Dare to believe that you are who God said you are and that you can do all that He said you can do!

ROMANS 12:1-2

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

PERFECT IN CHRIST vs. IMPERFECTLY PERFECT

  1. Hebrews 10:14 (KJV), “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
  2. 1 John 2:5-6 (KJV), “5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
  3. 1 John 4:18 (KJV), “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
  4. Matthew 5:48 (NIV), “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
  5. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
  6. Ephesians 2:10 (KJV), “For we are his workmanship [masterpiece], created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
  7. 1 Peter 2:9, “9 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.”
  8. John 8:34-36, “34 Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.'”
  9. 1 John 3:9-10, “9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”
  10. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

PROBLEMS YOU’LL FACE WHEN YOU DISBELIEVE YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST

  1. You will continue to believe that struggling with sin is normal for the Christian life.
  2. You will make excuses when confronted with sin and say things like, “We’re all sinners in a process. Don’t judge my process!”
  3. You will never experience a true, definitive moment when they can say they were saved and set free from sin.
  4. You will think sin is more powerful than Jesus in this life because you can only be free from sin at death (even though Paul said God would provide a way of escape from every sin in 1 Corinthians 10:13 and Jesus said in Matthew 6:13 to pray for deliverance from every evil). Therefore, death is your savior- not Jesus.
BOTTOM LINE: Say, “I am perfect in Christ!”

BEAUTIFULLY HEALED IN CHRIST vs. BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

  1. Luke 4:17-19 (KJV), “17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.'”
  2. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, “17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
  3. 2 Corinthians 4:8-13, “8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak.”
  4. 2 Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
  5. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “9 But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
  6. Isaiah 61:3, “[God will] provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
  7. Psalms 34:6, “This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.”

PROBLEMS YOU’LL FACE WHEN YOU DISBELIEVE YOU’RE EMOTIONAL HEALED IN CHRIST 

  1. You will think emotional struggles like despair, low self-esteem and depression are normal for Christians.
  2. You will get upset when confronted with bad attitudes because you’ll say, “We’re all just broken vessels God is using. Who are you to judge my journey in the valley?”
  3. You will not trust God is a good Father from whom every good and perfect gift comes (James 1:17), because you’ll think that you have to suffer for God to do good things in you lives.
  4. You will think others who have experienced victory are not being “real” or have an “easy life.” In other words, you will be cynical of genuine Christian testimonies.
    1. For example, you will doubt the sincerity and the applicability of people’s testimonies like Corrie ten Boom, her father and sister died in a Nazi concentration camp- she survived and said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God,” “You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have,” “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still,” and “God does not have problems. Only plans.”
    2. Hyeon Soo Lim, a missionary arrested and jailed in North Korea for preaching the gospel said, “While I was laboring, I prayed without ceasing. I did not have a day of gloom… My moments of discouragement, resentment, and grumbling turned into courage, joy and thanksgiving.”
    3. Horatio G. Spafford, after losing all four of his daughters in a shipwreck wrote the hymn, “It is Well with My Soul,” “When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. Chorus: It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.”

BOTTOM LINE: Say, “I am beautifully healed in Christ!”

2 Corinthians 4:13, “It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak.”