Freedom Ministry - PART 1: Identity
The center of the enemy’s target is identity so this is where we must begin. Western culture, especially in the United States, is bent on creating confusion in the minds of men, women, and even children.
From the beginning of time, satan has attacked our identity. A lie people often ponder is one that whispers, “You’ll never be able to change,” or “You will never overcome your secret addiction.” Shame pours over our minds and cascades into our hearts.
But you counter, look at 2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Is this true? Can we really live as a new creation? Sometimes truth and experience don’t match up. In the first session of Freedom 1, we teach about your identity as a new creation in Christ, what that means, and why there are times your life experiences seem to contradict this truth.
First, you must identify the source of what is true. Before the fall, Adam’s source for life and living was God. Adam was totally dependent on Him. After the fall, Adam became his own source, independent of God, and this is important to understand. Herein lies the battle for dominance, or as the scripture often says, “dominion.”
“We are not, necessarily, doubting that God will do the best for us, we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” ~C.S. Lewis.
God’s solution to Adam’s fall and our subsequent life of selfishness, was the miracle of the cross and resurrection.
According to Jesus, in order to be reborn into a new life, you must first let go of your old self—death precedes the new birth. This principle of death and life is exemplified in the story of Adam and the curse that Jesus came to reverse. Jesus asks you to die to yourself and in the process of surrender, He promises new life.
When we are born again, we are baptized into Christ and receive a new nature. We exchange our old nature and all that went with it for a completely new nature and all the benefits that come with that.
For those who are in Christ, meaning those who have let go of their old life and embraced a new life in Jesus, the old creation has been transformed into the New Creation! The old dominion for the new dominion.
We should recognize how the source of our fulfillment has shifted away from the philosophies and traditions of the world to God. According to Colossians 2:8-10, all of us who are in Christ have been made complete in Him. The word for “complete” is pleroo, meaning absolutely full. No one is more pleroo in Him than anyone else. This is a universal truth for all of us, and it is how we are known by God. He sees the complete version of who we were created to be. But we must understand it is a process God works in us daily.
Paul said of himself in Philippians 3:12 that he has not yet attained perfection (“telios.”) Telios is a word that also is translated as complete or perfect, but it is different than pleroo. It means spiritually mature. It is also a word that means “design” from which we get the “teleological” argument for creation science. It is the design that God has designed us to follow in order to become complete. There is always a level of spiritual maturity that we have not yet attained.
So, we are complete, but not yet! The key to understanding the dichotomy of being made perfect, but not yet being perfect is this: we have been made into a new person that is completely new, but we have to grow up into who we are. We are becoming who we are.
I like to illustrate the above idea by referencing architectural plans. The plans are complete (pleroo) but they are incomplete in the sense that plans need to be turned into a building and done so according to the specifications of the architect.
The big question - Why do I still struggle if all things are new?
5 reasons:
When born again, I am an infant version of who I am becoming.
I have a new nature, but I still have my flesh.
I have the mind of Christ, but my thinking has to be renewed.
Your actions follow the identity you have created in your heart, mind, and emotions.The enemy still seeks to steal, kill, and destroy – primarily through lies and deception.
I still live in a fallen and corrupt world – the first creation (world) still awaits its redemption.
The choice to change:
Keep in mind that your life is directed by the daily choices you make. Those choices are the signposts that lay down your direction and eventually bring you to your destiny. Denial of bad choices can never change that fact no matter how sincere or committed you may be.
Often we deeply desire change but we rarely commit to the discipline that makes it happen. Choose to embrace the hard work and see what Jesus does! Both change and freedom are not an event, they are a life-long journey of choices and surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit. To find freedom, you must shift your view of life from a worldly perspective to an exclusively Godly perspective. You can only live under one domain and whichever that is will control your life and establish your identity.