
Identity Week
You are Born That Way
Understanding the Importance of Your Identity in Christ as a Believer
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Summary:
An important revelation we can get from the Word of God is to understand who we are in Christ. Identifying with Christ will change the way we live and cause us to rise above adversity. Not understanding our identity in Him will keep us living far below our rights and privileges in Christ.
In our everyday lives, we identify with a person, organization, occupation, nationality, or church. We also have an identity in the spirit realm. The scriptures say we have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). Not only did we die with Him on the cross at Calvary, we also have been raised with Him.
Understanding our Identity
The best way I can explain your new identity in Christ is a story I heard from Kenneth E. Hagin:
When he was holding a meeting in one of the northern states, and there was a fellow in the congregation who was said to be the finest Christian in the church. In one of the services, he was teaching that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. After this particular session, this Christian man came up to him and said, "Brother Hagin, I don't understand what you're saying. I know I've been born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, and I sure am trying to be righteous."
He said, "I want to ask you a question. Are you a man or a woman?" "Why," he said, "I'm a man." I said, "How did you get to be a man?" "I was born that way," he said. He said, "That's the way you get to be righteous. You're born that way." The man saw it. He got so excited, He thought the man was going to go through the ceiling! He'd been working for years trying to get to be righteous,
but when he saw that Jesus is his righteousness and that he was made the righteousness of God in Christ when he was born again, he thought he was going up right then! Jesus was his righteousness all along, but this man hadn't known what already belonged to him.
Remember and never forget that you are born righteous. That is your new identity in the realm of the spirit. And now you have to bring it to the physical realm by speaking it over yourself long enough that its becomes part of your life.
Reference:
2Cor 5:17