As you may know, I started this website and blog as part of my expression to obey what God has asked me to do—to help encourage and equip new leaders and their local leaders. Here, I share topics God has put on my heart whilst working on my first book in this Who me a leader series. This book looks at being a leader from the inside out. The current chapter I’m wrestling with (because it’s so big for my mind to get around) is our identity – who we are in Christ. For non-Christians, this isn’t a subject they care about, as Christ isn’t a priority. But for Christians, it’s the foundational rock we desperately need to understand in order to be our truest core selves. So here are my thoughts on why knowing our true identity is so important. [Side note – I woke up with this today, so burning on my heart that I have only taken a few sips of my tea as I started to type this. And it’s helping me work out exactly what needs to go into this chapter and what to be an appendix / further bible studies as I’m not writing a book just about this right now.]

Our starting point

In our world today, our identity could be so fluid, there is nothing we can’t choose to change, even our sex. Almost every part of what we show ourselves can be adjusted physically, not to mention online. In such a fluid world, our core identity is being lost to answer the question, who do you want to be or who could you be? The vast possibilities of who I could be and what I was made for—aren’t helping (especially) the youth today answer this question personally. There is a drive to be unique/different and the need to stand out and be noticed. While also a craving to be authentic. Non-believers (i.e. those without religion) say you can choose the truth to be whatever you want it to be. While those who are religious look to what their God says to be the truth.

As a Christian – I believe my truth is thee truth. I so want others to find so they can have a relationship with the only true God, which is AWESOME! Therefore as a Christian, I am on a life’s journey of understanding what that means. How can I be more Christ-like and trust God that as I pursue Him, He is transforming me to become all He’s called and created me to be. I am simply stating that my identity is that I am a Christian, a Child of God, and I am loved by my Heavenly Father. But, if I truly understood the meaning of even these 3 simple statements – then how I see myself and live my life—would be vastly different. 

Our human limitations

The problem for us humans is that we struggle to understand how much things change when we choose to believe in who God is and become a follower of Jesus. Why? Because our physical appearance doesn’t change. We don’t see the colossal instant change that happens spiritually when we take that step of faith and become a Christian. As humans, we rely so much on our eyes. What we see is what we find easier to understand and thus believe. But from God’s perspective, so much has changed because we have become spiritually alive. 

God doesn’t change everything instantaneously because it would be too much for us to handle. We wouldn’t recognise ourselves or own it because we wouldn’t comprehend it. So in His gracious wisdom and love for us, He is patient and allows us to take our time to grow in our comprehension with our mind and heart and thus change our actions. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit to help us; in our own strength, we’d fail. But He’s not asking us to be perfect, just to look to Him and try to apply what we are learning/ understanding into our life today.

What is stopping us?

Ingrained habits.

We have been taught that in order to figure out how we are doing and if we’re doing well, we need to compare ourselves to others. This is because we want to be loved and accepted by others. Therefore we need to fit in (into whatever shape the community we’ve chosen to identify with says we should be). This partly means we are taking our queues to answer our identity question (who am I) from others. This is an ingrained habit we’ve learned – to look to other humans for the answer. But we’re missing the most significant piece. We need to look to God for this answer. He is our creator. No one can understand and help us more than the one who created us to be ourselves.

The devil

The more we understand who we are in Christ – the less we allow the devil to influence us. Thus the less he has power. The devil wants as much power as he can get. But he can only have what we give to him. So he wants to limit us in whatever way he can. His usual tactics are lies (with a little truth twisted, so it’s easier to trick us). Distraction, so we are looking in a different direction, reminding us of past failures to keep us from moving forward; and deception so we can’t see the truth. And whatever else he can that will slow us down. 

Ourselves

Changing a habit takes work, time and effort, especially in our modern world where so much is instantly available and we can see change quickly. It’s hard to see when we’re working on things like our character or ingrained thought processes. We accept that getting fit or building muscles takes work over time. Which some people are willing to do. While others it’s too much, we choose the easier path or lower our expectations on what is personally possible. 

Just think, if we do this with our appearance, how much harder is it to do when it’s with things that are seemingly invisible (although others will see it in you), like our character or how we view ourselves.

Today, if we don’t see good change quickly, most look for another way. The amount of time we’re willing to give before we think about quitting/ changing is getting shorter and shorter. The attention spans of school kids have gone from 20mins to not even a minute. A flaw of social media is that we want instant and positive validation. The younger generations are looking to others for approval – thus, they have given the authority of what their identity is to others (and they might not even know them in person!).

Those who are more passive in personality – find it easier to allow what happens to them to have control over change. They wait to respond rather than initiate change. So depending on the environment and people you put around you, this could drastically affect what you believe about yourself = your identity. Therefore our self-worth can be erratic and unpredictable because we have given control of who we are to others. We let what they say we are to be the truth, not what we think is true. 

Our identity takes on a new spiritual identity?

Before we had faith in Jesus, we lived primarily aware of our physical (flesh) life. Therefore, depending on where we live in the world/ our experience, we will have differing levels of understanding that there is also a spiritual realm.

When we become a follower of Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to come in to be part of our lives, we become alive spiritually. This is why Jesus says in the Bible, in John 3, that we need to be born again spiritually. This part of our identity becomes alive. We step into who we were meant to be. Partnering with God in heart, mind, body and now Spirit.

This part, for us, is hard to understand because it’s not visible, e.g. like the wind – you feel it, but you can’t hold on to it like a physical thing. (So much more to say about this, but in other blogs – or go check out the Bible Project’s videos and podcasts on Holy Spirit and Ruakh. 

Our physical body doesn’t ‘change’ that much. But our spiritual identity becomes alive. This takes time for us to understand and learn how to live out / walk in and partner with the Holy Spirit. We can learn a lot about this, especially in the New Testament, and I’ll share a lot more in my book and with other bible studies and blogs…. But for now, why it’s important we understand our new true identity in Christ – IS HUGE.

What Jesus did by dying on the cross enabled us to be fully reconciled to God in our relationship and be in His holy presence. Thus we can have the Holy Spirit dwell within us. Therefore we have authority through Christ in the spiritual realm. When we fully understand our spiritual authority in Christ, wow!

New position

When we understand that we aren’t still standing on the side before the cross – as a sinner looking to be saved. But on the other side – a child of God, co-heir with Christ and with spiritual authority. 

We have been set free from sin, condemnation… We have moved into being with Christ, having the Holy Spirit live within us. We have full access to Father, Son and Spirit. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. Our new position doesn’t change when we sin. It’s like a coat which gets a stain on it. The stain doesn’t change the identity of the coat. It’s still a coat. But it’s a better coat when the stain is gone.

We don’t have to earn our forgiveness or God’s approval or love. We have it unconditionally, by grace, for eternity. We received it by faith when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and saviour. Done.

When we live from this position of loved, accepted, forgiven, free, co-heirs with Jesus, total access at any time to our Heavenly Father and partnering with the Holy Spirit – anything is possible.

In fact, Jesus even said in John 14:12, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Because Jesus went to the Father, we could receive the Holy Spirit. Because we have the Holy Spirit in us, we can do way more than we currently believe is humanly possible – because we aren’t limited by human limitations in the spiritual realm. 

Is my mind blown by this idea – yes! Do I believe it – YES! But what does that look like in my personal life today? For with God, anything is possible, but what I am meant to do today I want to be in partnership with God in. Just like Abraham wouldn’t go if God didn’t go with him. 

In reality, what that looks like – is me writing this today. But also asking God regularly – “Lord, what would you like me to do with you today, this hour, in this opportunity…?” And then doing what I hear Him share with me.

 

What happens when we know our true identity in Christ?

When we understand who we really are – who God says we are as a child of God. 

How we see ourselves, how we act and react change:

  • We see and believe who we are mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
  • We are aligned with God’s truth and not at odds with it. 
  • When someone or something says something different, contrary to the truth – it’s easy for us to see the lie and not believe it.
  • We are free and empowered to be who we are.
  • We are happy to partner with God and allow His Spirit to bring the best out in us.
  • We are relaxed and happy with ourselves and those around us.
  • What happens in the world around us doesn’t affect who we are on the inside. (If a disaster or storm happens, we can handle it externally, it doesn’t change who we are internally). We are strong and capable of handling external changes well.
  • We speak love and life to others and it helps them thrive too.
  • We grow and develop and can do more than we thought we could and enjoy the process of seeing what’s possible.
  • We rest in knowing we are loved and accepted for who we are and not for what we do.
  • We can give grace to others and offer help without it being too much for us.
  • When we mess up, it’s good to ask for forgiveness. It’s not the end of the world but a learning experience.
  • We find it easy to be honest with ourselves and others, so we can share when we find something hard/ difficult and ask for help.
  • We only look to God for our priorities and don’t compare ourselves with others.
  • We effortlessly exhibit the fruits of the Spirit and are a blessing to those around us.

Therefore, things look different when we live from this position, from my true identity in Christ. Then, there is hope and possibility and joy and wonder.

This is why knowing our true identity is so important – how we live our lives and what we believe about ourselves, God and others will be drastically different and so much more than we could hope for on our own.

Here are a few bible references for what I’m sharing about our spiritual identity:

Matthew 10:1 “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and illness.“

Matthew 28:18+19 “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,“

Eph 2:6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.“

If you want 74 scriptures to read and declare our identity in Christ, then here is my pdf handout of Who I am in Christ, which is free. You can also read more about this in my Feature article and the Reels Series #WhoIaminChrist I’ve been posting on TikTok and Instagram for the past few weeks. 

My prayer for us all today:

I leave you with part of the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers in Ephesians 1: 17-23

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way.”