To know who we truly are as Christians, is the key to a strong relationship with our Lord and living a victorious life. When we asked Jesus to become the Lord of our lives, we were born-again by the Holy Spirit and began the journey to heaven. No one can say that he is so passionate about Christ all the time that he is never afraid of anything and always has a total and firm trust in the Lord. It would be wonderful if we could only live "on the top of the mountain" with the Lord, but the everyday challenges often cause us to descend into the "valley of the shadow of death," where we are attacked by the enemy. That is why it is so important to know our identity in Jesus Christ and what He won for us on the cross and belongs to us!
Only if we know the truth about the new creation that we are in Jesus we can live to please God and win the everyday battles we all face. The Bible tells us everything we need to know and do in every situation, so let us take a better look at some of the verses about our identity as Christians and what belongs to us through Jesus.
Through Jesus we are the children of God. The fact that we are adopted by the Creator of the entire universe is beyond imagination! How great must be the love of the heavenly Father for us, that He wants us to be His children, while He has known absolutely everything about each of us before we were even born and continued to fulfill the plan for our salvation by sending His Son to die in our place!
John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God--
1 John 3:1a, 2 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! ... Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
By believing in Jesus, we are righteous because we have received His righteousness. When God the Father looks at us, He sees Jesus and His righteousness. This does not mean that we can live in sin, because Jesus loves us and forgives all our wrongs. Our sins are forgiven only when we sincerely repent and ask God to forgive us. If we love the Lord, we do not want to displease Him, on the contrary we want to please Him and as a result we hate sin and do everything to resist temptations! God has loved us and Jesus paid for all our sins before we ever repented! He did it for all mankind, while we were still lost in sin and did not deserve to be forgiven. Sin has separated man from God, and the penalty for sin is death. Jesus was the only one who ever lived in a human body without sinning and therefore He could pay for all the sins of mankind through His death. Through His sacrifice, Jesus restored the relationship between us and God and reconciled us with Him.
In Jesus we are victorious and we can reign in life! As we realize and receive the grace and righteousness of Jesus, we become more aware of who we are in Christ and we can handle the daily challenges way better. It is the Lord's desire for us to reign in life, not be overcome by problems and difficulties.
Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
We can be obedient to the Lord, when Jesus truly reigns in our lives. As a result, we grow in understanding His grace so that we may receive it fully. Once we start to benefit of all the favor and righteousness of Jesus, we may live from a position of victory. Whenever we reign, we rise above the problems and challenges of this world. Truly reigning does not mean having a high social position, professional achievements and large bank accounts. We reign in life when we trust the Lord completely and are not defeated by what happens to us. We know that He is our source and loves us so much that He will always do what is best for us in the long run! True happiness comes from within, from the pure, deep and sincere relationship with the Lord, in which we have security, peace and trust, not from the possessions of this world or what it offers.
We have been made complete in Jesus Christ, Whom God the Father placed above all principality, power, might and dominion, and has everything under His feet (Ephesians 1:21-22). There is nothing we could receive from any other source than the Lord, nor in any other way than by belonging to the heavenly family, by faith. When we became God's children, we received all that was missing in our spiritual being and became "complete." This means that we are lacking nothing, we are made whole in Jesus, because He is perfect and lives in us.
Colossians 2:10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
We are set free from the bondage of sin, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, because we no longer live led by the desires and lusts of our fallen human nature, but by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Sin leads to death, while obedience leads to life. Moreover, Jesus sits at the right hand of the heavenly Father, since He ascended to heaven, after being resurrected, and we are seated with Him. In the Spirit, we are in Jesus at the right hand of God, and Jesus dwells in us, through the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Since we became born-again, through the Holy Spirit, having received the seed of God, it has remained in us and because we have a new nature in our spirit, we no longer love sin, but love what God loves and that is why we seek to do what is right and pleases Him.
1 John 3:9 (Berean Literal Bible) Anyone having been born of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him, and he is not able to continue sinning, because he has been born of God.
Through Jesus we are holy, our sins have been removed and we have the right to receive all spiritual blessings. And because God loves us so much, He has adopted us into His heavenly family through His Son.
Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Because Jesus lives in our spirits through the Holy Spirit, we have His mind, which is His capacity of understanding and thinking. This means that whenever we are able to ignore what we already know in our physical mind, even something that seems right, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us, we can make the right decisions in our situations. This is also true about studying and understanding God's Word. In "Thayer's Greek Lexicon" the original term, from the Greek "ginosko," translated "mind," is explained as "intellect, mind, understanding, reason, intellectual capacity."
1 Corinthians 2:16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Those of us who love God are rich in faith and heirs of His Kingdom with Christ (Romans 8:17, Ephesians 1:11). The gift of faith is indispensable to the life of faith and we also received it through Jesus. Without faith we could not have a relationship with God, nor can we please Him (Hebrews 11:6).
James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
The anointing of the Holy Spirit that we received through Jesus, teaches us all we need to know. Jesus said in John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” The Holy Spirit is God and knows absolutely everything. As we grow in our relationship with the Lord and spend more in His presence, we learn more about Him and come to know His will in all areas. It is worth striving to remain in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, because the correct decisions we make, the happier can we be and enjoy the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10).
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
When we live to please the Lord, we keep His commandments and our desires are in accordance with what the Lord wants to give us. Our prayers and requests will receive the desired answers because we will not ask against God’s will. We can be sure that everything that the Lord wants us to have is for our good.
1 John 3:22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
We are loved by God with a perfect love. The maximum suffering that Jesus endured, through His crucifixion, dying in our place is the clearest proof of this love. Although He knows us better than we know ourselves, He continues to love us and He desires us to be with Him for all eternity.
1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
We are victorious in the battles we fight against the kingdom of darkness, because Jesus, who dwells in us, is greater than any principality and dominion. When we know and believe this truth, we can resist the attacks of the devil and win in Jesus' Name.
1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Through Jesus, God enlightens our spiritual eyes and gives us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, through which we can know the Lord and understand the complexity of the inheritance we have in Him, His unlimited power ready to help us and His amazing love. Once we understand the hope that we have in the calling that God has for each of us, our faith is increased and our perspective changes for the good.
Ephesians 1:17-19 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
In Jesus Christ, through the new birth, we have become a new spiritual being, perfect, cleansed, and delivered from the bondage of sin. We still have the physical body and carnal nature, but in the spirit we are completely changed, renewed, and righteous.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are all sent as ambassadors of Christ to help others be reconciled with God. We are to let them know that the heavenly Father had Jesus take our sin and die in our place so we can become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. As we already know, since Jesus became the Lord of our lives, when God the Father looks at us, He sees Jesus and not our faults. Our heavenly Father sees us clean and immaculate, because Jesus took our sins upon Himself and gave us His righteousness in return.
2 Corinthians 5:19-21 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
By faith in Jesus we are the children of God. Through water baptism we have put on Christ and we all have equal rights, which are not the result of our actions, but of the fact that Jesus lives in us.
Galatians 3:26-28 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Jesus united us, Jews and Gentiles, and we have all become one body, and the promises for the people of Israel are available for us too. All of us who love God and live for Him, are heirs together of God's Kingdom and have our citizenship in heaven. We long for our Savior to come and take us to heaven to be with Him.
Ephesians 3:6-7 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
No matter what nationality we are, if we belong to the Lord, we are part of His people and have become a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and a holy nation. Through Jesus we received God's mercy and all the rights that His children have.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
In Jesus we have the power to do whatever our Heavenly Father asks us to do. In our spirits, we have all the power of Jesus, and even if we reach our maximum endurance in our flesh, if we trust the Lord and ask Him to help us do what we have to do, we can finish whatever we started.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
God chose us before the foundation of the world to be His children. In Jesus, when we accepted His call, He cleansed us from sin, sanctified us, and adopted us into His heavenly family.
Ephesians 1:4-5 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
We are the workmanship of God, created in Jesus in a specific way, with a specific purpose so that we may fulfill the wonderful calling and plan that the Lord has for each of us. Only by being who the Lord created us to be, can we live according to His will and do the good deeds He has already prepared for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We are blessed and happy if we truly study God's Word and apply it in everything we do. Knowing the truth of God’s Word does us no good if we do not apply what we know.
James 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
We can overcome the devil, by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, by the word of our testimony, and if we do not love our lives more than the Lord. If Jesus is everything to us, the evil one has nothing to tempt us with and get us to choose sin instead of being obedient to God.
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
God’s divine power that we have received through Jesus Christ has given us everything we need to have eternal life and to live in humility and obedience to the Lord. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can grow in the knowledge of Jesus and receive the most valuable promises, so that we may become more and more like the Lord, and we no longer follow the lusts of our carnal nature, but instead flee from all that is sin.
1 Peter 1:3-4 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Our bodies became the temples of the Holy Spirit, when we became born-again. This means that we no longer belong to ourselves, but to God who purchased us with the highest cost, the life of His Son. Therefore, let us live for the glory of the One who cares for us and is the source of everything we need.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Because we trust the Lord and obey Him, we are in a position of victory, over our problems, while the Lord changes the adverse circumstances or attacks of the devil into something good in the long run.
Deuteronomy 28:13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.
Because Jesus is the Light of the world and dwells in us, we are His light in this world full of darkness. When unbelievers see our good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to walk in, they may recognize that God is real and give Him glory.
Matthew 5:14a, 16 “You are the light of the world.... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
We are chosen by God, forgiven of sins, and made righteous in Jesus so that we may be "like the image of the Firstborn among many brethren." And because He considered us pure, without sin, He glorified us, by blessing us with an abundant life and everything we need to make it to heaven. Because God has chosen us to be His, we have in us the fruit of the Holy Spirit, by which we can be merciful, kind, humble, gentle, and patient. In our own strength we could not even partially fulfill the Lord's requirements, but the Lord does not ask us to do anything on our own. He gave us the Holy Spirit because He knows our limits and need of help. God wants us to be humble, dependent on Him and not be independent and prideful of our achievements.
Romans 8:30-31 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?’
Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;
Through Jesus Christ we are redeemed from the curse of sin, sickness, and poverty. In Jesus Christ we are healed of all sicknesses (Isaiah 53:4-5; 1 Peter 2:24). The Lord took upon Himself all our diseases, sufferings and sorrows. Because He suffered, we pray in faith to enter into the possession of our healing, as Jesus has already done His part. Through Jesus we are received into God's people, we are delivered from the curse of the Law, and we can receive the same blessings that are promised to the people of Israel.
Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
When we pray for healing and it does not come to pass instantly, the devil tries to make us doubt that God loves us and wants us healed. But this is not true. Jesus did only the will of the heavenly Father and He healed all the sick who came to Him. Based upon this truth, even if it takes longer than we would like sometimes, we can continue to have faith that we will receive the healing we pray for. The devil uses our lack of patience and the fact that we do not like to suffer, to try to make us doubt that we will get what we ask for and to give up fighting for our healing. The persevering prayer of faith will be answered. And even if sometimes the answer is not what we expect, we can be sure that it is what is best for us, because the Lord loves us more than we can ever love ourselves.
Our life is rooted in Jesus Christ if He is truly our Lord. In Him we have the faith that gives us the strength to continue to walk on the narrow path, thanking God for all He has done for us.
Colossians 2:6-7 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
We can be courageous and fear not, because God has not given us a spirit of fear. He has given us the Holy Spirit, in Whom we have strength, love, and a sound mind that can make the right decisions according to God's Word.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Ever since the devil succeeded in tempting Adam and Eve to sin, he has been using everything he knows about humans to make us doubt the truth. If we believe his lies, we give him the power to turn them into reality and hurt us. He has universal lies, which work for everybody and some personalized ones, for those who do not fall so easily into his traps. Satan wants us to doubt our worth, God’s unconditional love for us, our abilities, and especially who we are and what we have in Jesus Christ. From Luke 4:2 we learn that Satan tried to tempt Jesus during the 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, while He was vulnerable, hungry, and alone. If the enemy had the audacity to tempt the Son of God, we can be sure, that he does the same to us, especially when we are going through hardships and are not spiritually strong. It is so important to know the truth and not fall into the devil's traps.
If we believe other people, or even the thoughts suggested by demonic spirits, when they tell us that we have no value, or that God does not love us, that we do not deserve to be loved and that we cannot do anything right then we can never accomplish what God has for us to do. If we believe that no one loves us and we live in vain, then we can defeat this wrong mentality only if we know the truth of God's Word. God created each of us perfect for the plan He has prepared for our lives. Every human being is unique, special and valuable to the Lord. God’s perspective of beauty is not like that of the world, which makes so many Christians feel inferior. The inner beauty is the one that matters to the Lord. The people that are fulfilled in Jesus are happy and know that God loves them so much that He will never leave them and they have a unique beauty that transcends any physical imperfections. On the other hand, the physical beauty of a fearful, insecure person with many inferiority complexes will pass unnoticed.
Let us consider the following verses to find out what we have in Christ so that we can enjoy all that the Lord has for ours.
If we do not know what we have and are not convinced that it belongs to us, we cannot benefit of what Jesus has gained for us. Even if we have a huge bank account, if we don't know that it is ours and it won't help us at all.
When Jesus remains in us and we in Him, we have His peace that surpasses all understanding, because it guards our minds and hearts. Our thoughts are producing emotions and we cannot have peace whenever we do not think in accordance with God's Word and will. Jesus said, “I leave you peace, I give you My peace. I don't give it to you the way the world does. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). The apostle Paul understood the importance of making the right choices. If we constantly choose to rejoice in the Lord, regardless of the circumstances, to be gentle with other people, to give the Lord our worries and problems, we can have the peace that goes beyond the understanding of the human mind.
Philippians 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Jesus Christ has prepared the most wonderful gift for us of eternal life. He chose us, called us, and when we asked Him to forgive our sins and become the Lord of our lives, He forgave and gave us a new nature through the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Through His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus acquired everything we need for an abundant life on earth, but most of all, He made our salvation possible. We can pass from physical to eternal life and we will never die spiritually. Salvation costs us nothing, because Jesus paid its price in our place. But in order to complete our salvation, we must surrender it all to the Lord and live led by the Holy Spirit, pleasing God. Fulfilling the lusts and exhortations of the carnal nature leads to sin, and if the person does not repent and dies in sin, the end result is spiritual death, or separation from God forever.
Through Jesus we can have a perfect relationship with our heavenly Father, in which we can benefit from His unconditional love. Nothing outside of us can separate us from what God's love offers us, as long as we want to be His. Perhaps this is the greatest encouragement to any Christian!
Romans 8:37-39 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Through Jesus we can be merciful, tolerant and we can forgive the mistakes of others. Because we are God's children, we are called to be like Him. God shows us mercy every day and He asks us to have mercy on others and not to judge them, thinking that we are better. If we judge, we will be judged. Jesus told us not to condemn our fellow men, so that we would not be condemned and forgive those who sin against us, so that we too would receive the Lord's forgiveness.
Luke 6:36-38 “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Jesus gave us the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can live holy and pleasing lives, manifesting His fruit and gifts. The Holy Spirit works through all who let Him work and are ready to help their fellow men. Jesus said that the only condition for the signs of His power to be manifested through someone is for him to believe.
Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
As God’s children, we have authority in the Name of Jesus over all the power of the enemy. That is why we must oppose the enemy, when he attacks us with false thoughts, negative feelings or even in our body through the harm done to us by other people whom he influences or leads.
Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
In the Epistle to the Colossians, the apostle Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, gives us a model of prayer that is valid for all Christians, regardless of the historical period they live in.
Colossians 1:9b-14 that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
In order to fulfill God's will, we must know it, and that is possible only with the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we pray that the Spirit of the Lord will fill us with everything we need to be able to know God's will and gives us the wisdom we need to understand His plans. As we learn what the Lord's will is for us and seek it through everything we think, say and feel then our actions will be better, and we will get closer and closer to the Heavenly Father. All things are harmoniously connected in the life of the sincere and devoted Christian. The change of heart is followed by an increase in love for God, which makes us want to do what He likes. When we keep our hearts sincere and pure, the Lord gives us all the strength we need no matter what we have to do.
We can have no fear, knowing that Jesus is present with us through the Holy Spirit and He is the power we need, no matter what the circumstances. And the good news does not end there! If we have a thankful heart, we can also have "all patience and longsuffering with joy." There are not many patient people, and there are even fewer who can rejoice while they have to be patient for a long time! In order to be thankful as we are waiting for the solution for the problems that we have brought to the heavenly Father's throne through prayer, we need the firm faith that the Lord is doing what He promises. And if we know that there is a wonderful inheritance prepared for us when we leave this body, we can be more patient and happier.
If we know who we are in Jesus Christ and how much we have received through all that He has done for us at the cross, we can more easily identify the lies of the enemy. The devil frequently attacks our identity wanting us to believe that we have no value, we are good for nothing, the sins of the past are our identity and God cannot forgive and love us, because we do not deserve His love. Insecurity, inferiority and rejection are very effective weapons in the hands of the enemy. But when the Holy Spirit reveals the truth about our identity in Jesus and we understand how much God loves us and that He values us so much that He gave His Son to die for us, we can overcome all the lies of the enemy. It is time for us to see ourselves as the Lord sees us. He wants to have a living relationship with us, to succeed in what He has called us to do and spend eternity with Him.