Identity

 

Philippians 3:15 But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

 

 

Your history is redeemable. And it does not need to determine who you are today and who you will be tomorrow and what your future will be like. Your identity is determined by what God says about you.

At the circus you may see a six-thousand-pound elephant tethered to a small stake with a thin rope. With his great strength, he could easily pull the stake out or break the rope, but he doesn’t know he can. As a baby, he was tied strongly to an immovable object. He tried and tried to get loose but never could. Finally convinced that elephants tied to a stake cannot get loose, he stopped trying. Even though he is perfectly able to get away now, he doesn’t try anymore. He lives by an idea he formed a long, long time ago. He sticks to a rule that no longer applies to him.

The rule of the pain of the past no longer applies to us. It no longer needs to restrict us and entrap us. I was like that elephant. Jesus had forgiven me, He paid for that well and truly on the cross. But I was still chained in my heart. Now I’m a roaming free elephant.

 

To overcome the past we have to FACE FORWARD at the FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

The problem with the past if we try to get past it without actually dealing with it we end up repeating patterns that continue the cycle of pain. There is no cure for the past without Jesus.

If we don’t let Jesus deal with the past and the very real very painful feelings that accompany it, its just like putting a band aid on a amputation… “its just a flesh wound”

 

Remember: If we are in Christ then our HISTORY does not establish our IDENTITY nor does it determine our DESTINY!

Our identity is settled.

 

God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ to me and his wrath absorbing death on the cross and his resurrection now SEES me as perfect and spotless and holy, not because I am but because HE IS ~ Matt Chandler

 

He hath made him to be sin for us . . . that we might be made the righteousness of God . . . –2 Corinthians 5:21

 

Your identity as a Christian is that you are a child of God. Loved. Accepted. Innocent. Righteous.

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

Our history does not establish our identity. Only God has the right to establish our identity, who we really are inside out.

You have a fresh start because of Jesus. You have a brand new beginning. The old is gone. The past is overcome.

We may still deal with the consequences of the past but we do not have to be defined by it in a negative way.

Wonder how God reacts when you fail? Frame these two words and hang them on a wall. Not guilty.

God is faithful. Mighty. Amazing. His promises are yes and amen.

He can raise the dead and make the lame to walk.

He can raise you from your history and release you to walk today.