Who Cares Who You Say You Are...This Is Who Jesus Says You Are.

We live in a time now where people are hellbent on telling others who they are...or who they aren't. There's a sense of urgency to ensure that each person we come in contact with knows precisely who we say we are.

It's rubbish...and as my pastor constantly says, "It's adorable."

You could've read the above words and taken offensive to them. Frankly, though that's within your right, I encourage you to dig deeper and ask yourself why. Why does that bother you? Why does it bother you that others aren't seeing you how you want them to see you? Why does it bother you that I said it's rubbish? You know what I noticed just now? I've used the word you 11 times in this one paragraph. I've yet to mention Jesus.

And that's the problem.

The problem with needing to tell people who you think you are is simply that. YOU.

There's this thought that what you say somehow trumps what Jesus says. Worse--who you think you are or feel you are surpasses who Jesus says you are. What Jesus says goes. His word is final.

"Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He's standing right alongside God, and what He says goes." (1 Peter 3:22)

Whether human beings want to accept the truth or not, this is the truth. Jesus is the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6) We do not get to tell Him who we are or who we think we are. We didn't create ourselves. God created us and therefore, He knows who we are. We are created and made in His image. (Genesis 1:27)

So, who does He say we are?

We are...

(THIS IS WHO YOU ARE (list from "WHO AM I?" & "SINCE I AM IN CHRIST, BY THE GRACE OF GOD..." from Neil T. Anderson's The Bondage Breaker)

I am the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)

I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)

I am a child of God (John 1:12)

I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ's life (John 15;1, 5)

I am Christ's friend (John 15:15)

I am chosen & appointed by Christ to bear His fruit (John 15:16)

I am a slave of righteousness (Romans 6:18)

I am enslaved to God (Romans 6:22)

I am a son of God; God is spiritually my Father (Romans 8:14, 15; Galatians 3:26, 4:6)

I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him (Romans 8:17)

I am a temple--a dwelling place--of God. His Spirit & His life dwell in me (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19)

I am united to the Lord & am one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17)

I am a member of Christ's body (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30)

I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I am reconciled to God & am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19)

I am a son of God and one in Christ (Galatians 3:26, 28)

I am an heir of God since I am a son of God (Galatians 4:6, 7)

I am a saint (Ephesians 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)

I am God's workmanship--His handiwork--born anew in Christ to do His work (Ephesians 2:10)

I am a fellow citizen with the rest of God's family (Ephesians 2:19)

I am a prisoner of Christ (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1)

I am righteous & holy (Ephesians 4:24)

I am a citizen of heaven; seated in heaven right now (Philippians 3:20; Ephesians 2:6)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)

I am an expression of the life of Christ because He is my life (Colossians 3:4)

I am chosen of God, holy & dearly loved (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)

I am a son of light & not of darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5)

I am a holy partaker of a heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1)

I am a partaker of Christ; I share in His life (Hebrews 3:14)

I am one of God's living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5)

I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession (1 Peter 2:9,10)

I am an alien & a stranger to this world in which I temporarily live (1 Peter 2:11)

I am an enemy of the devil (1 Peter 5:8)

I am a child of God & I will resemble Christ when He returns (1 John 3:1, 2)

I am born of God, & the evil one--the devil--cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)

I am not the great "I am" (Exodus 3:14; John 8:24, 28, 58), but by the grace of God, I am what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10)

I have been justified--completely forgiven & made righteous (Romans 5:1)

I died with Christ & died to the power of sin's rule over my life (Romans 6:1-6)

I am free forever from condemnation (Romans 8:1)

I have been placed into Christ by God's doing (1 Corinthians 1:30)

I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God (1 Corinthians 2:12)

I have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)

I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20)

I have been established, anointed, & sealed by God in Christ, & I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing my inheritance to come (2 Corinthians 1:21; Ephesians 1:13, 14)

Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15)

I have been made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21)

I have been crucified with Christ & it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ's life. (Galatians 2:20)

I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)

I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy & am without blame before Him (Ephesians 1:4)

I was predestined--determined by God--to be adopted as God's son (Ephesians 1:5)

I have been redeemed & forgiven, & I am a recipient of HIs lavish grace. I have been made alive together with Christ. (Ephesians 2:5)

I have been raised up & seated with Christ in heaven (Ephesians 2:6)

I have direct access to God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)

I may approach God with boldness, freedom & confidence (Ephesians 3:12)

I have been rescued from the domain of Satan's rule & transferred to the kingdom of Christ. (Colossians 1:13)

I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. The debt against me has been canceled (Colossians 1:14) Christ Himself is in me (Colossians 1:27)

I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built in Him (Colossians 2:7)

I have been spiritually circumcised. My old unregenerate nature has been removed (Colossians 2:11)

I have been made complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)

I have been buried, raised, and made alive with Christ (Colossians 2:12, 13)

I died with Christ and I have been raised up with Christ. My life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christ is now my life (Colossians 3:1-4 2)

I have been given a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7)

I have been saved and set apart according to God's doing (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5)

Because I am sanctified and am one with the Sanctifier, He is not ashamed to call me brother (Hebrews 2:11)

I have the right to come bodly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)

I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I am a partaker of God's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)

The amount of care, love, and design that He poured into each and every one of us is unique to us. Jesus loves us more than we could ever fathom. Look at the way He looks at you! Look at the way He sees you! Look how He created you!

I love you, but Jesus loves you more. 

CPB

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