ONE OF THE MOST important revelations you can get from the Word of God is to understand who you are in Christ. Identifying with Christ will change the way you live and cause us to rise above adversity. Failure to understand our identity in Him will keep us living far below our rights and privileges in Christ.
What does it mean to identify with Christ?
In order to identify with a person, firstly, you formulate a mental image of another person, and then you try to think, feel, and act in a way that resembles this image. Christians, then, need to know Jesus intimately so you can copy His thoughts, feelings, words, and actions in our lives. You get to know Him by spending time in prayer, studying His word and fellowshipping with other Christians.
The scriptures say you have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). Not only did you die with Him on the cross at Calvary, you also have been raised with Him.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus EPHESIANS 2:4–7 (NKJV).
According to this passage of Scripture, you are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Unfortunately, some Christians are having an identity crisis. They don’t know who they are in Christ or where they are seated. Instead of identifying with Christ, they identify with the problems that confront them. You can tell they do this because they call themselves by their problems: divorced, bankrupt, and so forth.
Some identify with a profession. They say things like, “I’m a salesman,” or “I’m a lawyer.” But their profession is not who they are; it’s what they do. Others identify with the disease that is attacking their bodies. They say, “I’m a diabetic,” “I’m ADD,” or “I am bipolar.”
When you really understand your identity in Christ—who you are in Him—it changes the way you think and live. Second Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” That same verse in The Living Bible says, “When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand-new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!”
Before you were in Christ, you were destined for death and destruction. Now you are destined for eternal life (1 John 2:25). Before you were in Christ, you were destined for despair, degradation, and poverty. But in Christ, you are destined to have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). In Christ is where our identity should be. It’s in Jesus that you are somebody!
Here are some things you are and have in Christ:
- You are new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17).
- You are the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).
- You’ve been healed (1 Peter 2:24).
- You’ve been made rich (2 Cor. 8:9).
- You are accepted (Eph. 1:6).
- You are free from sin (Rom. 6:20–22).
- Baptized into Christ and His death (Rom 6.3; 1 Corinthians 12.13;
- No longer a slave to sin (Rom 6.6-7, 18, 22)
- Possessor of eternal life (Romans 6.22-23)
- Seated with Christ in heaven (Ephesians 2.6; Philippians 3.20)
- Joint heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17)
It’s time for you to stand up and be who God says you are. You need to let the devil know that you know who you are in Christ. Anytime he tries to attack you, you can fight back and say, “Don’t mess with me. I’m identified with Christ, I KNOW WHO I AM!”