Our True Identity part 2

          Going deeper with  HEAD TO HEART GUIDE 9

These sections go with Our True Identity (Main Healing Lesson 9) and are included our workbook for personal transformation, "Matters of the Heart."   All 24 lessons will be helpful to the person seeking restoration and freedom and have been posted on this web site. They are available as a complete set in our workbook which can be purchased as a download or ordered through the mail. The lessons are also available on CD and DVD as 24, 1/2 hour teachings. All scriptures are from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
 

Exercise

List the things you usually say about yourself when asked by someone you just met.

Hi, I’m _____, I… ____________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Now try describing yourself in ways that have nothing to do with relationships or work roles you are fulfilling that will pass away when you get to heaven: who you are, not what you do.
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Even better, describe yourself by the calling upon you and your dreams and purposes in God.
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Discussion questions

Identity theft has become a huge financial problem in our day, but there has always been a thief at work who seeks to steal from all of us our true identity.

1) Name the movies and books you have enjoyed that deal with identity issues. For starters: The Bourne Identity, Catcher in the Rye, The Matrix, etc. Why was identity so important to the story and how was it resolved/not resolved by the end? Why is your true identity important to you? Has it been resolved yet—to your entire satisfaction?

2) Now consider movie stars and pop singers. How does the search for identity play out in the media? Do the “stars” seem to have their own true personalities or are they crafting images to cultivate a fan base? Where do they seem to go to get the image they may be promoting?

3) Where have you been going to get yours? Discuss/admit ways in which we, even we, may be taking on the “protective coloration” of views, styles, appearances that are popular.
 

Main points

1) The new creation is something the world is yearning to see (Romans 8:19).
2) The new creation looks just like Jesus in us, living through us (Colossians 1:27).
3) The new creation comes to life whenever we surrender, trust and obey (Galatians 2:20).
4) We are new (deep down) but the old is still in us (and trying to take control back!).
5) The life of the new creation can be blocked by false images of self that we cling to.
6) Fall out of agreement with all wrong images and confess/believe who you really are.
 

Digging deeper

Who you are in your eternal being—if you are in Christ. Read and confess with full faith these wonderful truths about our true identity. See more scriptures and a free download about this process of Renew, Refresh, Transform as well as Our Inheritance and the Lord's and The Mysteries of God in the New Testament as new creations In Christ and Christ in You.

1) I am eternally the beloved bride of my Savior Jesus, who has promised never to forsake me.
2) I am eternally a receiver of God’s love, mercy, wisdom, grace, saving help and never-ending life. I am receiving every good thing in life from Him now and this will go on forever.
3) I am only a sinner in need of forgiveness for yet a short while, so it would not be right to mainly think of myself as a sinner, though who I am apart from Christ is full of sin, weakness, ignorance, and foolishness.  Thought I can’t change it, I can be reconciled to the reality of my fallen-ness beginning today—just as God is (2 Corinthians 5:19).
4) I am in Christ and He is in me. Who I am in Christ looks a lot like Him (Colossians 1:27; 1 John 3:3).
5) I am an eternal being with a spirit as free as the wind and a soul of dazzling beauty and grace.
6) I am indestructible in my being, because of His unending gift of life to me--the resurrection life of Jesus is in me. His own “endless and indestructible life” is joined to me (Hebrews 7:16 AMP). Therefore I can never truly die. I will pass through death to life—just as Jesus did (Romans 6:8-11).
7) I am both worse in my fallen-ness and better in my new created-ness than I ever imagined.

As a new creation I cannot define myself by anything less than who I now am in Christ without damaging my self-image, security, sense of worth and purpose. I will therefore accept no lesser definitions of who I am. I will no longer regard myself according to the flesh.

…from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.   2 Corinthians 5:16

A great C.S. Lewis quote from Mere Christianity—the last two sentences. Go read the rest…

Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.
 

Sword and shield

Are you willing to live the life that is hidden with Christ in God? Let’s go for this!

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.   Colossians 3:1-5

…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.   Colossians 1:25-28

Our Acceptance as New Creations

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God… John 1:12

No longer do I call you servants… but I have called you friends...   John 15:15
 
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.   1 Corinthians 6:17

Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself...   Ephesians 1:5 

And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.   Colossians 2:10 

Our Security as New Creations

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus….   Romans 8:1-2

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?   Romans 8:31

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that [nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Romans 8:37-38

Our Worth as New Creations

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.   John 15:9
 
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you...   John 15:16

You are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you…   1 Corinthians 3:16

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.   Philippians 4:13
 

Prayer focus

Pray for the Lord to open your eyes to believe more and more who you really are in Him as a new creation. But do not get stuck by trying to see what He sees in you!  Our true identity is for Him to see; for us to believe in. The wrong is coming from the enemy’s work in you, the old nature. Resist it. The good is Jesus in you united to you, the new creation. Rest in that. Pray for faith to believe that He and Father and the Spirit really do love to look upon you in love. Then pray for the grace to see others the same way He sees you (see Separation from Sim (Main Healing Lesson 5). Remember what goes around, comes around—we reap what we sow  (Galatians 6:7). Ask Him to give you eyes to see the new creation potential even in unbelievers.
 

Renunciations and affirmations

Confess/renounce previous agreements with untruth; confess/believe Truth as your new Way of life.

Renounce and break all agreements with false ideas of self.  Repent of any ways in which you have thought of yourself as if these patterns of the flesh were a part of who you really are. Ask the Father to go to work to break these patterns off of you. Commit to cooperating with Him as His Spirit leads. Then rest in His ability, casting these cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7).

Nervous energy (anxious feelings)  
Addictive personality
Flashes of anger (hot temper) 
Excessive sensitivity (too easily hurt)
Timidity or shyness    
Deep wellsprings of grief over losses (carried too long)
Feelings of persistent loneliness    
Depression, heaviness of heart
Nuclear reactivity (panic mode)  
Impatience (prickly, irritable edges)
Stubbornness (pride and rebellion)  
Impulse to control or be in control
 

Putting feet to your prayers/stretch yourself!

Please pass the P's
Breaking patterns begins with prayer, but requires conscious effort over time. The 3 P’s that move mountains are definitely needed here: prayer, patience and perseverance. If you want to be free of shyness, for instance, the 3 R’s of repentance are a good beginning (see Steps to Freedom (Main Healing Lesson 7), but the time will come when you have agreed to do something (like attend a party or teach a class) and the old shyness pattern will try to get in the way.

That is where perseverance really puts feet on your prayers. Do it shy. Do it afraid. Or the enemy will be able to stop you every time. Be sure to get the outward victory (doing the thing shyness wants to avoid) and the inward victory will eventually show up (being free of shy feelings). Now, look over the above renunciations and then write the active thing you can do to persevere past the pattern!

Pattern I renounced        Pattern breaking activity I can do
__________________      __________________________________
__________________      __________________________________
__________________      __________________________________
 

Interested in going deeper?

For further study and for help working these truths into your heart and life, explore all of the Main Healing Lessons and Head to Heart Guides, plus the Life Applications, Illustrations and other Healing Articles posted on this site or available in the store.

Or better yet, let us minister to you in person
     --at one of our Savannah Seminars...