Who Does God Say That I Am?

By: Kenneth Boa Th.M.; Ph.D.; D.Phil

Who Does God Say That I Am?

Here is a list of biblical affirmations about our identity in Jesus Christ that is derived from a few selected passages in the New Testament. This is just a portion of the many truths about who we have become through faith in God’s Son, but it is a powerful inventory to review from time to time:

• I am a child of God.

But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name--he has given the right to become God's children … (John 1:12).

• I am a branch of the true vine, and a conduit of Christ’s life.

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me--and I in him--bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing (John 15:1, 5).

• I am a friend of Jesus.

I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father (John 15:15).

• I have been justified and redeemed.

But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

• My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6).

• I will not be condemned by God.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

• I have been set free from the law of sin and death.

For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

• As a child of God, I am a fellow heir with Christ.

And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)--if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17).

• I have been accepted by Christ.

Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God's glory (Romans 15:7).

• I have been called to be a saint.

… To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours (1 Corinthians 1:2). (See also Ephesians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, and Colossians 1:2.)

• In Christ Jesus, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption … (1 Corinthians 1:30).

• My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 6:19)?

• I am joined to the Lord and am one spirit with Him.

But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17).

• God leads me in the triumph and knowledge of Christ.

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place (2 Corinthians 2:14).

• The hardening of my mind has been removed in Christ.

But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away (2 Corinthians 3:14).

• I am a new creature in Christ.

So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away--look, what is new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

• I have become the righteousness of God in Christ.

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

• I have been made one with all who are in Christ Jesus.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female--for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

• I am no longer a slave, but a child and an heir.

So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God (Galatians 4:7).

• I have been set free in Christ.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).

• I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

• I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God.

For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love (Ephesians 1:4).

• I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7).

• I have been predestined by God to obtain an inheritance.

In Christ we too have been claimed as God's own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11).

• I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)--when you believed in Christ--you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13).

• Because of God’s mercy and love, I have been made alive with Christ.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you are saved (Ephesians 2:4-5)!

• I am seated in the heavenly places with Christ.

… And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus … (Ephesians 2:6).

• I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works.

For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:10).

• I have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ.

But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).

• I am a member of Christ’s body and a partaker of His promise.

… The Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6). (See also Ephesians 5:30.)

• I have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Christ.

… In whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ's faithfulness (Ephesians 3:12).

• My new self is righteous and holy.

… Put on the new man who has been created in God's image--in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth (Ephesians 4:24).

• I was formerly darkness, but now I am light in the Lord.

… For you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (Ephesians 5:8).

• I am a citizen of heaven.

But our citizenship is in heaven--and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ … (Philippians 3:20).

• The peace of God guards my heart and mind.

And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

• God supplies all my needs.

And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

• I have been made complete in Christ.

… You have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority (Colossians 2:10).

• I have been raised up with Christ.

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1).

• My life is hidden with Christ in God.

… For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

• Christ is my life, and I will be revealed with Him in glory.

When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him (Colossians 3:4).

• I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience … (Colossians 3:12).

• God loves me and has chosen me.

We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you … (1 Thessalonians 1:4).

The more we embrace these truths from Scripture about who we have become in Christ, the more stable, grateful, and fully assured we will be in this world.

The Power of Prayer - Do You have a two-bit prayer life?

by Dr. David R. Reagan

In James 4:2 we find these words: "You do not have, because you do not ask." Let me ask you a question: If you were to stop praying, would it radically affect your life? Or is that question one that you can’t answer because it’s like that old trick question: "Have you stopped beating your wife?" In other words, is it possible that you are one of those Christians who couldn’t stop praying because you have never really started?

On the other hand, are you one of those Christians who pray regularly out of a sense of habit or a sense of duty — but who doubts seriously the power of prayer because you have never sensed its effect in your life?

Again, I ask: If you were to stop praying, would it radically affect your life?

Perhaps you are one of those Christians who would really like to pray, but you have fallen victim to the modern, "sophisticated" concept that prayer is merely a psychological exercise in self-help — and therefore you are turned off by the concept of participating in a sham — by, in effect, praying to yourself.

An Age of Unbelief

There is no doubt that we live in an age that does not believe in prayer. The great tragedy is that Christians have become caught up in the philosophy of our age, a philosophy that enthroned Science as god. We are taught on every side that we live in an impersonal universe, a world that is a great, remorseless machine, obeying relentless laws. And in the midst of it all, we tiny humans are nothing but transient pygmies.

The result is that we have a hollow god — a god that has no heart, no compassion, for Science cannot feel or laugh or show mercy. Science can only analyze, measure, dissect, weigh and speculate. And so we feel a sense of meaninglessness; a loss of significance; an erosion of hope; a lack of power.

Oh, many of us who call ourselves Christians go through the motions of prayer. But our prayers are often infrequent and vague and faithless. Most of us pray prayers that a stone god could answer:

"Father, we pray for all those who it is our duty to pray for."

"Father, forgive us of all our unforgiven sins."

Our prayers tend to be empty, meaningless rituals. We are like the king in Shakespeare’s Hamlet who tried to pray for the forgiveness of his sin of murder in order to purge his feeling of guilt. His prayer was ineffective. As he put it, "It didn’t even reach the ceiling."

When the king analyzed his problem, Shakespeare put words of wisdom in his mouth that are as profound as any that mere Man has ever written about prayer: "My words fly up; my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to Heaven go."

Like this king, we are often guilty of praying without meaning. Consider, for example, the songs which we sing as prayers, but which we do not mean at all. In fact, we would be appalled if the Lord answered them. A good example is to be found in the popular prayer song, "Take My Life And Let It Be" —

Take my silver and my gold,

Not a mite will I withhold;

Take my intellect and use

Every power as Thou shalt choose.

Even when we occasionally pray honestly, earnestly, and specifically for something, most of us pray with little or no expectation of fulfillment. The proof of this is that when our prayers are answered, we either react with astonishment, or else we react with crass unbelief, attributing the answer to some natural cause or process — like luck.

In this regard we are like the little boy playing on the roof of his house. He loses his balance and starts sliding off. As he approaches the edge of the roof, he cries out, "Help me, Lord!" A moment later his pants catch on a nail and he is saved from falling. He looks up and says, "Never mind, Lord!"
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See also:
Prayer, Revival, & the Holy Spirit
Why don't Christians Pray?