Pamela Harrison Ministries Blog

Change your identity, but how? Romans 12: 2

Identity: the fact or state of remaining the same 2. the sense of self.

Knowing first hand the pain that comes with being abused, as well as a host of other devastating life experiences, one can be left to feel like damaged goods and that the good life is only for others, but I have good news!

No matter if you have been abused or the abuser. Been a drug abuser or pusher.
The cheater or cheated on. Liar or lied to - no matter what we've done, do or have had done to us, these painful experiences are not our true identity!

There is hope! THE key to changing our identity is first believing that you are loved by God and out of that love He sent His son - Jesus, to reconcile us to Him and to change our identity from what we've been, done, do or had done to us to who Christ has made us before God - Our True Identity! (2 Corinthians 5: 18-19)

As a result of Jesus shedding His blood, all sins have been paid for. No more is God counting man's sins against him (Romans 4:8 & 5:13), rather, through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus, who Himself took all ours sins upon Him, took the punishment for us... the punishment that brought us peace - peace between God and ourselves, this is why we have unhindered fellowship / communion with God - this is called Grace! (Isaiah 53: 4 & 5 & Romans 5:6-11)

Contrary to a popular but incorrect belief, Grace is not a doctrine, Grace IS Jesus -

Grace is God's gift of Divine provision of right standing before Him - COMPLETELY unearned and undeserved, strictly out of God's unconditional and complete love for and passionate desire to be in constant communion with us. (Romans 5)

When we renew our mind with the word (the word is the message of Christ, which is the message of what Christ Jesus did for us on the cross - Romans 10:17 NIV) we experience the identity change that brings about the life change we all desire.

The Apostle Paul said it like this in Eph. 4: 24 "put off your old self... be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

In short, refuse to identify with who you were or are... refuse to identity with how others made you feel when they wronged you, rather, insist on renewing your mind to what Jesus did for you: made you clean, spotless, blameless, guiltless, worthy, holy - Righteous! (1 Corinthians 1:30 & Eph. 1: 4)

Jesus is our righteousness. Jesus is our qualification of ALL of God's best.

1 John 4: 17 says just as Jesus is, so are we in this world (right now)!

Did you know that Jesus, who committed no sin, but became sin for us ( 2 Cor. 5:21), that He made a beautiful exchange on our behalf?

Jesus- perfect, holy, blameless and righteous, became 'us' on the cross, took all the punishment due each of us, for ALL our sins, past, present and future (once and for all), so that our imperfections, unrighteousness and guilt would be removed before God.

Scriptures for: Once and For ALL forgiveness of sin... Past, present and future: Romans 6:10, Col. 2: 13 & 14, Heb. 7:27, Heb. 9:26, Heb.10:10, 12, 14, Eph. 1:7, 1 John 1: 7, 1 Peter
3: 18

Even though we are still not perfect in and of ourselves, and in this lifetime, never will be, Jesus, in HIS FINISHED work, perfected us through the shedding of His blood. Hebrews 9: 22: There is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.

It is when we renew our mind to this understanding of what Jesus did, that we go from seeing ourselves as what we have done or do, as well as, what others have done to us, to who we REALLY are before God.

When we choose to believe what Jesus has done for us and made us as a result of His FINISHED work, we then begin to transform from the beliefs that we once held about ourselves and begin to take on our TRUE identity, that which Christ has truly made us before our God.

Encouragement: The only inroad the enemy has is through our thoughts. Thoughts provoke emotions and this is the realm that influences our will.

Until we are aware that our emotion can sabotage us, we will remain in a cycle of self- sabotage, defeat and dysfunction.

Fact: Emotions are compelling and convincing.

Though our emotions can be compelling and convincing, if what we are thinking and therefore feeling doesn't line up with the word, what Jesus has done for us and therefore made us, then our thoughts / emotions are INCORRECT and not to be trusted!

Jesus came to give us life and the only thing we need do is believe, receive and renew our mind to TRUTH, not reality, TRUTH - daily! (John 10:10)

You are an Overcomer!

When we are afraid - We push away

What causes us to shrink back in our faith (belief) in Jesus having made us right, worthy, acceptable before God - Once For All?

Jesus, who went around doing good and healing all, was preaching one day and asked a man by the name of Simon to use his boat to teach from to the crowd that was around him at the lake of Gennesaret.

Simon oblidged, and Jesus began to teach. When Jesus was finished teaching the people, he directed Simon to "Put out into the deep, and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

Jesus, being the excellent pay master that he is, when they let down their nets, they received a net breaking, boat sinking load of fishes!

Notice, Jesus did not have them confess their sins or repent before He blessed them. Rather, Jesus showed them who He is: Accepting, loving, forgiving and giving, and not a little giving, but an abundant giver.

Romans 2: 4 - It's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.

Though Jesus and the Jews were still under law while Jesus was alive on earth (before He shed His blood cutting the New Covenant), Jesus was showing people the heart of God: Kind, loving- forgiving.

Under law, the people were required to obey first, to do right first to receive the blessing of God.

Now, under Grace, we are ALREADY blessed and it's these blessings that empower us to obey- the result is obedience from the heart, willingly - effortlessly. (Eph. 1)

When Simon saw this blessing unfold before his eyes, he became acutely aware that he was a sinner and asked Jesus to "Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man".

Jesus said, "Don't be afraid; from now on, you will catch men." ( John 5: 1-11)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13: 8)

While we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (the blessing before asking or obedience).

Jesus shed His blood to reconcile us to God... why did we need to be reconciled? What separated us from God? Sin. (Romans 5: 6-11)

Jesus took care of the sin- debt issue so that we may not only have salvation and 'escape hell', but more than that, Jesus shed His blood cleansing us from ALL sin, enabling us to remain in 'the right'/ to remain righteous before God, which enables us to remain in an unhindered relationship with God- FREE FROM FEAR- no matter what.

According to 1 John 4: 18, fear has to do with punishment. The punishment due us was put upon Jesus (Is 53). Because Jesus did right on our behalf, we are now right before God- not based on our right doing but belief (faith) in Jesus' right doing on our behalf!

No longer is it a matter of right doing before God that qualifies us for all the Divine provision provided by God through Jesus' finished work on the cross, which is: Forgivness of all sin, healing, prosperity and authority over the enemy, but rather right believing IN Jesus having done it all for us!

Next time you find yourself 'afraid' to be consciously aware that God is in you, with you and for you, remind yourself what Jesus has done for you- made you right before God, qualified you for all blessings provided through Jesus' finished work- refuse to shrink back from your faith (belief) in Jesus having made you right and worthy and continue to receive what is already yours.

Condemnation, which is the result of being sin- conscious instead of being righteousness conscious, causes us to be afraid of God, to expect punishment and to pull away from the very source of acceptance, love and power source for change.

Falling under condemnation is evidence we are not yet rooted in righteousness.

Being rooted in righteousness come from our re-newing our mind that Jesus IS our righteousness, and that righteousness is only accessed by our belief (faith) in Jesus having made us right before God- Once For ALL. ( Romans 6: 10, Col. 2: 13 & 14, Eph. 1: 7, Hebrew 7: 27, 9: 29, 10:10, 12, 14, 1 Peter 3: 18, 1 John 1: 7)

Only when we don't come under condemnation will sin lose its power. ( Romans 8)

Encouragement: Believe, receive and remain in what is ALREADY ours in Jesus!

 

Christians struggle with sin because of the "Old Self" within? Romans 7: 20

No, it's not the "old self" within. The Apostle Paul explains it like this:

Romans 7: 20 "Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin living in me that does it.

To help us better understand, it's important to know that in the book of Romans, only 1 time is the word sin a verb (an action). Romans 6: 15

All other references to sin are nouns: person, place or thing.

In Romans 6, we learn that we have been set free from sin / dead to sin (noun).

But if I'm dead to sin, why is it that I still sin? Do I stop sinning gradually as I convince myself that I am dead to sin?

The answer to the question above: No

Jesus didn't die gradually to sin for us; He died "Once for All". (Romans 6:10)

In the simplest of terms: Jesus adopted us out of the family of sin and brought us home to the Righteousness family.

Though we were born into the sin family, because of Jesus' payment for us, His shed blood being the currency, we went from being a sinner to being the Righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5: 21)

In the moment we believe in Jesus, we go from being a sinner to being a saint / Righteous before God-The word saint comes from sanctified, which means: to be made Holy. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5: 17)

Common misconception: if we have died to sin (noun), we will not sin (verb).

Let's look at this in context:

Apostle Paul says in Romans 6 that we are dead to sin and alive with Christ.

Then the Apostle Paul says in Romans 7, "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do- this I keep on doing;" (Romans 7: 19)

However, right after he explains that he desires to do good, but still finds himself doing wrong (even though he is / we are dead to sin), he says in Romans 8: 1

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..."

Now that we are dead to sin (noun), the key to not committing repetitious sins (verb) is when we realize that we are no longer sinners, but righteous. This is called being Rooted in Righteousness.

Our un-righteous thoughts or actions do not make us a sinner again.  We remain righteous before God = permanently righteous. 

It was not our wrong doing that made us a sinner and it was not our right doing that made us righteous. 

It was Adam's sin that made us a sinner and it was the 2nd Adam- Jesus, who did right on our behalf. (Romans 5)

Jesus, by shedding His blood, cleansed us from ALL sin, reconciling us to God. (Romans 5: 6-11 & 2 Cor. 5: 17- 21)

 We get to choose to put our faith (choose to believe) in Jesus - that His blood has cleansed us and made us right before God. It's this revelation that keeps us from shrinking back in our faith (in our belief) that Jesus has made us righteous, and it is this understanding that enables us to remain consciously aware of God's presence in us and with us-  the very source for change.

Condemnation aka: feelings of guilt and shame, keeps us out of the presence of God (our very source for change).

Simply put: It's when we no longer come under condemnation that sin will lose its power in our lives.

Fact: Condemnation empowers sin.

We have been set free from sin (noun); however, we still sin (verb), but because of our adoption, we are no longer sinners, but Righteous before God, only because of Jesus making us righteous due to His shed blood.

The more we focus on our new standing before God: Right before God = Righteous - the more we will believe who we really are now: Righteous.

The more we believe we are righteous, the more we will become righteousness conscious, and the result intended by God is that we become less and less sin- conscious.  It is when we're not sin- conscious, yet Righteousness conscious, that our behavior will effortlessly become righteous. (Hebrews 9: 14)

This is called renewing our minds with the Word of God.

As we renew our mind to this fact:

Once we put our faith (belief) in Jesus, we are no longer, nor will we ever be un-righteous, even when we sin.

Why? Because of Jesus' finished work, Him taking the punishment for us and shedding His blood, sin has been put away (Heb. 9: 26) and as a result, we are now dead to sin (noun) and Alive in Christ!

By this adoption we are now heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ; we now have the right to call God- Abba Father... Daddy. (Romans 8: 15-17)

The more we focus on the fact that God so loves us that He sent His son, NOT to condemn us, but to save us; that Jesus put us in a position of Freedom to be who we are Right now before God, freedom to be in relationship, and the right to constant fellowship, even with all the un-righteous actions and thoughts, the more we will stay consciously aware of His presence with us and spend time acknowledging Him, receiving His acceptance and love- which is fellowship with THE very SOURCE for Change- Effortless change!

If our effort worked, we would not have needed a savior.

God has made it so simple; however, man /religion has made it hard.

It's when we KNOW God loves us, (un-conditionally) just as we are- we are drawn to that place of repentance.

Repentance simply means: Change of mind

Romans 2: 4 says: ... It's His kindness that leads us to repentance.

When we change our minds to the Truth that we have been made righteous, we will live righteous- Effortlessly!