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WEAR YOUR WEDDING ATTIRE

  So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Jesus here likens the kingdom of God to a wedding banquet. It says that the wedding hall was filled with guests—both the bad as well as the good. The king noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, “How did you get in here without wedding clothes…?” This passage contrasts for us the difference between the Old and New Covenants. It was not the goodness of the good that qualified them; it was not the badness of the bad  that disqualified them. What counted at this wedding banquet was wedding clothes. And so we as the sons of God let’s put on the new identity o...
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OUR PASSPORT

  “My old identity has been co-crucified with Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of his cross crucified me with him. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, and dispenses his life into mine!  Galatians 2:20 TPT   Paul is speaking to the Galatians assuring them that when they gave their lives to Christ in essence they died with Christ and rose with him. When they died with Christ, their old self, the flesh that was born by their human parents no longer lives, it died with Christ. It is now Christ who lives in them by faith. The same is true for all of us believers, everything changed with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we receive/received Christ everything changed. when we receive the gift ...
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BELIEVE IT

  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. I     Corinthians 5:17 NKJV   This portion of scripture describes an appeal from Paul to those in Corinth, He says for the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; Therefore, 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. Paul has written that Christ's death for sin has changed the way he regards people. Instead of looking at each person as a mere human being, he must view those who are in Christ as something entirely different. Those "in Christ" have become something they were not before. Their identity has changed from being the fallen version of themselves, to being associated with the righteousness of Christ. That's who t...
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MARVELOUSLY MADE

Many believers do not know who God has called them to be, we don't give ourselves any room for grace - the grace to be human and the grace to make mistakes. We base our identity on what we have failed to do. We fail to believe that God wants to put our shattered pieces in His hands and He can mend us back together again. Growing up as children, we learn to do chores around the house, learning from our parents and guardians. One of the chores we learn is washing dishes. Oftentimes whether accidental or through mishandling there were broken dishes. I have come to learn that there's a brokenness of heart that tears cannot mend and we find ourselves taking on this brokenness as our identity. Our identity should be based on Christ. Our identity as believers or children of God is in Christ. And that’s something we should understand. The bible says in Psalms 139:14 &15 that we are fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, His eyes saw ...
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CHARM IS DECEPTIVE

    As believers, we sometimes base our identity on our looks, we base our identity on our appearance or beauty. Social media definitely has played a role in this. As we scroll through our feeds, we are bombarded with countless photos of the seemingly perfect faces, appearances and looks. Beauty is a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. Appearance is the way that someone or something looks. “The degree to which a person's physical traits are considered pleasing or beautiful. Examples of what beauty entails are a slim body, flawless skin , our height, our weight, our body shape, our skin color, our hair. Dora found herself believing things about her appearance. Things that her classmates spoke to her. Words were thrown carelessly in her direction but they landed on the fertile soil of her soul? She had based her identity on her physical appearance. A boy in her class had told her...
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MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS

  Building awesome relationships is great and God wants us to love one another. Danger comes when we base our identity on these connections, networks or relationships. We tend to think that we are complete with the connections and people who we know. Sharing life with other people is not bad but we shouldn't base our identity on it. It’s a dilemma we have as human beings. We forget that God’s love frees us to even love others fearlessly. But when we base our identity on earthly relationships, we cannot live a free and  fulfilling life. We strain our relationships when we base our identity on our loved ones. Every trouble starts because of our self-centeredness. Basing our identity on our connections hinders us from giving ourselves away for the sake of the Good News and in turn we end up not knowing what it means to really live. The top relationship goal we may have on our minds right now probably might be finding or ...
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WHERE IS YOUR HOPE?

  He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.  Ecclesiastes 5:10 NKJV   Many believers base their identity on their material possessions/wealth. We tend to think that attaining riches and possessions is making it in life. Loving riches, money and possessions is a dangerous thing, a very dangerous thing. We most times forget that God knows our needs. And as a Christian, we must believe that God works out everything for our good! So we must stop chasing what we think may satisfy us here on earth, and start looking toward heaven and place our focus on God. We become workaholics all  because of desiring more and more because our identity is based on that. Steven Covey, in his book: “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, introduces a concept he calls “Sharpening the Saw.” Sometimes the most effective thing we can do is to rest. Though it seems counter-intuitive, it really...
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