Our Real Identity

Religion and tradition teaches that we are saved by Jesus Christ's death on the cross; but it adds that we must do works and relate to Christ as if He is separated from us by curtain; by the celestial heaven where he sits on His throne. We are taught to pray and plead with the Prince of Peace as if he is apart from us. But the truth is that religion is wrong. We are not separated from the Savior; no, shockingly the Savior lives in us!

We are no longer human after we are Born Again. We are hybrid of God and Us in one being. Our D.N.A. is now mixed with the Divine One! We are no longer sinners, but filled with the Savior! We have not only inherited salvation, but we have inherited the Savior and Creator of the World! St. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20). You are no longer alone in your body and spirit; God dwells inside of you! For the Scriptures say, "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).

It is no longer accurate for us to say we are humans, homosapiens, or man. We are now, "Sons of God." Literally, because the Son of God is within us and He is fills our minds with His thoughts and teaches us His ways through mingling Messiah and Maker in our matter (humanity)! God is inside every believer in Christ Jesus! We are now a new creation; "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are no longer just dust, but divine! For the Divine Trinity dwells within us! The Apostle John, who was called the beloved and closest disciple to Christ Jesus said this, "If anyone acknowledges Jesus as Son of God, God lives in them and they in God." (1 John 4:15).

There is nothing that can separate us from God, because God is in us and we are in Him! We have become one, exactly how Jesus prayed, "I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one--as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me." (John 17:21, NLT). This is why the Apostle Pau said, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39). Nothing can separate us because it is God who lives in us and because He is now part of us; He cannot be separate from us! We are like the Trinity in a way now; just as the Triune God is One, but Three, that Same Triune God has become one with us and lives in us; so that now we truly are in His image!

We have gone beyond Adam and Eve, who had to in Eden, the first paradise wait for God to walk with them in Garden (see Genesis 3:8-9). They could feel and relate to God, but God did not make his dwelling inside them and become One with them. We Christian believers have been blessed with Beyond Eden! We are better off than Adam and Eve! The Redeemer now lives in us, covering our sins with His blood from the cross and revealing Himself through us and in us, and to us!

There is no reason to fear anymore! We don't have to anxious about God being far away from us; He cannot be away from us, He lives in us! The Apostle Paul confirms this with his words, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.." (1 Corinthians 6:19). The devil wants to convince us that God's presence can leave us or that God is separated from us by a chasm, curtain, or chains of sin he wants us to believe we still carry.  Satan if he cannot keep us from trusting and believing in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior; will try to make us believe Christ is far from us, like in Old Testament Times, and that we must do good works to please, gain approval, and hopefully reach God's presence. But the truth is God is in us. If we don't feel God-- we feel Him; because He is inside us. The Truth is that the times you feel God's presence is when He does an extra manifestation; the reason for this manifestation is that as Joyce Meyer said, "you've become so comfortable, accustom to, and familiar with God and his presence, He sometimes does something to get your attention. This familiarity is not a bad thing, it just means God and his presence has become normal to you."

Religion and Tradition want us to put God back in the box and keep Him at distance. The Evil One uses tradition as tool to convince people that God is a distant God and that you must connect with him through rite, ritual, perfect petitions and prayers, and other manmade ideas like penance. Religion and Tradition of this kind is demonic and meant to keep you from realizing that when you believe, trust, and have faith in Jesus Christ, He comes to live in you and you are one with Him! Every angel, devil, demon, and dark person must submit to you because the Savior Jesus Christ who is God (Colossians 2:9) is in you! They submit to God in you, not you. There is no reason to be timid or terrified anymore! You are more than "conquerors through Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:37) and "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4).

The devil's chief aim is to convince you that you are still the sinner, when the Savior who paid for all sin lives in you! Every wicked work you will do was nailed to the cross! (Colossians 2:14). Even the bad you do can be used for God; for the Scripture says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose," (Romans 8:28). There is no reason to live in trepidation over our sins anymore. We should not live in sin or purposefully practice sin, but our focus should be the Savior not our sin.

We have forgotten who we are. Those who become saved, often continued to call themselves, "sinners" and take that identity.

But the truth is that our identity is:

1. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:8-9)
2. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)
3. "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." (1 Peter 1:23)
4. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
5. "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30)
6. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)
7. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light," (Ephesians 5:8),
8. "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you, "(John 15:15)
9. "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.." (Galatians 3:26).
10. "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God." (Romans 8:14)
11. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:16)
12. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)
13. "As He says also in Hosea, "I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.' "AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, 'YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,' THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD." (Romans 9:25-26)
14. "And, "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:18)
15. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9)
16. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." (Colossians 3:12)
17. "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (Romans 8:17)
18. "And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires." (2 Peter 1:4)
19. "They triumphed over the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." (Revelation 12:11)
    

It is evident that our identity is not as sinners, but sons. We are suppose to see ourselves through these Scriptures, not the guilt and severe judgments of spirits and sick people! We are "new creation," "heirs", "a chosen people," "children of light," "friends of God", and will share "in His (Christ's) divine nature"! You are not a worm, you are a Wonderful Work of God and One with Him! Do not let the devil deceive you into thinking you are miserable maggots who deserve damnation! No you "are gods; you are all sons of the Most High." (Psalm 82:6). We are not Heracles, but we are Holy and One with Christ. God reigns in us and through us, so do not become proud, but humbled and happy that God decided to live in you and you become one with Him! Seek to become more like the Lord through connecting with Him who dwells in you and fulfill the words of St. Paul which say, "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13).
Many who read this will be afraid. You have been so accustom to seeing yourself as sinner after accepting Christ as Savior. It was necessary that when we were "yet still sinners.." we confess our sins and be called sinners; but now we are saved. We are now called saints, a term some have trouble calling themselves because the canonization processes in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. But if you remember the words of St. Paul, He said, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household." (Ephesians 2:19).

Our war against sin doesn't end. The difference is this: under religion we believe we can do pious acts and works to atone and be absolved. The Sacrament of Penance is an example of this. But the truth is that we really partner with Christ Jesus, who lives in us. Through trusting Him, our sin is paid for and the bad behavior that seeks to break us is beaten to pieces by the beams of the cross when we boldly "submit therefore to God," who is in us and helping us "resist the devil," who "shall flee." (James 4:7). In this way we are not resisting on our own, but God in us helps us resist the devil; for without God we cannot resist. But the resisting is not about salvation (getting to heaven), Christ dwells in us and saved us on the cross; but rather now it is about witnessing to the lost. We need to be transformed into more like Trinity who is within us so that others may see and believe; for they do not yet have God dwelling in them and thus need to see God through us (John 13:35). In addition we curb sin through trusting in Christ and transforming into Him more and more everyday. It is not about becoming perfect, but letting God be magnified in us. The more we are One with the Creator and Savior; the more our behavior becomes like His because our spirit, soul, and body are mingling in His Spirit and are filled with the Living God.