This morning I remembered a story my wife Susan had shared with me about a tribe in Africa that takes a unique approach to tribal discipline. When a tribe member breaks one of the tribal laws or social conventions, the assumption is that the individual is essentially good but broken. Instead of punishing the behaviors, they place the offending individual in the middle of the village and for two days, the rest of the tribe surrounds them and speaks positive things and good names over them.

The story didn’t report on the tribe’s assumptions about the benefits of the ritual but I’d like to speculate on a few possibilities. If they assume an evil spirit has corrupted the person, then perhaps they sense they can fight evil by speaking good over the person and in that way drive out the evil influence. They must believe their words have power. Perhaps, they believe the person has forgotten his or her essential goodness and so two days of declarations reminds them of who they are or “reboots” them to their default settings. Perhaps, all the positive things spoken over the offender are designed to call them to a higher standard of living. I have no idea if there has been any Christian influence in the tribe but there is something very biblical and very powerful about their approach.

Now, I am speaking about our tribe of believers only. Ours is the tribe marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us. Mankind, in general, is not essentially good because mankind has a fallen nature. However, once an individual has been born again, has become a new creation, and has the Spirit of God within…he or she must be considered essentially good. God says that we are priests and kings, holy and sanctified, sons and daughters in the household of God, and partakers of the divine nature.

Within each of us is the goodness and greatness of God. This goodness and greatness is the reality that God has placed within us. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but that fruit is a potential that needs to be called out, nurtured, and activated. James says something interesting in regard to this truth. He says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ja. 4:29). What is spoken to us and over us has a powerful affect on our identity or our self-image.   We usually live up to what we believe about ourselves and what is spoken to us year after year shapes those beliefs.

There is also a prophetic aspect to the things we speak over another person. In the book of Judges, Gideon is an Israelite hiding his harvest from Midianite raiders. As far as we know, he had no military training. Yet, the angel of the Lord greets him by saying, “The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior” (Judges 6:12). Gideon was not yet a mighty warrior but the purposes of God for his life had been established from his conception and the angel was prophetically activating those purposes. The Apostle Paul instructs the church at Corinth that prophetic words spoken over believers should always strengthen, encourage, and comfort (1 Cor.14: 3). Those words begin to call out God’s purposes in us and activate the goodness and abilities that God has placed in us through his Spirit.

There are numerous other passages in the N.T. that have the same flavor. Nowhere do I see passages commanding the opposite. The gospel of the flesh and of hell would certainly contain commands and passages such as: Be ye critical and rejecting of one another. Be hateful and demeaning in all that you do. Be quick to point out failure and remind one another of those failures as often as you come together. Be careful to shame one another as if that will produce righteousness. Speak the truth one to another with great disdain and condescension. We could go on…but you get the drift.

However, the Holy Spirit spends a great deal of time telling us who we are in Christ. He goes to great lengths to describe our new identity as children of the Most High God. The writers of the New Testament speak that identity over the church throughout their letters. They usually begin their letters by acknowledging who they are in Christ. For instance: “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7). “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy…(1 Cor.1:2). “To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph.1:1). There is purpose and intentionality in doing that. Most of these churches had flaws that needed to be corrected but the writers began by affirming their goodness in Christ.

Our identity, our holiness, our strength, our glory, and our victories have all been spoken by God and written down. His Spirit wants to put those words in our mouths. As we also declare the word of God given to us, his word once again goes forth. As it goes forth, it accomplishes its purpose. God calls us to be a tribe that surrounds those among us who are broken and declare good things over them. We are to call out who they are in Christ and the destiny he has ordained for them so that God’s word will accomplish its purpose in their lives.

As we speak honor to one another, encourage one another, and speak only words that build up, we help to establish the believer’s self-image – the internal view we hold of ourselves. We always live up to or down to that view. But more than that, we activate supernatural forces that draw those things out of us and make them realities. The words we speak that are God’s words are not only true but also prophetic in nature. As we, like Ezekiel, prophesy over the wasteland of someone’s brokenness, life will come forth. We should speak that same word of God over ourselves, as well, until we see God’s goodness and greatness fully formed in us.

James instructs us to be fountains of fresh water that constantly speak blessings rather than springs of salt water that kill living things by our negative words and evaluations. God calls us to speak life rather than death. That should begin with our spouses and children and then spread to all those we encounter. This doesn’t mean we cannot correct or point out fault but we do so with the conviction that those we are speaking to are valued by God and also have a positive destiny established by their creator. Our words can help them discover that destiny and fulfill God’s purposes in their lives. As we enter the New Year, may we all commit to speak only words that build up and impart life even when others are not as gracious.

When speaking about false prophets, Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (Mt.7:15-20).

This warning about false prophets suggests than men will come into the church with hidden agendas and, typically, try to draw followers after them for financial gain or to introduce heresies into the church. Jesus suggested that the fruit they bear will indicate whether they are from God or not. These false prophets apparently are intentional about their deception. Their fruit will be a watered down gospel, division in the church, immorality, and an unbiblical view of Jesus and salvation. These men must be recognized, warned, and dealt with by church leadership in order to protect the flock.

Sometimes, however, parts of the body of Christ have been too quick to label someone with whom they disagree as a false prophet who needs to be immediately run out of town. More often, the church has experienced well-meaning people with poor theology which they came by honestly. Lets face it, most of us were introduced to our view of scripture (theology) by those who brought us to Christ and by leaders in the group that became our initial spiritual family. Because we knew very little or no Bible, we received their teaching without any critical evaluation. We also held these preachers and teachers in high esteem because those with whom we had relationships held them in high esteem. If they taught something that we questioned or that seemed to contradict something we had read in scripture, we typically ignored our objections and accepted their theology because “they knew so much more Bible than we did.” That happens in generations of Christians who trust their teachers who trusted their teachers who trusted their teachers, and so on.

What we need to understand is that poor theology can be passed on by well-meaning and good-hearted people and that we can question their theology without questioning the faith or sincerity of those who hold it. I believe that a great deal of poor or inadequate theology has been passed down from generation to generation in the church and that one of the ways we can evaluate theology, like prophets, is by its fruit.

One of the major theologies that concerns me (okay – aggravates me) today has been around for a couple of hundred years but has really gained prominence among evangelicals in the past fifty years. It is the theology that states that the signs of the end times include the worsening of the world and the inevitable weakening and ineffectiveness of the church.   Embedded in this theology is the idea that this weakening and worldwide persecution of the church is God’s plan and is, therefore, inevitable. Since it is inevitable and since we are surely in the end times, we must simply resign ourselves to the decline of the church and the increase of evil until Jesus returns. Those who accept that premise, tend to give up on redeeming nations and cultures for Christ and settle for getting a few more into the kingdom of God before the end while mostly bunkering in and protecting what we have.

The fruit of that theology has been a defeatist attitude, pessimism, and a fatalistic approach to reclaiming our own nation. Many Christians feel helpless and weak in the face of culture and “big moves” of the devil. The only news that is reported about the church is decline and apathy and so many believers are bunkering in and waiting for the end. There is a problem with that view. Just because something is being reported by anti-Christian media outlets does not make it true or the whole story. The church is flourishing worldwide. Secondly, it is not an acceptable attitude for those who are more than conquerors. I was scanning Bill Johnson’s new book, God is Good, and appreciated what he had to say about that mindset. I thought I would share it with you.

“Vision starts with identity and purpose. Through a revolution in our identity, we can think with divine purpose. Such a change begins with a revelation of Him. One of the tragedies of a weakened identity is how it affects our approach to Scripture. Many, if not most, theologians make the mistake of taking all the good stuff contained in the prophets and sweeping it under the mysterious rug called the Millennium…I want to challenge our thinking and deal with our propensity that puts off those things that require courage, faith, and action to another period of time. The mistaken idea is this: if it is good, it can’t be for now. A cornerstone of this theology is that the condition of the church will always be getting worse and worse; therefore, tragedy in the church is just another sign of these being the last days. In a perverted sense, the weakness of the Church confirms to many that they are on the right course. The worsening condition of the world and the Church becomes a sign to them that all is well. I have many problems with that kind of thinking, but only one I will mention now – it requires no faith! We are so entrenched in unbelief that anything contrary to this worldview is thought to be of the devil” (Bill Johnson, God is Good, p.54-55. DestinyImage Publishing).

Can any theology that bears the fruit of futility, hopelessness, and weakness in the Church be good or healthy theology? How can our biblical identity of being sons and daughters of a triumphant King who has all authority in heaven and on earth, walking in power, doing greater things that he did with a co-mission to go out and make disciples of all nations (not just a handful of people within a nation), fit into that defeatist view of our times?

Jesus does not cower and hide away because the world is bleak. He has overcome the world. We are more than conquerors. Proverbs says that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. As the church thinketh in her heart so is she. What a coup for the enemy that he has introduced a theology into a large part of the church that accepts decline and defeat for the church as God’s perfect and irresistible plan. The kingdom of God does not retreat. The Kingdom of God does not shrink. It is not the nature of Christ to cower. Whatever happened to the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church? Much of the church seems to be like Israel who hid in their tents when Goliath would come out to challenge them. In their own eyes they were defeated before the battle even started. What we need is a church full of David’s who envisioned holding the head of the giant in his hands because his God was way bigger than any Philistine strong man.

Isaiah declared of Messiah, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end (emphasis added). He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this” (Isa.9:6-7).

I see no parenthesis in the increase of his government. I do not see this occurring only in the Millennium. If that prophecy is confined to the age to come, then Jesus is not yet on the throne of David, not yet Prince of Peace, not yet Wonderful Counselor, and so forth. We can evaluate theology by its fruit and make biblical adjustments without calling those who promote it false prophets. If they are preaching their best current understanding of scripture with sincerity, they are not false prophets. They are simply men and women who need to reconsider their theology apart from the orthodox status it has among their denominational leaders. By the way, most of the churches who hold this pessimistic view of a languishing church in the end times are also cessationist churches that believe that God no longer performs miraculous feats on behalf of his people. Powerlessness, of course, breeds despair.

If you have felt despair and hopelessness in your life and your world because of this theology, you have my permission to reconsider your understanding. Anything that works against faith, hope, optimism, and a conquering spirit but instead produces fear and doubt cannot be of God. If the fruit of that view has produced good fruit in your life and church them hang on to it. If not, do some more study with a different set of eyes.

If we know who we are in Christ – sons and daughters, priests and kings, the temple of the Holy Spirit, seated with Christ in Heavenly realms, more than conquerors, ambassadors of Christ, healers, prophets, those who trample on snakes and scorpions, and those who will do even greater things than he did – then we cannot accept a theology that negates everything we are.

From time to time we need to examine what we really believe and what beliefs or theologies are influencing us. What has the fruit been in your life? If your theology or your church’s theology has been Christ-centered, empowering, encouraging, hopeful, demon-kicking, and transformative then you are in a good place. First of all, those qualities reflect the character and Spirit of Christ and any truth from him should bear that fruit in us. If, however, you are discouraged, fearful, dreading the future, and exhausted…that is not from Christ for we have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Check the fruit not only of prophets but also of theologies. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth and give you a greater understanding of who you are and who He is in these present days. After all, that us part of his job description and no matter what is happening around us, he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Our Lord has already overcome this world and we already share in that victory… so be encouraged and blessed in Him today.

Most of us are acquainted with the “Parable of the Unmerciful Servant” from Matthew 18. It is set in the context of principles about the kingdom of heaven. At the beginning of the chapter, his disciples asked Jesus who is greatest in the kingdom. Jesus answered that those who walk in a childlike humility are great in the kingdom. He then talked about those who would go after a lamb that had wandered from the flock and the excitement of heaven when that lost sheep is restored. Next he taught about forgiving a brother who sins against you. Peter, in his impulsive way, immediately asked how many times we are expected to forgive the knuckleheads in our lives (Peter always said what the rest of us were thinking but would never say out loud). Jesus responded with the lengthy parable I mentioned above.

In the parable, a king had loaned differing amounts to his servants and decided that it was time to call in the loans. He called in a certain servant who had borrowed huge amounts of money and apparently had lost it all. When he could not repay the loan, the king ordered him and his family to be cast into a debtor’s prison until friends and extended family might bail them out. The servant fell to his knees and begged, “ Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything!” The problem was that the king knew he would never be able to repay the enormous debt he owed. However, unexpectedly the king took pity on him, forgave the entire debt, and let him go.

The twist in the story comes when the servant who has just received an incredible gift of mercy, goes out immediately to collect a small debt from another servant. When the other servant could not pay, the “unmerciful servant” had him put in jail until his family could repay the small loan. When the king heard about what had happened, he revoked his forgiveness of the huge debt owed by the first servant and did have him cast into debtor’s prison.

The question of the day is why the man who had just received so much mercy was not willing to dispense a little on his own. Some simply believe he was selfish and hard- hearted with a bit of an entitlement attitude to boot. But I think the key is found in his plea for the king to give him more time to pay the debt. He did not believe that his debt was fully and freely forgiven. He left the presence of the king with the thought that he had only been given more time to come up with the money… like a loan shark giving his mark a few more weeks to pay while the interest accumulates.

Let me pose another question that I believe is related to this parable. Why do so many Christians find it so hard to forgive themselves for past mistakes when the Master has declared our debt fully and freely forgiven? Through the years, I have met with countless believers who do not walk in joy or confidence because they have not forgiven themselves for past mistakes. Their inability to forgive themselves creates an atmosphere of self-condemnation that makes it almost impossible to pray with faith because they constantly feel unworthy of receiving anything from the Lord.

At the core of that inability to forgive one’s self, I believe, is a misunderstanding of the fullness of the forgiveness that has come to them. If you ask these strugglers if they know that God has forgiven them, they will certainly say yes. But, it’s as if that person adds their own bit of fine print to the covenant that says, “I will forgive you once I am convinced that you loath yourself for these past sins and are filled with enough shame and regret long enough for what you have done.” There seems to still be a “works” mentality that says I must somehow eventually pay the debt by punishing myself, even if God will not. Like the unmerciful servant, some may believe that God has just given them more time to work off their sin.

At the core of this is a subtle unbelief in the unconditional love of God and the absolute sufficiency of Christ’s blood to eradicate the record of any sin in our past, present, or future. To say that God has forgiven me but that I can’t, seems to say that my standards for righteousness are higher than God’s. However, I know it’s more than that. I believe it is the same shame that Adam and Eve felt seconds after their sin in the Garden. We seem to be more able to get over our guilt – the idea that we have done something wrong, than to jettison our shame – the idea that there is something wrong with us.

The solution is in faith, but not so much the faith that I am forgiven as much as the faith that, in Christ, I am a new creation – the old is gone and new has come. The faith that I am born again and am not the same person I used to be is essential to forgiving ourselves. We keep thinking it is about something we have done but, in truth, it is about who we believe we are – defective and unacceptable. Only by taking on our new identity in Christ can we reckon the old man dead and walk in the joy of knowing that we have been made new. Only when we believe by faith that our spiritual and physical DNA has actually been changed can we have faith for the transforming power of God.

God is not asking for more. It has all been done by Jesus. He is not asking us to continue to punish ourselves for who we are or what we have done. Christ has taken on all of our punishment. What God wants is for us to believe him when he says that the past has been dealt with at every level and for us to begin to joyfully walk in the new life we have been given as a new creation in Christ. If you have been finding it hard to forgive yourself, spend a lot of time thinking about who you are in Christ now, not who you used to be then. In Christ, you are worth it and you are amazing.

As most of us already know, a person’s identity shapes the life of that individual in powerful ways – for good or for bad. What we believe about ourselves either releases us to walk through life in confidence or shackles us with a sense of impending failure. What we believe about ourselves either makes us secure in ourselves and in our relationships or insecure in ourselves and our relationships. Our identity or self-image allows us to anticipate being loved and accepted by others or keeps us from believing that others can ever love us – including God himself.

We could go on, but most of us are well schooled in the ramifications of self-image. Sense the 1960’s the world of psychology, counseling, and education has emphasized the issue. However, the world has failed in its efforts to create positive identities in children through participation trophies and schools without failure. They have created children who have not discovered who they are through struggles and they have not attached the values of hard work and achievement to the idea that each child is “special.” This model of making sure children never lose at anything, fail at anything, or miss out on anything has created a generation of spoiled children incapable of being productive, resilient adults who are eventually forced to live in the real world.

In one sense it is true that every person is special and certainly valuable. Every individual on the planet is made in the image of God and has been made for a unique purpose with unique gifts and temperament.  However, the idea that we get rewarded just because we show up or just because our name was on the roster (even if we didn’t show up), violates God’s law of sowing and reaping – you get out of something what you put into it.

That principle is one of God’s great inventions. It is a principle that operates in both the natural and the spiritual realm. It teaches us the value of good decisions, the pain of bad decisions, excellence in what we do, and the destructive nature of sin and laziness. Without this principle we are like individuals with severe neuropathy who have no feeling in their feet. Without feeling, those men and women can’t enjoy the pleasures of hot water or soft clover nor can they feel a piece of glass or a thorn pierce their foot. Without the pain, they won’t know that injury has occurred and that treatment is needed. Infection may set in and a minor injury can become a major health crisis. Bad decisions that produce hurtful consequences send a message of pain to the brain and we have the potential to learn to avoid a bad decision the next time – maybe even a soul-threatening decision.

The positive self-image model currently exercised in America is based on performance rather than on who a person is. The assumption that losing a game or receiving a failing grade will destroy someone’s self-esteem is simply wrong. Self-esteem comes from the discovery that who I am and my value is not based on performance (or the illusion of performance), but on being a child of God and the character that identity instills in me. We must lose in order to discover that we don’t always have to win in order to be loved and valued. We have to suffer hardship to become resilient in a world that won’t treat us as an entitled person unless it is to make us dependent on the one giving the awards. We have to learn to work hard and excel because in the real world we won’t receive a raise or a promotion just for showing up at the office. We have to learn that our performance does not establish our value, although our actions will determine other outcomes in our lives.

In the kingdom of heaven, identity is what keeps us on track. It is not an identity based on behavior or performance but on who we are in Christ. For years, the church has tried to shape and grade its people through the grid of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. That is performance-based identity and leaves the impression that God also accepts us or rejects us on the basis of our behaviors. But the message of grace is just the opposite. We are loved, accepted, and valued because of what Christ has done, not what we have done. Our value is established by whose we are not by what we can do.

In the kingdom, my identity dictates my behaviors rather than my behaviors dictating my identity. When I have a clear identity, I live and behave a certain way because of who I am and who my father is. Life is simply about being a follower of Jesus and a child of God and living up to that I am rather than trying to succeed or avoid failure in order to have value.

My self-talk is very important in this arena. Instead of talking to myself about my behaviors, I need to talk to myself about who I am in Christ. Beating myself up for sinful behaviors does not change me at the core. In fact, it usually undermines my identity. Scripture says that Christ became sin for me that I might become the righteousness of God. How can I become the righteousness of God if I constantly define myself by my sins? Taking on a new identity changes me at the core and my behaviors follow.

That’s why it is so important to divorce ourselves from the idea that our worth and value are based on our performance. Your special standing with God did not come as an entitlement to keep you from feeling bad about yourself. It was earned by Jesus for you at a great cost to him. We work hard, then, and strive for excellence as Christians, not to be loved, but because we are loved and want to be like the one who loves us.

An interesting study was done about dieters several years ago. The research showed that those wanting to stay on a diet did better or worse according to their language. A person who would say, “I can’t eat chocolate” did not fare as well as the person who said, “I don’t eat chocolate.” The first group was focused on avoiding a behavior. The second group made not eating chocolate part of his or her identity. In your struggle to overcome sin, a greater focus on who you are in Christ will produce much better outcomes in the long run than focusing on sin. That is true when it comes to helping our children or other adults become the person God wants them to be as well. Food for thought today.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb.11:6). This is a statement from Hebrews 11 where all the great men and women of faith are listed for our consideration. The phrase “by faith” comes up over and over again in that list and throughout the scriptures. Jesus also declared faith to be a central component in many of the miracles he performed. He often said something like, “Your faith has healed you” or “May it be done to you according to your faith.” He declared that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed we could command a mountain to be thrown into the sea and it would be done. At times he was amazed by the faith of a few and, at other times, amazed at the lack of faith of others. Paul assures us that we are saved by grace through faith.

For anyone who has studied the New Testament, faith is clearly seen as a central issue in the life of every person who follows Jesus. Faith is a central issue in our lives if we are going to see God move powerfully in response to our prayers or work through us as we minister to others. Most discussions about faith orbit around our perception of God and his ability to do great things that intervene in the natural order of the universe. However, in my experience, believing that God can heal the sick and raise the dead or that he can move mountains and give great victories in the face of overwhelming odds is often the easy part of faith.

What I have discovered through the years is that my challenge is not to believe that God will move in those ways for his children, but to believe that God will move in those ways for me. Perhaps, you struggle with the same doubts at times.

I find that for many of us, believing that God truly loves us personally and is eager to answer our prayers is the stumbling block for our faith. For many, it is much easier to believe God’s promises for others than for ourselves. We know ourselves too well. We live with a daily awareness of our secret sins, out fears, our defectiveness, and our weaknesses. We know our dark thoughts and shame-filled memories. We reject ourselves so we expect God to reject us as well.

It’s part of our fallen nature to expect punishment from God rather than grace and love. One of Satan’s great strategies is to persuade us that God is a perfectionistic father who requires the same perfection from his children if he is going to love and bless them. We expect him to be angry when we don’t deliver that perfection.

Like Adam and Eve, our first response to our failures is typically to duck into the brush, attempt to cover up our shame, and when God shows up to blame everyone in the surrounding territory for our shortcomings. Why did Adam and Eve hide and blame rather than running to their loving Father and confessing their sin immediately? Perhaps, it was because Satan had subtly convinced them that God wasn’t such a loving father after all. We know what he was whispering to them before they took fruit from the tree and ate, but we don’t know what he whispered the moment after they took that fateful bite.

I’m confident it was a litany of fear-filled claims that God was going to fly into an uncontrollable rage and become a terrifying abuser – that he was going to kill them that day because “ in the day you eat of that tree you will die!” I’m sure he whispered that God now hated and despised them and would never forgive them for what they had done. He probably laughed at them and shamed them in every conceivable way so that they would hate themselves and expect God to feel the same.

Satan whispers to us in our failures as well. He whispers that God only loves the “super-Christians;” he only responds to the prayers of those in the 95^th percentile; or the last sin was the last straw and God is through with us until we can work hard enough to earn his love and mercy again – but we are such losers that we’ll never be able to do that anyway.

Satan persuades us that God is a father whose intimate involvement in our lives, whose love, whose laughter, whose delight, whose abundant forgiveness, and whose approval will never be there for us. And so we pray and believe with reservation – not about his goodness or his ability – but about our “worthiness” for his love and attention.

Faith accepts that our worthiness was secured on the cross apart from our performance. It believes God’s promises for us in spite of our abundant weaknesses and failures. Jesus became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21). By God’s grace there is no condemnation for us because we are no longer under law (Rom.8:1). You have been adopted into the royal family by a father whose love is unconditional. He knew all your faults before he ever called you to be his son or daughter.

Most of us believe in our minds that God loves us. The problem is to believe in our hearts that he loves us and has written our name on every promise. So how do I finally come to believe that every promise is for me and not just for those around me?

First of all, we may ask the Holy Spirit to give us a revelation of that truth in our heart. He is the teacher who leads us into all truth. God speaks of writing his laws or his truth on our hearts. Revelation comes to our hearts, not to our minds, so a consistent prayer for that revelation would be an essential place to start.

Secondly, we need to begin to say what God says about his love and promises for us and refuse to add any disclaimers that disqualify us for those promises. Stop the “buts.” As soon as we say, “ I know what the Bible says, but…” we have introduced unbelief into our hearts and have diluted our faith. If the Bible says it, stand on that without qualifying the scripture or stating a disclaimer about your “worthiness” to receive the promise. Jesus has made you worthy…period. Find a set of declarations about your identity in Christ and read them out loud every day ending them with a thank you to God that he has made you all of those things.

Thirdly, we need to find a promise that becomes our promise – one that resonates with our spirit and one that we will not let go of. Ask God to show you a promise that will anchor all his other promises for you. Memorize it, confess it, and use it against the enemy. When the devil shows up with his truckload of accusations and condemnation, be quick to call him a liar and command him to leave and take his lies with him. Declare your promise over the accusations. That is how you resist Satan and send him fleeing.

Getting the truth that every promise of God is for you and not just everyone else in your church is critical to living a blessed and victorious life. It is a process more than an event and you have a part in it. So get started today and ask the Lord to show you his heart toward you. When we truly understand his heart for each of us, we will be transformed.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.      But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down…Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Rev. 12:7-12

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into a battle that took place in the heavenlies at some point in the far distant past. Satan, desiring to be on the throne instead of God, formed a rebellion and was cast out of heaven and hurled to earth along with the angels who had sided with him. He is described as the accuser of the brethren who accuses them day and night. In this text, he is said to accuse them before God but one of his primary strategies is also to accuse the brethren by accusing them in their own minds day and night. Satan is a master at bringing up the past and framing our weaknesses and mistakes as things that disqualify us from serving God or from receiving his blessings.

As a strategy, every time life happens to a believer and a challenge arises or a painful moment comes our way, Satan jumps in to accuse us and plants the thought that we are being punished for our misdeeds or rejected for our weaknesses. In a flurry of thoughts, he loves to heap condemnation on us and reinforce an identity of being a gross sinner, a target of God’s wrath because of our evil hearts, an abandoned child because of our misbehaviors, and a hypocrite who should be ashamed for even posing as a follower of Jesus.

Not only do those condemning thoughts rob us of our security but they also take away our joy and our peace. In addition, they prompt us to become accusers of those around us. Since accusation is based on performance, we find ourselves wanting to point out all the faults and failings of those around us in an effort to level the playing field. If you are prone to fault-finding in others or blaming others for the problems in your life, you are likely living with law as a reference point rather than grace.  You are trying to relate to God on the basis of your performance rather than his grace. Paul points out in Romans 8:1-2 that condemnation thrives in an environment of law in which a record is kept of every violation. Satan has the most success with those of us who still tend to view our relationship with God as a relationship defined by law rather than grace.

Law defines my relationship with God as a relationship based on performance. Under law, I am always asking the question, “Am I good enough or have I done enough to be loved, forgiven, and blessed by God?” Under law, our Father in Heaven becomes a perfectionistic parent withdrawing his blessings and affection every time we fail to live up to his lofty standards. On the basis of law, everything is open to accusation and condemnation. Under a mindset of law, Satan is free to accuse us not only of blatant sins but even of our attitudes by degree. Where we have repented, he will suggest that we did not repent enough. When we think about our love for God, he will accuse us of not loving God with all of our heart. When we acknowledge a weakness he will call us hypocrites for pretending to love Jesus when we still fail so often. When we give generously, he will always suggest that we should have given a little more. The accusation and feeling of condemnation is never ending….day and night.

The only escape from the devil’s scheme is to absolutely know that there is no condemnation in Christ because the blood of Christ has removed us from a system of law and placed us in a relationship based on the unfailing love of a Father who does not love and bless on the basis of performance but only on the basis of his heart. You must know that Jesus became sin for you that you might become the righteousness of God. You must know that you have been given positional righteousness in the eyes of God based on what Jesus did, totally apart from your own righteousness or your own spiritual performance. The good news is that God does not love you because you are perfect, but because he is perfect.

The proper response to the accusations of the devil when he brings up your past or even present weaknesses and whispers that you are falling short of God’s standards is, “Of course, I am falling short. So what? That is why Jesus died for my sins and because of that, God does not hold my sins against me. I live in a condemnation free zone by the blood of Christ and by the grace of God. Satan you have no power here and your accusations have no weight. My past has been blotted out. My present is in process and my future is secure. I am justified in Christ and it is you that are condemned. Now go away!”

When accusation comes, don’t brood but respond with God’s truth. When condemnation raises its head, dismiss it as a lie. When Satan runs up the flag of rejection, ignore it because that sign has no meaning in the kingdom of God. Too many of us believe that punishment motivates us to change. If that were true, there would be no repeat offenders in prison. Too many of us believe that accusation, condemnation, and self-loathing will prompt us to do better and so we agree with Satan’s accusations.

But accusation, condemnation, and demeaning criticism only solidify our identity as broken and worthless. When the prodigal returned, he was given no lecture, no condemnation, no probation. Instead his return was celebrated and he was immediately given back his identity as a son. His true identity as a respected son of a proud Father was reinforced and that is what will bring our own growth and transformation. So remember, when the devil knocks on the door of your mind, post your Condemnation Free Zone sign and send him on his way.

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 1 Corinthians 6:2-3

Whenever we engage in spiritual warfare we must first remember who Christ is and who we are in him. Everything else rests on that foundation. In the New Testament, we are told that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that he has all authority in heaven and on earth, that he has a name that is above every name, and so forth. We cannot enter into spiritual warfare with an expectation of winning if we do not already know that Jesus has already won the victory and that we are only enforcing what has already been determined. As many have said, we are not fighting for victory, but from victory.

The battles we fight in the spiritual realm today are parallel to the battles Israel fought when entering the Promise Land. The land had already been promised to the descendants of Abraham. In essence, God had already deeded the land to his people. It was his to give and he had given it. His people had a legal right to the land they were about to take. Suddenly, those who had been inhabiting the land were trespassers and Israel’s first task was to evict those who no longer had any claim to the property that was the inheritance of God’s people.

The irony of God’s gift to his people was that although it had already been given to them, they still had to take possession of what had been given. I know men and women who have been given land by parents or grandparents with an expectation that they would live on it someday and, perhaps, raise crops or herds on it. Sometimes the land had been developed but at other times it had not. The land belonged to them but they still faced the daunting task of clearing rocks, brush, and acres of mesquite trees. Wells had to be dug and fences erected. Unwanted critters had to be dispatched and others tamed. Hindrances to life and productivity had to be removed. Enemies, in all their forms, had to be uprooted and removed.

Israel faced the same dilemma, but instead of rocks, trees, and brush they were called to remove hardened enemies who lived in walled cities and who had experience with war. Some of them were “goliath-like” in size and temperament. And yet, the Lord promised to go before them and guarantee the victory if they would step out in faith and obedience. God was asking them to fight from victory rather than striving for victory. Israel failed to take the Promise Land when they first came to the Jordan River because they continued to believe that they had to fight in their own strength. They were not convinced that God would be strong and victorious for them. Israel still had the identity of slaves rather than sons of God. They still anticipated that the God who had defeated Pharaoh with plagues and ocean water would abandon them in the face of inferior forces.

We can also drift into that same mindset, thinking that God may or may not be there for us when we face the enemy. We can drift into the mindset that although God gave us the victory yesterday, we are not sure that he will do the same today. We know we are in that place when we pray or command out of a sense of hoping that God will come through rather than operating in a firm expectation that he will come through. We know we are in that place when we feel that we are facing the enemy in our own strength and skills rather than in the strength and authority of the Commander of the Armies of Heaven.

We are not slaves. We are not servants. We are sons and daughters of a God who does not change, does not abandon, does not sleep, and who never loses. We may exercise the power and authority of heaven because of who we are in Christ. It is not about our righteousness, our wisdom, or our performance. We are who we are because God has placed us in a position of favor, authority, and rule because of what Jesus had done.

What we need to remember is that we have exceptional standing with the God of Creation. We are sons and daughters, friends of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, co-heirs with Christ, ambassadors of heaven, appointed and anointed, seated with Christ in heavenly realms, and so forth. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6 that we have such standing that we will sit with Christ, judging both the world and angels, when the curtain comes down on this age.

When we begin to clear the spiritual land that God has given us, we need to spend a moment remembering who our Lord is and his immense, infinite power that he is always willing to wield on our behalf. We also need to remember who we are in Christ. We need to remember that because of a cross and an empty tomb, the victory has already been won and both the Father and Son have agreed to go into battle with us because they will never leave us or forsake us in any circumstance. The Spirit goes with us as well because he lives in us.

As we remind ourselves of who Jesus is and who we are in him, we should also remind the enemy of those two things as well before we pray, declare, or command.   Our confidence in both creates fear in the enemy. If we doubt who we are, the enemy is emboldened. Who we are does not change from day to day based on our spiritual performance that day. We are who we are in Christ. Even on bad days, our position allows us to call on the power of heaven to destroy the works of the devil because the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the best hell can offer. As you pray for healings, command spirits to depart, or declare God’s promises over “impossible situations,” take a moment to remember who you are. You are one of God’s chosen, who will judge the world and even angels and, through Christ, you are to exercise that authority even now. Be blessed today and know who you are.

Some of us relish the idea of being “different” or unique – the one standing out in the crowd. Others of us like to blend in and avoid being a center of attention. But the truth is that if you are a follower of Jesus, you are already different from all other people groups on the globe. You are set apart and unique and you need to not only get comfortable with the idea but also celebrate it.

God expressed his intent for a such a relationship when he spoke to Israel, saying, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.            But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:6-8).

God declared this over Israel after he had delivered them from Egypt, but they experienced their position with God while in Egypt. After Moses had returned to Egypt to demand the release of God’s people, Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews go. In response to Pharaoh’s refusal, God released ten plagues on the nation. It seems that the Hebrews experienced the first three just as the Egyptians did – the Nile was turned to blood, frogs infested the land, and gnats filled the air. The next scheduled plague was flies. However, God announced to Pharaoh, “On that day, I will deal differently with the land of Goshen (a province of Egypt, explanation added), where my people live. No swarms of flies will be there so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people” (Ex.8:22-23). The remainder of the plagues devastated the Egyptians but not God’s people. Even when darkness covered the land, there was light in Goshen. When the final plague took the firstborn of every person and animal, the Hebrews and their livestock were spared.

Later, in the days of Ezekiel when Israel had rebelled against the Lord for years, a subgroup within the larger population was set aside as unique to the Lord. “Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, ‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’     As I listened, he said to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark’” (Ezek. 9:3-6). In this context, God was forced to judge Israel for it’s rebellion, but even in the midst of this judgment, God marked those who had been faithful so that his judgment did not touch them. In the same vein, in the Book of Revelation during the great tribulation, God told his angels, “Do not harm the land or sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of God” (Rev.7:3). Two chapters later, God spoke to scorpions that had been released for judgment and said, “not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead” (Rev. 9:4).

God marks his people and treats them differently from all other people on the earth because he has chosen them. The apostle Paul continued the theme of being set apart from all creation by God when he says of Christ followers, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Paul says in another place, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph.1:13-14). Peter put it this way. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet.2:9).

As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are different. You walk around with the presence of God (the Holy Spirit) within you. You have been born again and made into a new creation. You are primarily a spiritual person rather than a physical or natural person. You are loved, chosen, marked, and elevated above all creation. You are so honored in Christ that Paul even says that you will judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3). You are a royal priest – anointed with the Spirit to offer praise, prayers and service to the King of the universe. Only priests minister in the presence of God. No one else has that kind of access. In the spiritual realm you are clearly marked as one belonging to God. His judgment will not touch you and you will be treated differently – as sons and daughters of the King.

You are different. You are chosen. You should at all times anticipate blessing and favor. You should not be proud but confident and thankful. You should expect significant spiritual assignments that mirror your significance as God’s anointed representative on the earth. One of Satan’s primary strategies is to deny who you are in Christ so that you might deny who you are in Christ. If you deny your identity, you will not live up to the privilege you have in Jesus. You will not walk in your inheritance and you will not fulfill your destiny. It is imperative that you know who you are; accept that you are different; and live up to that difference. With every thought, say what God says about you, call the devil a liar, and be blessed today in your difference.

I know a highly successful man who is highly critical of others and himself. His rationale for pointing out even minute flaws in others and himself is that by making people aware of their shortcomings, they can improve. He sees his critical spirit as a public service. He said one time, “What my father did for me, I do for others.” By the way, he’s divorced now.

But there is a little of that mindset in most of us, in the sense that we often think we will do better if we demean ourselves, criticize ourselves, or even call ourselves names. We feel that humbling ourselves before God by emphasizing our weaknesses or failings pleases him. Sometimes we even feel guilty about enjoying our blessings because we feel that we don’t deserve them or because others don’t have what we have.   Sometimes, we often do a kind of penance by recalling past failures and moments of shame as a way of beating ourselves up. Our logic is that if we feel bad enough about what we did, we will never do it again. We often employ that strategy when we want others to “never do something again” as well. We try to shame ourselves into being a better person. This may have some semblance of logic to it, but it simply doesn’t work and it is just the opposite of God’s directives for “better living.” God does not call us to nail ourselves to the cross because Jesus did that for us. We don’t find our lives on the cross but because of the cross.

Think about it. Jesus told us that the world will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another. Paul defines love by actions and attitudes in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is patient. Love is kind. It keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. Notice that loves is not critical, blaming, always bringing up the past, harsh, demeaning, or humiliating. The way that God directs us to treat others is, essentially, the way we should treat ourselves. A major part of God’s program for transformation is not condemnation and rejection but acceptance and a call to a new identity. If he reminds us of the past, it is simply to remind us of who we once were but are not now, and how much his love has forgiven and forgotten.

In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul said, “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers…will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord” (1 Cor.6:9-11). Notice the past tense – that is what some of you were. Paul is calling them to their identity in Christ. You may have been that person before the Holy Spirit took up residence in you, but that is not who you are now! Don’t live like the person you used to be, live like the person God has made you to be. The Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (KJV). In other words, we live up to or down to the image we have of ourselves. God wants to increase our image so that we may live up to the call he has placed on our lives.

I like what Bill Johnson says about this in his book, When Heaven Invades Earth. “The boldness we need is not self-confidence but the confidence that the Father has in the work of his Son in us. It is no longer a question of heaven or hell. It is only a question of how much of hell’s thinking will I allow into this heavenly mind of mine. Doesn’t it honor Him more when his children no longer see themselves only as sinners saved by grace, but now as heirs of God? Isn’t it a greater form of humility to believe Him when He says we are precious in His sight, when we don’t feel very precious? Doesn’t it honor Him more when we think of ourselves as free from sin because he said we are? At some point we must rise up to the high call of God and stop saying things about ourselves that are no longer true. If we are going to fully come into what God has for us…we’ll have to come to grips with the issue of being more than sinners saved by grace.     (P.168).

It is the nature of Satan to condemn and accuse. It is not the nature of God…especially toward his own children. In our internal conversations, we need to say what God says about us. We need to leave our past buried (we died to sin) and speak in the present and the future. We are redeemed, forgiven, accepted, children of God, royal priests on the earth, saints (all of us), God’s beloved, His called out, destined for greatness, ambassadors of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, sons and daughters of the King, holy, the righteousness of God, appointed and anointed, and more.

When we see ourselves as God sees us, we will live up to that image. It is true for those around us as well. If God says that is who we are, then that is who we are – since it is impossible for God to lie. Let me encourage you today, to increase your transformation by increasing your identity in Christ. In word and thought, say what God says about you and call any other identity a lie. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a revelation of your identity in Christ. Speak the same things over your children, your spouse and your friends in the Lord as well. The truth we call out in Christ becomes a reality, because God’s word, whether from His lips or ours, has creative power and always fulfills its purpose. Be blessed today because you are the redeemed of God, perfect and righteous in His sight.

I was sitting through a training on Christian life-coaching two days ago when the presenter, pastor David Houston, spoke about a self-help gospel that is so often preached in America these days. As he talked the Holy Spirit downloaded this phrase to me: “The gospel doesn’t promise a better you, it promises a new you.” I thought about that and it is absolutely true.

Jesus talked with Nicodemus about being “born again” (Jn.3:3) as if we don’t just receive a course correction when we come to Jesus but, rather, we start over entirely with a whole new set of potentials and a new nature.   Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Too many of us view ourselves as being somewhat upgraded rather than transformed. We think of ourselves as struggling sinners saved by grace rather than God’s ordained representatives on the earth. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:5-6, KJV).

Many of us grew up singing the classic hymn, At the Cross, by Isaac Watts. The first verse says, “Alas! and did my Savior bleed? And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head,  For such a worm as I?” If Isaac was referring to our state before the cross, he might be correct. If he was referring to those who have already been saved, then he was miles from the truth. I have heard many sermons announcing our state as believers as still worm-like, arguing that the only difference between us and the unsaved is that we are forgiven. I’m sure those messages were an effort to keep us from being self-righteous and to help us maintain our humility – but they were wrong.

We are new creations as different from the worm as the butterfly is from the caterpillar. We know that transformation in nature as metamorphosis. In his letter to the Romans, Paul commands us to no longer conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). The Greek word that is translated as transformed is metamorpho. In addition to this verse, that word shows up in several other New Testament passages:

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,             who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Phil. 3:20-21)

There he was transfigured (transformed) before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. (Mt. 17:2)

In each of these verses, the referenced change is radical change. Some word study guru’s suggest that the term implies a glory or a nature from within, finding expression on the outside. On the Mount of Transfiguration (same word that is translated as transformation), it is as if the glory of Christ’s spirit in the eternal realm, suddenly manifested in the natural realm. Our transformation suggests that the change that has taken place in our spiritual nature, is to make itself known in the natural realm – Christ in us, being seen and experienced through us.

Since that is true, we are not worms nor broken sinners that are merely forgiven, but carriers of God’s Spirit, his glory, and his eternal promises. We are children of God, ambassadors of the King, Messiah’s inheritance, citizens of heaven, his holy ones, priests of the Most High God, and personal friends of the Commander of the Armies of Heaven. That’s not a bad resume. When we came to Christ, our status in heaven was changed from sinner to all of that and more.

If we hold on to our old, pre-salvation identity we will progress very little for “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov.23:7, KJV). As we recognize and acknowledge our transformed status, our condition will begin to align with our position…from glory to glory. Paul reflects on that change in his letter to the church at Corinth. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor.6:9-11).

Notice the past tense. And that is what some of you were. By the work of the Holy Spirit, these men and women had been changed, their very nature altered. There were not who they once were but were radically different. Their status had been changed as well as their identity. They were not just “drunkards” whose sins had been forgiven. They had been transformed. They were someone else.

I think 12-step programs have done a great deal of good in the world but they tend to deny that the very heart and nature of a person can change. Even if a person has been sober for 15 years, the introduction is still, “Hi, I’m Bill and I’m an alcoholic.” I know some former alcoholics who were delivered from that bondage by God and they are no longer alcoholics. They don’t just manage the addiction, they are free from the addiction. Transformation has taken place.

If you struggle as a follower of Jesus, you may want to spend some considerable time meditating on who you are in Christ. Don’t worry that you don’t feel like you are those things. If God says you are, then you are and you need to say that you are. His truth does not depend on your feelings to be true. We are all of those things in his eyes and his Spirit will help us begin to see ourselves in the same way if we will take hold of those truths. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have standing in heaven is much more than any president, celebrity, billionaire, dictator, athlete, or supermodel. Get that in your heart and everything changes. Continued blessings in Him!