In Revise Us Again, I argued at length that the Christian life is becoming who you already are.
In Ephesians, Paul says two times to “speak the truth in love” to one another. In context, Paul is exhorting God’s people to remind one another of who they are in Christ . . . to remind one another about the new self into which they have been made . . . to remind one another of their true identity. Something that’s all too easy to forget.
If you have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, here’s a list of who you really are. Marvel at the epic greatness of your Lord and what He has done for you.
Receive it, remember it, and walk in it . . .
You are complete in Christ who is the Head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10).
You have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).
You are dead to sin (Romans 6:2).
You have been made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).
You are free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
You are born of God, and the evil one does not touch you (1 John 5:18).
You are holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:16).
You are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Ephesians 2:10) . . .
This blog post is an excerpt from Frank’s book Jesus Now. The book contains the entire (and very long) list of statements from the New Testament declaring who you are in Christ.
Hi Frank,
I wanted to thank you for this, even though it is a year after the initial post, it is still having a positive impact. A group of my close friends (who are also brothers and sisters in Christ) have been dealing with the recent suicide of a brother who used to regularly get together with us several years ago. We had a “de-brief” type get together last night to decompress and talk about what happened with our friend and the impact that this is having on his wife and 3 kids (20, 13, and 10 yo). This sad event has really impacted all of us and got us to talking about sharing our burdens with each other and not to me embarrassed by them. I remembered this post and shared the link last night. I keep a copy of these in my briefcase and routinely read them. One of the brothers commented about reading one of these each day and said “You are speaking spiritual truth to yourself. It’s not magic incantation, but more of a spiritual realization. We learn multiplication tables, Bible verses, and medical knowledge through flip cards that we go over and over again. Why not ingrain spiritual truth into your mind in the same way?”
Thanks again Frank. Your mission in having an impact every day.
Larry
This is so good and so needed. I am going to take a few a day … meditate and give thanks. I will be coming back to this list often. Thank you!
Loved the posts and the list is great. What we don’t know can hurt us and keep us in an impotent state of development. While spending our time waiting on God to come down here and fix the mess He is waiting on us to arise as the one He has made us to appropriate what He paid for in full. Who we are enables us to rule the earth with power!
Dear Frank;
I want to personally thank you for everything that you have done through your ministry. You have literally saved my life. Your books have opened a gateway of understanding that has provided me a pathway of sound spiritual understanding that has lead me back to a reunited relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. I can’t express enough the gratitude I have for you.
The scales have been removed from my eyes and have been opened for the first time in over 30 years. I understand the position of who, and what I am in Christ.
I have had more prayer/fellowship time over the last 30 days than I have had in 30 years. I would love to one day speak with you if possible and thank you personally for what you have meant in my life changing relationship with Christ. I will pray for you my brother, pray that the Lord keeps you safe, wise, and moving forward with your life changing message.
Again Frank,
Thank you, and God Bless
Your Brother;
Frank
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he- proverbs
Just wondering from which version you are quoting…
Many thanks!!
They are not direct quotes, but slightly changed to fit the structure of “You are . . . You have been . . .” Some are based on the NIV, others on the NLT, others on the NASB, etc. But any version will contain the same exact thought as what’s on the list.
This is a great list to have. It reminds me of all the different mindsets that we may accept in our lives on a daily basis that would be destroyed by making this list a part of our beings. Here’s some I thought of while reading through the list:
“The devil is beating me up today”
“I need to grow spiritually”
“I need to ask God to forgive me tonight for the sins I committed today”
“I need to ask God to relieve the stress in my life”
“We Christians gotta change the world”
“My sinful nature is just too strong”
“Let’s ask God to show up tonight”
“I’m not as spiritual as THAT person”
Thanks Frank for the great resource.
Great stuff, frank!
Saints and sinners, both. But declared righteous and holy for Jesus’ sake.
Thanks be to God. For without His grace, no one would measure up.
Frank missed one verse…1Jn_3:2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is. (from Lynn Berntson” )
You [we] have the mind of Christ. 1Cor 2:16. Thank you Frank.
Thank you for those words. I am fairly new to your work. I am enjoying it and learning a great deal. I especially appreciated your words on rethinking the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I belong to a home church. It has taught me freedom to hear the Word, without guilt or condemnation. I have been a Christian for many years and feel like I am just learning who God is and who I am in Him. Thank you again and thank you for sharing it with us.
The key is ‘you are’, and not what will be. As we rest ‘in’ Him, and His all consuming grace, Christ will indeed be our all.
Thanks Frank for compiling this highly encouraging list.
This is beautiful and encouraging. I wish I had this yesterday to share with the brothers &sisters at our meeting. I will definitely share this with them next time we meet, and I will cite my source 😉
Frank,
Wow, what a great list! I’ve been thinking on identity quite a bit recently as I have noticed others doing as well. So thanks for the post!
Awesome collection of uplifting verses. I really needed this today. Thanks. 🙂
What a glorious word, a “sparkling” reminder of who and what we ARE in Christ…and is in stark contrast to what religion, the “church” doctrine, says we are.
Thank you for the reminder that God IS, HE rules, HE is having HIS way in His creation. When He plans, it is in minute detail, to the nth degree – and nothing, no one, is overlooked or left out.
Amen!
All I can say is Amen!!
AWESOME!!! I needed this today. Thanks for sharing Frank.
Timely reminder Frank! I think I am seeing how this not only affects my walk but my relationships. I wonder what my relationships would look like if I saw all of those who are in Christ as those who are becoming what they already are. I often approach myself and others as needing to change what we were. But it’s the new man that is the most solid aspect of our being, not the old man. Trying not to be the old man does not always translate into me becoming the new man created in Christ Jesus. Praise God for the cross!!!
Wow, indeed! Perhaps we are silent in awe – any one of those statements would be enough to silence us into wonder – Is that really the new me? It is so hard to fully appreciate our new life in Christ. We need to be reminded constantly because our minds are just not capable of comprehending it all. We do indeed live behind a veil seeing darkly. We need to be reminded constantly “to set your mind on the Spirit” and not on this world! How we yearn to get out of this worldly fog into the clear bright light in the presence of Jesus. Meanwhile, thank you Frank for taking the trouble to gather such a storehouse of scripture references – this really is very valuable. We appreciate how the Lord has blessed you with clarity and the skill to rightly convey God’s wonderful Word to us – both written and living.
This is great. I especially like your emphasis on receiving our identity from Christ. So much of our culture, and of ancient cultures, emphasizes grasping onto identity. The problem with grasping onto identity is that it leads over and against one another in rivalry or violence, because we are all grasping for the same identity of social prestige, power, wealth, etc. Receiving our identity provides a totally different posture, one of relaxing into our identity of being loved by the God revealed in Christ.
Fabulous list! Now if I could just get all that from my head to my heart…
It is mind blowing to know how much our Lord cares for us.I cant think of anybody who cares for me Like our Lord, reading these passages of scriptures personally. to me, is the greatest Love story ever told about a King and His Bride. Love love love bro
Frank, this list is absolutely overwhelming. Hard to comprehend that this is actually a reality.
In college I attended a Sunday School class, along with my girlfriend (now wife). It was just me, her and the teacher. Nobody else showed up. For months we walked through all sorts of Scriptures dealing with our identity in Christ. It changed my life.
Thank you for putting all these in one place. It will take me a lifetime to live into all of these truths.
Thank you for posting this in written form!
Thanks for this wonderful reminder.
Thank you Frank. I was going to ask you for this list after hearing it from you in Dallas. It was powerful and I wanted to share it with my family, posting these truths all over the house. But I resolved to look them up for myself, I’m glad you gave them out…now I will just read them one by one from my bible in context. Thanks again.
Joe Bob
Incredible stature of this new creation! Baffles me how a little fear, a little insecurity, a little remaining lust can bring down such a mighty stature.
Then I guess it’s time to grow into these beauties tempered with new humility, huh? New appreciation for forgiveness, new trust He can make it new again. As many times as He wants!
Or there is no hope.
Isn’t all of this the greatest news! I grew up under the teaching that man is basically evil and we have to work so hard to become righteous. Only recently has God revealed my true identity and helped me to see what He has created me to be. I don’t see my favorite verse in your list, Our new selves are “created be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24)
Sabrina: Both are true. Without Christ, we are all evil, unrighteousness, blind, and lost. When we receive Christ, that all changes. We become new creations in Him. All of those declarations are written to those who have received Christ.
Hallelujah!