Ephesians 4:23-24 (Amplified) says, "And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh mental and Spiritual attitude. And put on the new nature, the regenerate self, created in God's Image, God like, in true Righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 5:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore be imitators of God, copy Him and follow His Example, as well-beloved children imitate their father."
The Church has lost the Truth that we are actually well beloved children of God, because we've been taught that imitating our Heavenly Father is "prideful." We were born of the Same Seed that Jesus was born of, the Word of God, according to 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) which says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from natural origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
Religion has taught us over the years, that we are inferior, are less than God's Own children, and we're still outside God's idea of family. It doesn't matter who we were or where we came from, because through faith in Christ Jesus, we've become God's Own children in Truth and reality. We're no less sons and daughters of God, than the First and Last Adam and we are beloved. Jesus prayed in John 17:23 (Amplified), "I in them, and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united; that the world may know and definitely recognize that You sent Me and that You have Loved them EVEN AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME."
The natural mind finds it difficult to understand Jesus' Words above and asks, "How can the Father Love me even as He Loves Jesus?" We see Jesus in His Glory and Honor on earth and we see ourselves in our earthly bodies, leaving us to wonder how can Jesus' statement really be True. Jesus was without sin or wrongdoing, in His earthly Form as God's Son. We struggle with the Truth of God's Grace and Love, when He put our sin and our wrongdoing on Jesus, so that we can now come before Him in the Purity of Jesus Himself.
We say we believe this, when we call upon Jesus and confess Him as our Lord and Savior, but we struggle with our past and present weaknesses. We wonder, "How can God Love me, like He Loves Jesus?" We still identify ourselves as being in the natural man/woman, even though we're new creation Spiritual sons and daughters who are born of God's Own Word and are without fault. We are instructed to renew our minds by the Word of God, until we see ourselves as God has made us to be, in Jesus.
Until we realize who we've been born-again to be in Christ, it will be difficult for us to have a Righteousness identity. The enemy will hold us under the condemnation of our old past lives, before we accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord. The Holy Spirit inspires John to write in 1John 3:20 (Amplified), "Whenever our hearts in tormenting, self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us, For we are in God's hands. For He is Above and Greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows, perceives and understands everything, nothing is hidden from Him. And, Beloved, if our consciences do not accuse us, if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us, we have confidence, complete assurance and boldness before God."
This condemnation is an attack the enemy uses, in order to make us question our new identity in Christ. Satan will cause us to question the Truth that we've been transformed into the Image and Likeness of the Father again, through the new birth. This is the same attack satan used against Adam and Eve, saying, "God knows if you eat this fruit, you'll be like Him." Satan caused Eve to question who she was, when God had already made them in His Image and Likeness. Satan tried making Jesus question Who He was, saying, "If You are the Son of God, then turn these stones into bread."
We've allowed our consciences (hearts), which were under the influence of our old, unsaved condition, to hold us in the same conviction that led us to God, even after being born-again. If we don't renew our minds and reasonings by God's Word, then we'll remain under the conviction of our old lives. Our sins were removed and cleansed completely by the Precious Blood of Christ, but the enemy will do his best to keep us in shame and guilt, so we won't have any confidence that our Heavenly Father will hear us.
Satan can't prevent our coming to the Lord and being born-again, but he'll try keeping us under condemnation and guilt, so that our new being isn't dangerous to him or his kingdom of darkness. Jesus gave "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4:15 (Amplified), where He said, "The ones along the paths are those who have the Word sown in their hearts, but when they hear, satan comes at once and by force takes away the Message which is sown in them."
Satan came immediately after I was born-again, asking, "Do you really think it's that easy, to have everything you've done to be forgotten and that you're totally forgiven?" Satan couldn't prevent me from receiving Jesus and my salvation, but he could keep me under the bondage of guilt and condemnation, so my right standing with God would never be a threat to the darkness. There's an old saying that says, Faith stops at the question mark." If you don't know that you're Righteous before God, then you'll never have the assurance that God hears us and will answer our prayers. Man's ideas have taught us that, "You never know what God will do" or "It might not be God's will..." These are by-products of the Church's identity crisis. We don't really know who we are in Him.
The moment we begin questioning what God's Word says about our new identity in Christ, our faith has "stopped where the question mark comes in." James 1:22-25 (Amplified) directs us, saying, "But be doers of the Word (obey the Message), and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law, the Law of Liberty (the Word of God) and is faithful to it, and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets, but an active doers, who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."
We've heard many teachings about "Being doers of the Word and not merely listeners of it" and much of these teachings had to do with giving, preaching, healing and walking in Love. These things are True and part of who we are, but let's focus today on "Being a doer of the Word is seeing who we are in the Law of Liberty." Let's let it set us free from the condemnation and guilt of our pasts. Let's allow it to liberate us into the Truth of our new righteousness and pure lives with the Father, through Jesus. Let's be doers and believers who see that we're now righteous in Christ's Righteousness and then receive the new life Christ has given to us.
This Liberty is already yours through Jesus. The only thing that can keep us from the Liberty to come boldly into the Father's Presence, is the enemy's lie. When we look into the mirror or Law of Liberty, which is God's Word, we'll see who God's Word says we are. We'll walk away from the mirror of our old, past lives, and forget what we once looked like. We see what the Word says but then the flesh, the world, and the enemy clouds our consciences (our hearts), so we forget that we've been made righteous through the Righteousness of Jesus. Let's continually renew our minds with God's Word and not allow satan to deceive us with his lies.
We must believe and confess that we are "Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus," from Romans 8:16-17. We must believe and confess that, "If we belong to Christ, are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed, then we are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to Promise," Galatians 3:29. Galatians 4:4-6 (Amplified) tells us, "But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to the regulations of the Law, to purchase the freedom of (the Ransom, to Redeem, to Atone for), those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us and be recognized as God's sons. And because you really are His sons, God has sent the Holy Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father! Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant), but a son, and if a son, then it follows that you are an heir by the aid of God through Christ."
This is what we should see in the reflection, when we look into the mirror of the perfect Law of Liberty, the Word of God. We really are, what God's Word says about us. It doesn't matter if others don't believe it or if someone believes something different. The Truth of what God's Word says about us, WILL NEVER CHANGE! We're not just forgiven, but we're new creation beings who never existed before. We've been created anew in Christ Jesus and have been declared Righteous, by the Almighty God Himself. Who can question the Truth of what God says?
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