I really hope you’re having an incredible day, but if you aren’t, I pray you have the heart to look at the world around you and know that you can bring about incredible change. As I am writing these words it is as if I can hear the sorrowful heart-cries of so many people saying, “I can’t change anything; I’m trapped.”
The first thing I want you to know is this: the feeling of powerlessness is not natural, it is not God-given, and it is contrary to your new righteous nature in Jesus. God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2 Tim. 1:7) Unfortunately, however, we did not choose our core beliefs; they were imprinted on us by our parents. Likewise, we did not choose our self-perception; people in our lives projected their view of us and their view of the world onto us! We think we are who our parents thought we were!
While they did not intend to influence you negatively, the people in your life programmed you to feel about yourself the way you presently feel. As you learned in the Wisdom for Healing series, even the beliefs of your ancestors as far back as four generations could be imprinted in your cellular memory. God isn’t punishing you for the sins of your forefathers, but according to His Word, iniquity is visited upon the third and fourth generations.
We now know that after a belief or lifestyle is continued for several generations, by the fourth generation children come into the world hardwired with a predisposition to the same tendencies. Studies now show that the descendants of families who live in poverty for several generations will probably never escape poverty!
This is why it is so essential for every believer to put off their old sense of self, the old identity based on life’s experiences and influences, and put on our new identity in Jesus. After all, we are a new creation but if we still think we are the “old us” we’ll live like the “old us.” Failure to put on our new identity after getting born again is like being adopted by a wealthy family but never eating any of their food or living in their house.
At the very core of our new identity is the resurrection of Jesus. He came up out of the grave having conquered sin, death, Hades, sickness, poverty, and all the curses of the law. When we realize that we were in Him at the time of the resurrection we share in that victory; thus, none of those things have power over us. This sounds too good to be true, but only because we still see ourselves as if we are not in Him. We think we are our old selves trying to be who we should be. It is time to persuade your heart that you are the new man and your only struggle is when you attempt to imitate who you would be outside of Jesus.
At the end of the day grace, faith righteousness, and all other aspects of the New Covenant only work for Jesus. After all, God didn’t make a covenant with us; He made the Covenant with Him. (Gal. 3:16) We are not trying to use our faith to get any of those things. Jesus used His faith to secure and receive the Covenant and its inheritance. We use our faith to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead AS THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, not as religion says. The Scriptures say He won every battle, we don’t have to fight the devil, we don’t have to fight poverty; in fact, we don’t have to fight against anything. We have to renew our mind and persuade our heart that He did all of this, just as the Scripture says, and that we share in these things because we are in Him.
Believing you have to win all the battles will give you reason to pause; in fact, it will give you reason to run and hide. But when we realize that He won all the battles, and because we are in Him we are more than conquerors, we enter the place of rest. No wonder so many Christians are worn out. They think they must have enough faith to fight the devil, a battle that Jesus has already won. They think they must have enough faith to overcome cancer, a disease He already conquered. We think we have to fight and win battles He already fought and won. We’ve gotten it completely backwards. He fought and won the battles we couldn’t win, so we wouldn’t have to fight them!
When you see yourself in Jesus you will experience a level of boldness in facing your circumstances like never before. It would be like going to the playground at school to face the school bully and taking the heavyweight champion of the world with you for protection. You would have no fear at all.
Do everything you can to see the battles He won for you. Never fight a battle that He has won. Never settle for a circumstance He has conquered. This new series Identity, Self-image and Self-worth will be a cornerstone for your faith. It will forever change everything about your walk with God. When you begin to look at the world from the vantage point of “in Him” everything will look differently. Every problem will be brought into perspective. Every mountain will be made low, every crooked place straight, every rough place will be smooth, and there will be a new light shining on the path of your life that opens your eyes to all that is possible “in Him.”
Blessings to You,
Jim
