You don’t need someone else to minister to the weakness of your flesh but rather unto the empowerment of the Holy Spirit through you. His transformational work is too powerful to continue coddling our flesh. When we know who God is, we understand the power of His Spirit and we settle for nothing less. For too long the church has been disempowered and led to justify their flesh and its deeds but how can we justify what Jesus has already overcome? Greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world. We must be firm in our new identities in Christ just as God was firm with His identity to Moses.

Exodus 3:14 has been on my heart for several weeks. Here God introduces Himself not by a name, but by His nature: “I AM THAT I AM.” God defines the very state of being. Because God is, so we are. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 gods of course, but our new birth in Christ rests on the knowledge that He is Who He says He is. How important then, that we know who He is by the scriptures, and that we base our own identity in His.

Prior to Christ, there was an existential discrepancy. We were born into death, animated but never truly alive. We were actual slaves to sin and God’s people long awaited the coming of Messiah Jesus. Therefore, now that He is risen, we can no longer tolerate this slave mentality. Why should we? Look who God is and who He has called you to be. Extraordinary, transformative power fills all who receive the Holy Spirit. While we may be tempted and even fall short, our new nature is firm in Christ because He is unchanging. We are because He is.

We have to know what we were slaves to in order to understand who Jesus really is and what He set us free from. We put too much focus on the weakness of man versus the power of God. His people continue to perish for lack of knowledge of who He is and who they are in Him. The earth had never seen a human filled with the regenerative Spirit of God before Jesus. Now we can’t let the world forget He is risen by our willingness to walk in power, love, and self discipline versus fear and timidity. Slave days is over.

The Israelites wandered the wilderness in complaint as if they hadn’t already been delivered from Egypt. Even as they trod through the desert, they did so with a slave mentality. Their desire for the superficialities of their former lives was so great that it blinded them to the incredible miracles they’d seen. Surely they were already free as they walked through a parted sea, yet their disbelief kept them shackled, even as manna rained from the sky. When we doubt that we are made new and filled with fresh power, love, and self discipline from on high, then we are negating the very thing we have been saved from: sin, Satan & death as we know it. This breach in faith leaves us bound (quite literally) to repeat those dead cycles over and over. Many are still bound by this false identity, chained by sin they’ve already been freed from.

We must stand firm in who we are by the blood of Christ, accepting His free gift completely: freedom from sin, not to sin. Anything less is fear and doubt requiring a deeper level of submission, which is always the key to breakthrough. Our identity is rooted in Who God is, and because He is, we must live like we are.

John 8:31-36

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”