JOHN BOWLIN
MINISTRIES
Preaching and Teaching Everywhere
Your Identity In Christ
"New ID"
One of the MOST important revelations we can get from the Word of God is to understand who we are in Christ. Identifying with Christ will change the way we live and cause us to rise above adversity. Not understanding our identity in Him will keep us living far below our rights and privileges in Christ.
What does it mean to identify with Christ? It's normal for us to identify with something or someone. It make us feel connected and gives us a feeling of belonging.
In our everyday lives, we identify with a person, organization, occupation, nationality, or church. But, we also have an identity in the spirit realm. The scriptures say we have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). Not only did we die with Him on the cross at Calvary, we also have been raised with Him. We can see this in the Book of Ephesians.
Not only did we die with Him on the cross at Calvary, we also have been raised with Him.
EPHESIANS 2:4-7 (EXB)
4 But ·God’s mercy is great [ God is rich in mercy], and he loved us very much. 5 Though we were spiritually dead because of ·the things we did against God [our transgressions], he ·gave us new life [brought us to life] with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace. 6 And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the ·heavens [heavenly places/realms]. He did this for those in Christ Jesus 7 so that ·for all future time [in the ages to come] he could show the ·very great [exceeding; overwhelming] riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus.
According to the Word of God, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.Most Believers (Christians) don't know who they are in Christ or where they are seated. Some identify with a profession, or by their current circumstances or problems; such as divorced, broke, diabetic, bipolar, etc.
When we awake and really understand our identity in Christ (who we really are in Him) it changes the way we think, talk and live. The Living Bible says, "When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Before we were in Christ, we were destined for death and destruction. Now we are destined for eternal life (1 John 2:25)
Before Christ, we were destined for despair, degradation, and poverty. But in Christ, we are destined to have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10)
Our Identity in Christ is where it should be. It is Jesus who makes us "somebody."
The Scriptures tells us that God often changed people's identities. They looked at themselves one way, but God reveal to them who they really were. Gideon was so terrified of the Midianites that he hid inside a wine press to thresh his wheat.
Judges 6:11-12 (TLB)
11 But one day the Angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the oak tree at Ophrah, on the farm of Joash the Abiezrite. Joash’s son, Gideon, had been threshing wheat by hand in the bottom of a grape press—a pit where grapes were pressed to make wine—for he was hiding from the Midianites.
12 The angel appeared and spoke to Gideon, “The Lord is helping you, and you are a strong warrior.”
JUDGES 7 (MSG)
2-3 God said to Gideon, “You have too large an army with you. I can’t turn Midian over to them like this—they’ll take all the credit, saying, ‘I did it all myself,’ and forget about me....
16-18 He divided the three hundred men into three companies. He gave each man a trumpet and an empty jar, with a torch in the jar. He said, “Watch me and do what I do. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly what I do. When I and those with me blow the trumpets, you also, all around the camp, blow your trumpets and shout, ‘For God and for Gideon!’”
19-22 Gideon and his hundred men got to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries had been posted. They blew the trumpets, at the same time smashing the jars they carried. All three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, ready to blow, and shouted, “A sword for God and for Gideon!” They were stationed all around the camp, each man at his post. The whole Midianite camp jumped to its feet. They yelled and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, God aimed each Midianite’s sword against his companion, all over the camp. They ran for their lives—to Beth Shittah, toward Zererah, to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
23 Israelites rallied from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all over Manasseh. They had Midian on the run.
24 Gideon then sent messengers through all the hill country of Ephraim, urging them, “Come down against Midian! Capture the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah.”
25 So all the men of Ephraim rallied and captured the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah. They also captured the two Midianite commanders Oreb (Raven) and Zeeb (Wolf). They killed Oreb at Raven Rock; Zeeb they killed at Wolf Winepress. And they pressed the pursuit of Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.
Gideon was acting like anything but a mighty warrior! However, when he finally saw himself the way God saw him, he went on to deliver the Israelite's.
God also changed Abram's name. It was impossible for Abram and his wife, Sarai, to have children. But God said, "No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
Genesis 17:5 (TLB) - “What’s more,” God told him, “I am changing your name. It is no longer ‘Abram’ (‘Exalted Father’), but ‘Abraham’ (‘Father of Nations’)—for that is what you will be. I have declared it.
God also changed Sari's name to Sara. And God's words were fulfilled when Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
Genesis 17:15 (TLB) - Then God added, “Regarding Sarai your wife—her name is no longer ‘Sarai’ but ‘Sarah’ (‘Princess’).
God calls those things that are not as though they were. In the natural realm, what God is calling us may not exist. But in His eyes, it does. So, we need to see ourselves and talk about ourselves the same way God does.
Romans 4:17-18 (MSG) - We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody.
Isn’t that what we’ve always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, “I set you up as father of many peoples”? Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.
When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do.
And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!”
What God says about us is found in His Word.
We are new creatures
(2 Cor. 5:17).
We are the righteousness of God
(2 Cor. 5:21).
We've been healed
(1 Peter 2:24).
We've been made rich
(2 Cor. 8:9).
We are accepted
(Ephesians 1:6).
We are free from sin
(Rom. 6:20–22).
NEW ID
Christian
Loved
Redeemed
Blessed
Adopted
Alive!
Righteous
Empowered by the Holy Spirit
Healed
Through my New Identification with Christ, I can walk on scorpions and lions and not be harmed. I can walk on anything that tries to get in my way and come out victoriously."