January 29
How do we
achieve a re-born identity? Well, the answer should be what does God require of
us? God wants a willing heart. The Holy Spirit can only work with a willing
heart. Change is not about becoming legalistic, not at all, it is about being a
new creature in Christ. You see, a re-born identity experience is not about
becoming a vegetarian although being a vegetarian has shown to have its benefits.
A re-born identity is not about how you dress or what you drive or don’t drive.
But a re-born identity is how you live, honor and love God. God is the King and
He is worthy to be praised for He is a jealous God.
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my
commandments.” Exodus 20: 5-6
Our God is
a jealous God therefore, He requires the best from us whatever our best is. Let
me go on a tangent here for a moment, seriously, if we were to meet the Queen
of England, we would do our best to show off our best in behavior, dressing,
and in speech? Then why not show off our very best in our living, speaking, and
in our working for God? Why not honor Him by keeping his commandments? When I
had a talk show on blog radio years back, I received an email from a listener
on our show who suggested that we might want to consider changing our theme
song “If We Obey” written and performed by Angela Bryant Brown.
Their
comment was that our salvation is not based on our obedience of the law for
that was in the Old Testament, we are under a new law, we are saved by grace.
Wow! Honestly, that mindset is very scary for the Word states in the New
Testament “And the dragon was enraged
with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who
keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.
Revelations 12:17
The Word
says of Christ…if you love me keep my commandments. You can see the same theme
at the beginning of the Bible even to the end, this must mean that we are still
under the Law of God but not that of Moses as often mentioned when speaking of
legalism. Another excellent verse is found in John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And
he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest
Myself to him.”
Can we
keep the commandments? Is it necessary to keep them? Yes, to both but we cannot
keep them on our own strength but rather through the Holy Spirit. God knows
what we are faced with decisions and choices each day, every second and minute.
I strongly believe that the Holy Spirit will teach us as we grow closer and
closer to Christ and learn His ways. The fact that you are searching and
reading my blog shows that the Holy Spirit might have been leading you somehow.
God knows your name and knows your pain, He knew us before we were even born so
when we are re-born again He delights and ALL Heaven rejoices. God loves us so
much that He sent his Holy Spirit to move you in the right direction. He is the
one that leads us and guides us to return to our First Love. Possibly, if you
are reading this blog it is because the Holy Spirit is guiding you to return to
your First Love so that you would obtain a re-born identity in Christ or that
you have reached a spiritual plateau and need a bit of guidance.
Having a
re-born identity is not of your own doing but the Holy Spirit who molds you to
become like Him and to strengthen us for His Glory and the work in His Harvest.
Let’s face it; we have waged war on the enemy as soon as we accepted Christ as
our personal Savior. We fight from Victory who is our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ for the victory was won at the cross. Also, we fight for victory through
the blood of Jesus Chris over our past hurts, our addictions, and our demons
that keep tormenting us. Remember we can’t change the past, but certainly can
change how our past affects us today. We need the Victory for our mental
healing and for the way live so that we can become strong and healthy individuals
in our present. Will it be easy? As you become closer and closer to Christ and
His teaching there will be experiencing opposition from others because of the
new you, the new creature in Christ. But
do not be dismayed. The most unlikely of people will turn on you even by those
who claim to be Christ followers.
In fact,
whether it is your mother, father sister, brother or other, someone will not
like the fact that you have decided not to be of this world because your focus
is now on Christ. People will be angry that your actions go against the grain
of modern day society. The Holy Spirit changes us and although not in an
instant in most cases, the change does occur and others will not understand why
you won’t be cursing when they do, or be accepting on hearing indecent jokes or
pictures or that your taking care of God’s internal temple (your body) and not
drinking or smoking. In reality, the more you allow the Holy Spirit to guide
your every step, the more you will achieve a new identity in Christ, if you
will…a Re-born Identity.
The real
question then becomes, who you will be serving, what god is your god, is it the
God of creation or the evil master? How will anyone determine who you worship?
The answer is simple, through your character, your living and your actions one
can surmise who you really worship. Now, I am aware that there are some (pseudo
Christians) who mimic believers like the (five foolish virgins) who appear to
know the true God but they don’t and somewhere, they will show their fruit of
the Spirit.
So that we
understand a bit better on how to differentiate between the true God and the
other gods, we must know the image of God so that we can mirror Him in all that
we do for He takes care of us, He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end. We must always remember that God is in control.
As we continue
in the Re-born Identity experience, we will be faced with situations that will
leave us completely and utterly lost if we allow it.
The Holy
Spirit is always with us, in Daniel’s journey he along with his friends were
destined to be showcased to teach us what to do in Devine Chaos moments, they
were chosen to be our examples. When God allows things to happen to prove He is
indeed God he allows Devine Chaos. Daniel’s divine chaos allows us to see his
allegiance to God, meaning his behavior along with his friends toward the
situation reflected what a true believer is.
The God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the true God whom Daniel and his friends have
chosen; this meant that they were reflecting the face of God—Christ in their
lives. They mirrored who they believed in, their character reflected their
belief, and their mind set was set on their total belief system. Your belief
system starts at the mind, who you think you are that is what you are
but what
you say you are might not be the case. Therefore, it might behoove you
to take a personal mental inventory of where your mind is at, what is at the
seat of your mind? Don’t let your past abusers dictate your circumstances, or,
the way you see yourself. Whatever you believe in, will often order your steps
and your path in which you will travel.
Believe it
or not, there is a process when coming to Christ, the first is to confess our
sins to Him. When we come to Christ and confess our sins it begins a new
identity “If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9, “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” means,
that we are new again.
A Re-born
Identity begins the moment that we surrender our past, our present and future
to God. We are no longer the same person, yes…we are in actuality but our
spirit is now is being guided by and through the Holy Spirit also known as the
Comforter. More on the Holy Spirit in (Blog Grieve Not…).
Search the
Holy Scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in setting your mind on
Christ and things above. “Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold,
all things have become new”. 2 Corinthians 5:17
The
question I leave with you today is…are you willing to surrender to Christ and
begin a re-born identity? If so, please email me at Vivionne@vivionnekeli.com for more
information on The Re-Born Identity.
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