was true.
Christ, here's how it is.
I believe that I was taken out of you.
Believe that I've been reinserted back into you.
That I abide in you as you abide in me
and we abide in the father as the father abides in us
and therefore I am always about my father's business.
I am always residing in my father's heart.
I am always operating according to
and in agreement with my father's heart.
So I hope this is helpful in understanding
to a greater depth and a degree
about your identity in Christ.
If you would like, I highly recommend
that you read Ephesians.
Read it in a whole new light.
Look at it in terms of your oneness with Christ
and the fact that, as it mentions even in Ephesians 5,
talking about husbands and wives,
the degree to which we are unified
and how each of the parts lovingly
is either submissive to the other or protects the other
and how the two work in conjunction.
How, just as it talks about the fact that
when husbands and wives get married,
and I think that we mentioned this
in a previous session as well,
that each one of their bodies belongs to the other.
The husband's body is no longer his.
It belongs to the wife.
The wife's body is no longer hers.
It belongs to the husband.
Think about that in terms of your specific unity with Christ.