2Corinthians 5:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
The enemy has tried very hard to teach the new creation man to identify with the world. Jesus said, though, in John 17:16 (Amplified) that, "They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world) (Just) as I am not of the world." Our identities are no longer White, Italian, Hispanic, African, Irish or any other nationality that we are given to check the box. Jesus said this about our identity in John 17:21 (Amplified), "That they all may be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me."
It's difficult for the Church to become one with God on the earth, when we continue identifying with the world. Our identity and life in is Christ Jesus and we're all made one in Him. Even as Christians, we identify with our natural race and color, more than the glory we've been ingrafted into with Jesus. We all have the same Father and were all born of the Same Seed. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born again) not from a mortal origin (seed,sperm) but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God." This is who we are and where we're from. We are all now one, as He is One in the Father.
When the Lord sent me to Chaumont, New York, I saw a place that was like my Promise Land in God. It didn't look very prosperous, but the Lord said that, "Where My Word is preached, prosperity follows." As we preached the Word and claimed our inheritance, the are began prospering. I was stationed at Camp Drum, where the permanent cadre was made up of 100 soldiers and it was primarily used to train reserve troops, during the summer. Now, it has become Fort Drum and the permanent cadre is about 30,000 troops and workers.
The surrounding land had laid fallow and wasn't being used, but now it's become valuable for building homes and quarters for the incoming people. Shopping malls have sprung up and housing is continually being built, but we've nearly failed to see it as a "work of God." Many times the Church looks for the spectacular and misses the Super-natural things that God does. The spectacular is great, but the Super-natural sometimes comes very quietly. Many churches have been established in this area and the Word of God is being freely preached.
In the Promised Land, the Israelite spies found giants who had held it for many years, but the Lord moved the giants and made way for His people. We sometimes miss what happened in Exodus, when Joshua and Caleb led the people into the Promised Land. After taking the Land, the people forgot who they were and didn't remember how the Land became theirs and went back to life as usual. Eventually, they returned to worshiping other gods and returned to bondage, because they began to identify with the world again.
When the people ca e out of Egypt, they came out by spectacular miracles from God. The plagues fell of their enemies, the Red Sea parted, and the Egyptian army was destroyed through the power of God. But, the people began to forget the Super-natural hand of God that delivered them from 400 years of slavery, according to Psalms 103:37 (Amplified) which says, "He brought them forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes." God also fed and gave water to over two-million people, for 40 years in the Wilderness. Deuteronomy 29:5-6 (Amplified) says, "I have led you forty years in the Wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. You have not eaten (grain) bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you might recognize and know (your dependence on Him Who is saying) I am the Lord your God."
These Super-natural things might not have been spectacular, but they were the continued things of God, that we are aware of in our daily lives and that we are grateful for. During the hustles and bustles of daily living, we sometimes forget what God is continuously doing. We look for the spectacular things that our eyes and carnal minds can see and comprehend. God is always working on our behalf, but we sometimes begin identifying again with the world, instead of Who He has made us to be. We begin murmuring, just like those in the Wilderness did.
For forty years, God supplied bread from Heaven for the people, water needed for two-million people and their livestock, and He saw to it that their clothes and sandals never wore out, but they didn't praise Him for His Super-natural provision. They cried out for the spectacular instead. They forgot who they were and began identifying with the world once again. While I was explaining these things once, someone said to me, "I know Jesus died for me, but what has He done for me lately?" We forget who we are and then we forget Who He is.
It doesn't matter what color we are, because we are all "one in Him." We lose our identity in the new creation, when we identify more with our color or race. Our body is only a house for the new creation man to live in while we're still on earth and it is not you any longer. When beginning to build up this are for the new influx of people, they built new housing units in many different places. These housing projects all looked the same, having been given only different colors. The color of the house only identified the house, and not those who lived in them. Those living in them were mostly identified as soldier of one Army and they all had the same calling. We never addressed the house, only the people who lived in them. When the people arrived at Fort Drum for duty, they were all the same and no one asked, "What color is your house?"
Our identity in Christ Jesus determines who we truly are. I don't judge men by color, but by character. I don't select fellowship because of color, but because of who the people are. There are many white persons that I don't fellowship with, because I wish to fellowship with other Christians and color doesn't come up. I don't fellowship with them because they look like me, but because they believe in Jesus, like me. We're instructed to select our fellowship with wisdom, in Proverbs 13:20 (Amplified) which says, "He who walks (as a companion) with wise men is wise, but he who associates with (self-confident) fools is (a fool himself and shall smart for it)."
My personal fellowship is with others who know the Lord and we spend most of our time together, speaking about Him and learning more about Him from one another. I witness to the world, but I identify with the new creation. We need to stop identifying with the world's ideas about the Church and remember it's our job to make them like Jesus, instead of making us like them. You cannot hangout with the world, without one of you changing. Either they will become like you or you will become like them, otherwise you have very little in common.
You are not something "religious," but you are a new creation, who was sent by the Father, to be a light for the world to see and be drawn too. The more we look like the world, the less light the world will see in us. Jesus ministered to the sinner, but He did so to change them, not to change Himself. If we take note of the daily things God is continually doing in our lives, then we always have joy and praise Him for the work He's doing in and through us. We cannot always look for the spectacular, but must watch for and be thankful for, the continued Super-natural things God is doing in our lives. We shouldn't take these things for granted.
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