Our identity as the Chosen of God is what allows us to partake of the abundant life Jesus paid for us to have.  Because it is critical that we grasp the fullness of our identity in Christ as God’s Chosen, it is the constant place of enemy warfare against us.

To know how securely you are swaddled in the Love of God is no small thing.  It is what the whole structure of our armor in Ephesians 6 is designed to protect.   Every time we waver from this security, we fall for the same old enemy trick that fooled Eve and Adam.

As I was reading in Revelation this morning, I came across several verses that helped me to see why so many of the people my husband and I see for ministry are in such inner turmoil. These are men and women who love God, but who have sat under teaching that says that the Father and your place in His family are only as trustworthy as the last thing you did for Him.

These children of God have their hearts set on the Lord.  Most of their waking thoughts are about God and how to please Him, but they have been taught that His love is tentative and they must be veerrry careful as they walk the tightrope of family relationship with Father God.  In the world we would call that family dysfunctional, yet it gets passed off in churches as the way our Father functions toward us.

These beloved sons and daughters are tortured in their minds and in their hearts.  They veer back and forth between just giving up this impossible mission and working ever harder to please this God who, they have been taught, is resentful and resistant to their advances.

If I know the heart of my Father toward me, then I don’t get sidelined by doubt when I read a verse like this: “To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:26) If I am insecure in His love, in think: “Well what if I am not victorious…?”  “Does that mean I might not be victorious?”  No! Let’s put our armor back on.

God speaks what is not yet as if it is.  If you don’t yet see full evidence of the victory you have in Jesus, agree with Him and with His Word, declare that you ARE victorious in Christ Jesus.  He will bring it about.  Your job is to trust in His faithfulness.

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[a] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. (Romans 4:13-17, emphasis mine.)

Jesus fulfilled the law.  Sometimes I think we forget that God is an eternal being.  He created time and is not bound by it.  His promises and His covenant did not begin and will not end with the time-blip of my lifespan. For instance, when Jesus died for my sins, did he only die for the ones I committed until I got saved, approximately 2000 years after his work?  Or is it too much that my whole lifespan is covered by His promises and covenant.

According to Romans 5:1-11 (below in bullet points), Jesus’ finished work and His covenant-enforcing blood paid the FULL price so that:

• We are made right in God’s sight by faith
• We have peace with God because of Jesus’ finished work
• Because of faith, we have undeserved privilege

If my privilege is undeserved, what can I now do to make it better or to mess it up?

• We confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory

Note that Paul did not say, nervously and while preparing for disappointment…

• When we were utterly helpless Christ came and died for us.

We didn’t earn it and couldn’t help ourselves then.  Why are we trying now that the work is finished?

• God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

I think that we have heard that verse so often, that we have discounted its power!  The Passion Translation says it this way: ‘But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!’   That’s a little better.  It also makes very clear that we ARE NOT sinners, not lost and ungodly anymore!

• We have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Jesus
• Our friendship with God was restored by the death of His son while we were still His enemies.  While we were still raising our fists to him in rebellion,
• We are saved by the resurrection life of His Son

There is no going back for Jesus.  He will not die again, He will not take back His finished work or the covenant it fulfilled.  If we do not accept the FULLNESS of our salvation, (Psalm 91), if we believe that Jesus work is not complete and I can still do something to cause the Father to love me more or love me less, then I “trample the Son of God underfoot,” because I have treated as an unholy thing the blood covenant that sanctified me and I have insulted the Spirit of grace.” (Hebrews 10:29)

That is another scripture that is taken to a place of fear of losing our salvation when in fact that very fear is the crux of the verse.  “If I keep on sinning after I have received knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sin is left.”  My lack of faith in the finished work of Jesus is the sin here.  The high priest has sat down, no more work to do.  The veil is torn and the way to the Holy one, the Father, is open to us because we are accepted under the blood.  We are righteous by faith. We are justified once and for all.

It is rebellion to reject this love-gift and exchange it for your way instead.  It is sin to look for a way that is more complete than the blood of Jesus.   Accepting the fullness of your salvation and your place in the family of God, joyfully declaring the truth of what the finished work has done for you, agreeing with God about His over-the-top love for you, living the Abundant Life He came to give you is how you show your thankfulness.

²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. (Colossians 1:22-23)

We are Holy in His sight.  We are without blemish.  We are free from accusation.  We are to set our feet unshakably, unwaveringly in the land of hope that is held out to us in the Good News of the Gospel.

We are free from the accusations of the Accuser and we don’t have to agree with him.  In fact, our agreement is the only thing that gives them authority to use power against us! And we can take it back even more powerfully by agreeing with our Father about how He sees us instead!  Those are the only choices.  Don’t be deceived to think your opinion is somewhere in the middle.  If you are not agreeing with your Father, you are agreeing with the devil and giving him your authority to use against you by your words.

The enemy is so fearful that we will live in peace and joy with God and man. He dreads that we will know fully who we are in Christ.  He fears that out of the abundant life we live, we will be life-givers.

A month ago I was at a prayer meeting and the Glory of the Lord came into the house.  I felt the Presence of the Lord behind me, I saw myself  as I worshiped with my arms spread out, having foot-tall flames all over my body.  I heard the Lord say of us, “My burning ones.”  As He said this, I felt the enemy cowering in the corner in utter fear that we should know how we are known in Heaven and how we are seen in the spirit.

Agree once and for all with your perfect, loving and all-powerful Father that the blood of Jesus was the full payment for all the sins of your life.  Then exist in AMAZEMENT and in WONDER of what this perfect sacrifice has done for you.  Be SHAKEN by the love of God for you, the bigness and all-encompassing nature of His love FOR you.

Be ASTOUNDED that He knows you perfectly, in detail, and can’t wait to encourage you forward in your journey with Him. Delight in His delight of you and sin will cease to be a problem.  When you are in love, it is easy to agree with your beloved.  On the rare occasion that you miss it, tell your Papa that you are sorry, repent (change your mind to agree with Him again), accept His forgiveness and step forward on the adventure with Him once again.

He CHOSE YOU from before the foundation of the world.  He CHOSE to put His love squarely on you.  He chose for His sinless Son to suffer in your place so that you could sit with Him in heavenly places and see your life from His perspective.  His view is much better.  Take you place among the Chosen.