For years, Christians have been waiting to become God's children. We call Him "Father," but aren't living as family and act like we're estranged from Him. Heaven is our home and we're citizens of the Kingdom of God. God has sent us into all the world, in order to be His representatives here on earth. As God's representatives, we bear His Name and His authority, so we can return a world that is out-of-order back to His Order. We must know who we are in Christ Jesus and Whose authority and ability we operate under, in order to do this. If we have an identity crisis and don't know Who we represent, then we won't be able to function in the authority God has given us and the world will dictate our ability.
1John 3:2 (Amp) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children: it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him; For we shall see Him just as He really is." While on the Island of Pat-mos, John saw the Glorified Jesus, Who is Lord of all. Jesus didn't resemble the Man that John walked with in Galilee, but He was nonetheless, Jesus. His Form and Countenance was different. Jesus was truly the King of Heaven and earth, in His Glorified Body. I don't know what we'll look like in Heaven, but I do know that even here and now, we are God's sons and daughters, like Jesus was the Son of God while He was on earth in a natural body.
Jesus spoke to John in Revelations 1:17-18 (Amp), saying, I Am the First and the Last And Ever Living One. I Am living in the Eternity of the eternities. I died, but see, I Am alive forevermore: and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead)." John didn't see Jesus like he and the disciples remembered, but He was in a Glorified Form. This is similar to what I imagine we will be; the same, but different.
While we're in these bodies, we're even now the children of God. We' have been given His authority and dominion to use, as ambassadors of God's Kingdom, like Jesus had. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write in 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amp), "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."
We still identify with the man and woman of the flesh on earth, but we should be identifying ourselves with the Risen Christ. We mostly view Jesus as a Man and see ourselves that way too. Paul though, tells us to see Jesus as He is now, and ourselves like that too. When we see ourselves as "mere" men and women, then we lose the identity of who Jesus has made us to be. 1John 3:2 (Amp) says again, "Beloved, even now are we children of God." We don't know what we will be, but when Jesus comes, we'll be like Him, "for we shall see Him as He really is."
We've been taught to identity with the Man Jesus was before His Resurrection and Glorification, instead of identifying with being citizens of God's Kingdom, here on earth. We're only "dressed" in the garments of this world, in order to walk and minister in the world. The real you is already raised up with Jesus and made to sit with Him in God's Kingdom. Ephesians 2:6 (Amp) says, "And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together, giving us joint seating with Him in the Heavenly sphere, by virtue of our being in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
We need to see ourselves as who Christ has made us to be, instead of who we'll be someday, when we leave this earth. Jesus was Lord over everything on earth, even in His fleshly Body. Jesus never lost His authority over satan, sin, or anything else. Jesus did the things He did, because of us and not for Himself. Jesus surrendered Himself to sin and death, because they were part of mankind. He suffered these things, in order to make us free to be part of Him, as He is.
We need to stop seeing ourselves as the world and the enemy wants us too. We must see ourselves like Jesus made us to be, while we're still dressed in this flesh. Wearing the clothes of the earth, doesn't change the identity of the person wearing them. Though Jesus was dressed in flesh, He never lost His Identity or Who He was. Even the demons saw past Jesus' way of being dressed in flesh, saying, "I know Who you are, the Holy One of God." When satan sees who you are, he sees pasts your clothing of flesh. Satan sees you as a child of God.and trembles. This is why we must put on the Armor of God. When we're dressed in the Armor of God, satan can't distinguish between us and our older brother Jesus, until we speak.
When we speak, the enemy easily knows who is wearing the Armor. He knows whether we're the new creation being or whether we still see ourselves as mere, unsaved persons. Jesus said in Matthew 12:37,33 (Amp), "For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced." This doesn't mean that God will condemn you, but if we're speaking sickness, fear, worry and the things that mere persons of the flesh speak, then the enemy has license and authority to bring things we don't want, into our lives.
Jesus also said in Verse 33, "Either make the tree sound and healthy and good, and its fruit sound, healthy and good, or make the tree rotten, diseased and bad, and its fruit rotten, diseased and bad: for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit." Jesus spoke to the people opposing Him in Matthew 15:6 (Amp), "So for the sake of your traditions (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God, depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect."
Whether or not we know or even believe it, the words we say have tremendous effects in our Christian walk and lives. I'm not saying that we should only continually quote scriptures, but our words should line-up with God's Word. If God's Word says, "By His stripes we are healed," then we shouldn't say, "I'm afraid of being sick." If God's Word says that we "have been made to be the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus," then we shouldn't continually say of ourselves, "None are righteous, no not one." We must rightly divide the Word of Truth, according to our new creation covenant with our Heavenly Father, in Jesus. We learned to stop cussing when we got saved, and we can stop speaking against what God's Word says about us, in the same way. We are new creation and must learn to act and speak like the One we represent.
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