Who you are in Christ

My class in Spiritual Care and Development this semester has been incredibly powerful and impactful in my own person spiritual development. For too long I have gone without considering what exactly I am in Christ Jesus, and I think many people can say the same thing. Here are some thoughts I have captured through class and discussion with the professor and other students:

Since you are a saint in Christ by God's calling, you share in Christ's inheritance. That which is true of Christ is now true of you, because you are in Christ. It's part of your identity. This applies to all that have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior.

The list below itemizes in first-person language who you really are in Christ. These are some of the scriptural texts which reflect who you became at spiritual birth. You can't earn them or buy them anymore than a person born in America can earn or buy the rights and freedoms he or she enjoys as an American citizen. They are guaranteed to individuals by the Constitution simply because a person is born in the United States. Similarly, these traits are guaranteed to you by the Word of God simply because you were born into God's holy nation by faith in Christ.

Read this list aloud to yourself repeatedly until it becomes a part of you. Pray through the list occasionally asking God to cement these truths in your heart:

Who Am I?
• I am the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13).
• I am the light of the world (Matt. 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 I5:I5).
• I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear his fruit (John 15:16).
• I am a slave of righteousness (Rom. 6:18).
• I am enslaved to God (Rom. 6:22).
• I am a son of God; God is spiritually my Father (Rom. 8:14, I5; Gal. 3:26; 4:6).
• I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him (Rom. 8:17).
• I am a temple-a dwelling place-of God. His Spirit and His life dwells in me
(I Cor. 3:16; 6:19).
• I am united to the Lord and am one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).
• I am a member of Christ's Body (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 5:30).
• I am a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
• I am reconciled to God and am an ambassador of reconciliation
(2 Cor. 5:18, 19).
• I am a son of God and one in Christ (Gal. 3:26, 28).
• I am an heir of God since I am a son of God (Gal. 4:6, 7).
• I am a saint (Eph. 1: 1; 1 Cor. 1: 2; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2).
• I am God's workmanship - His handiwork born anew in Christ to do his
work (Eph. 2: 10).
• I am a fellow citizen with the rest of God's family (Eph. 2:19).
• I am a prisoner of Christ (Eph. 3: 1; 4: 1).
• I am righteous and holy (Eph. 4:24).
• I am a citizen of heaven, seated in heaven right now (Phil. 3:20; Eph. 2:6).
• I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
• I am an expression of the life of Christ because He is my life (Col. 3:4).
• I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved (Col. 3:12; I Thess. 1: 4).
• I am a son of light and not of darkness (I Thess. 5:5).
• I am a holy partaker of a heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1).
• I am a partaker of Christ; I share in His life (Heb. 3:14).
• I am one of God's fiving stones, being built up Christ as a spiritual house
(1 Pet. 2:5).
• I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priest¬hood, a holy nation, a people for
God's own posses¬sion (1 Pet. 2:9, 10).
• I am an alien and stranger to this world in which I temporarily live (1 Pet. 2: 11).
• I am an enemy of the devil (1 Pet. 5:8).
• I am a child of God and I will resemble Christ when He returns (1 John 3: 1- 2).
• I am born of God, and the evil one-the devil cannot touch me (1 John 5:18).
• I am not the great "I am" (Exod. 3:14; John 8:24,28,58), but by the grace of God,
I am what I am (1 Cor. 15:10).
• Since I am in Christ, by the grace of God … I have been justified-completely
forgiven and made righteous (Rom. 5:1).
• I died with Christ and died to the power of sin's rule over my life (Rom. 6:1-6).
• I am free forever from condemnation (Rom. 8: 1).
• I have been placed into Christ by God's doing (1 Cor. 1:30).
• I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely
given to me by God (1Cor. 2:12).
• I have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
• I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong to God
(1 Cor. 6:19,20).
• I have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ, and I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing my inheritance to come
(2 Cor. 1:21; Eph. 1:13,14).
• Since I have died, I no longer Uve for myself, but for Christ (2 Cor. 5:14,15).
• I have been made righteous (2 Cor. 5:21).
• I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who five, but Christ lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ's life (Gal. 2:20).
• I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1: 3).
• I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and am without blame before Him (Eph. 1:4).
• I was predestined-determined by God-to be adopted as God's son (Eph. 1: 5).
• I have been redeemed and forgiven, and I am a recipient of Ifis lavish grace.
• I have been made alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5).
• I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven (Eph. 2:6).
• I have direct access to God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:18).
• I may approach God with boldness, freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12).
• I have been rescued from the domain of Satan and transferred to the
kingdom of Christ (Col. I:I3).
• I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins…the bond against me has been
canceled (Col. 2:14).
• Christ Himself is in me (Col. 1:27).
• I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built in Him (Col. 2:7).

• I have been spiritually circumcised. My old unregenerate nature has been
removed (Col. 2:11).
• I have been made complete in Christ (Col. 2:10)
• I have been buried, raised and made alive Christ (Col. 2:12, 13).
• I died with Christ and I have been raised up Christ. My life is now hidden with
Christ in God (Col. 3:1).
• Christ is now my life (Col. 3:1-4).
• I have been given a spirit of power, love and self discipline (2 Tim. 1:7).
• I have been saved and set apart according God's doing (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5).
• Because I am sanctified and am one with Sanctifier, He is not ashamed to call
me brother (Heb. 2:11).
• I have the right to come boldly before the of God to find mercy and grace in time of need (Heb 4:16).
• I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises and am a partaker of God.

Your perception of your identity makes such a big difference in your success at dealing with the challenges and conflicts of your life. It is imperative to your growth and maturity that you believe God's truth about who you are.

Because you are in Christ, every one of those characteristics is completely true of you and there's nothing you can do to make them more true. But you can make these more meaningful and productive in your life by simply choosing to believe what God has said about you. One of the greatest ways to help yourself grow into maturity in Christ is to continually remind yourself who you are in Him. In my conferences I do this by reading the "Who Am I?" first aloud and then together. We suggest that you go back and read it aloud to yourself right now. Read the list once or twice a day for a week or two. Read it when think that Satan is trying to deceive you into believing you are a worthless failure. The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity.

We were obstinate and ornery, helpless and hopeless, with nothing in ourselves to commend us to God. But God's love overruled our unloveliness.

Satan will try to convince you that you are an unworthy, unacceptable, sin-sick person who will never amount to anything in God's eyes.

But we have the assurance of Christ Jesus that justifies and removes sin as far as the east is from the west!