Identity Theft: Stolen or Given?

I read a comment on a social media status update the other day discussing the topic of identity. The comment basically stated that if everyone would just get their eyes off who they are in Christ, and turn simply to who God is, that it would somehow fix what they believe are problems with the message of identity. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how human nature thinks throwing out the baby with the bath water is a solution finder – throwing out the whole message of identity, dismissing it as a “selfish” topic. I think there’s a massive need in the body of Christ to know who they IN Christ. Comments like the one I read are generally statements of ignorance. Knowing who you are in Christ is founded on the expansion of God’s nature as a greater reality in your life. You can’t know who you are unless you understand what/who you were patterned after, and the message of identity is never separate from this understanding. Confusion in identity is centered on lies that set in to try and steal from us our dominion and authority on the earth as heirs. We don’t have to choose between powerful believer or powerful God; it’s both. A “powerless believer” is an oxymoron, and it is the enemy’s greatest weapon. It is mediocrity as its best. There is so much more, and as I stated in my last post, I have a healthy dissatisfaction that is pushing me to discover the fullness of the kingdom as my present reality.  

I believe the church has suffered from a bad case of identity theft.

I’m not a big “enemy” guy. The devil this, demons that and the infamous “I’m being attacked every day” stuff has never sat right in my spirit. I found early on that a devil-conscious reality brings a lot of devil and not very much Jesus. Although, the trap in this stance is thinking the enemy isn’t real and that we get to skate by scott-free. There is a need to understand the enemy has come with an agenda to steal, kill and destroy. I believe his greatest position is getting us to believe we aren’t made in the King’s image, and that we don’t have authority over him. The only authority the enemy has is what we give him. Jesus said that God was greater in Him than Satan on earth, and then he invited us to “abide,” or simply stay, in this reality of God’s greatness. When we aren’t walking as a powerful companion, the alternative looks like a shameful beggar outside the city walls with no invitation to the table. When we accept this identity as a weak, filthy-rags, disinherited, confused and powerless orphan, we’ve become a victim of identity theft. Our name and authority is being used in a way it wasn’t designed to be. The difference between the modern era of credit cards getting compromised and this spiritual picture being created here is that we’ve literally given the enemy permission to take it.  With this comes access to our authority, dominion, inheritance and brings condemnation, confusion and especially the lie that we've been separated from Father God.  Who would invite a group of hoodlums into their home at midnight and then call themselves victims?

Much of what we feel victimized by actually looks like faith mispositioned rather than stolen goods.  

How would the earth respond if 25 percent of faith-declaring believers of Jesus Christ actually believed that Jesus was the first born among many brethren? If He’s the first, who is the second born of the King? What if 15 percent actually believed they were fearfully and wonderfully made in His image and likeness? It would mean they have a present reality of what His image and likeness looks like, and transformation of every sphere would be on display. This is the substance that will change the world, and Jesus showed us as one man. How much more if we all banded together and took our place as sons? God hasn’t called us to do something ordinary, but extraordinary. Jesus declared that all power on heaven and earth was in His name prior to giving the great commission. Why do you suppose He prequalified His last words to the disciples with this bold statement of His ability? I believe it was because He wanted them to realize that “going” wouldn’t be possible without identifying Him as the power source. This power doesn’t come into our lives because we think we’re filthy rags or just a poor beggar hoping to get the scraps off the table. To be able to handle power, it requires great responsibility, understanding and maturity.  

It’s time to chop off the false humility jargon that is pervasive in the church.  

Fear has set in the church, and we are so scared to acknowledge the divine design of companionship and authority that God has invited us into. Can power ruin someone?  Of course. Can thinking too highly of yourself bring you to your knees? Been there, done that. But, just because power mispositioned can get you hurt, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a right position. Declaring we’re nothing and that anything good in our lives is only God takes away our responsibility to say yes and to lay our lives down. He doesn’t break in and hot wire the car. He comes in through the door after knocking. True humility allows for us to be confident in what we were designed to do, but it always lives in surrender to who God is as the power source. Demeaning the painting doesn’t honor the artist. False humility says, I’m not responsible or powerful, but true humility says I’m powerful because of Him. You can’t have authority and not be in charge, the same you can’t have self-control and then blame God if the outcome is messy.  

We need an encounter with perfect love that casts out fear.  

It’s time to put away childish things and embrace love as a more excellent way. Knowing who we are in Christ as sons is the beginning of transformation. Romans says don’t be like the world, but be transformed in the renewing of your mind that you may prove the perfect and acceptable will of God. We can’t just say what we’re not; we have to be renewed, and then walk it out. The revelation of identity as a son begins with understanding who God is. To have an upgraded perspective of the church, we need an upgraded perspective of ourselves. To have an upgraded perspective of ourselves, we need an upgraded perspective of God. Graham Cooke says the most powerful prayer you could pray is this: “God, what do you want to be for me today that I’ve never known you to be?” Pray this prayer, and then I challenge you to believe that what He shows you about Himself is what He believes about you. He is who you are like.  

Healthy Dissatisfaction

I recently started a message out by stating some things that I was unwilling to settle for. My message was about heaven’s government and its impact on how we as the local church express the kingdom of God here on earth. When we believe that the kingdom of God is being established today on earth, it changes what we can believe is possible. I speak with a lot of passion and conviction when sharing on this topic because I’ve experienced many diluted or mediocre forms of Christianity … and I know there is more. These past experiences created a dissatisfaction in my heart that, for many years, I thought needed to be suppressed and just tolerated. As I’ve grown in maturity as a believer, I’ve found that God has given me these healthy dissatisfactions – to push me to not simply tear down what I saw, but to push into the unseen. When such passion is channeled appropriately, it can be a catalyst for radical transformation. Criticism, negativity and dishonor bring confusion, but pursuing love, excellence and honor creates a momentum that defies odds and makes comfortable things tremble. This healthy dissatisfaction has pushed me to take the greatest risks of my life, and it’s yielding the greatest season of my life. It’s become one that has defined Melissa and me.  

Heaven and earth’s beautiful dance …

Life can only come out of this tension of dissatisfaction when we have a foundation of knowing God’s design for mankind. Much of Western thought is based off a Greek value system of believing that deities were exclusively good, enlightened, and the earth as well as its inhabitants were inherently evil. While the curse of sin is real, we weren’t made in its image, and it has no authority over our lives that we didn’t give in the first place. When we accept Father’s love and profess Christ as the messiah who rose from the dead, we eliminate the authority of Hades over our life. This restoration is heaven and earth being reunited. What becomes possible when heaven begins to interact with earth? It creates big questions that require the leading of the Holy Spirit to walk out. I love the picture of a husband and wife dancing as partners the waltz or tango. There’s a tension needed in the hands, arms and shoulders when dancing together that allows for leading and communication. It creates momentum to spin or push out for a moment of beauty. Jesus communicated this tension in His prayer to Father when He said, “On earth as it is in heaven.” They are meant to be one, and we get to live in the tension of allowing heaven to lead us in all we do. Beauty is found in the embrace of this tension of now and not yet.  

Changing our perspective …

We live in this tension every day. We have decisions to make about whether we will settle with what is being decided around us, or if we will push into a higher perspective and believe for greater things. I’ve decided to believe in greater things, and I’m seeing them all the time. What is the determining factor in what you believe is possible? Do we just believe what we’ve been told? What we heard in psychology classes 10 years ago? Or, are we willing to accept that what God says is possible really is? We can either have a common worldview, or we can have a kingdom view. If earth is to be as heaven is, it demands the question what is heaven's culture like? What does a kingdom with King Jesus on the throne actually look like? It definitely looks like something.  

This is the beginning of a point of no return.  

If you study scripture and see the 85 plus times Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God interacting with earth, it starts to build a longing in your heart for the unthinkable. It starts to demand transformation on levels only possible if God were present, and guess what … He is. Through us. Many have created small views of God because they are waiting for Him to come down and do His “I’m God and I’m in control, so get out of my way” thing, but that’s not His plan. His plan is you. Just you. Jesus was the example, and we are the ambassadors of this example of reconciliation of the whole earth to Himself. When you believe Jesus’ words, you begin to have a healthy dissatisfaction with what you currently know and begin to be willing to jump into the unknown. The unknown of radical love, endless peace, unspeakable joy and relentless hope. It’s the realm of embracing mystery, miracles and immediate breakthrough that always ends with, “It could have only been God.” The more I realize who God is and what His design for me actually looks like, the more l lay my life down to see His reality become my own. This is what I say yes to and is indeed good news. Hopefully I’ll never be satisfied …