Your Identity

1 Peter 2:⁹ But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

What names do you feel pressured by culture to accept or what names do you see people accepting from culture? I had a nickname when I was in secondary school. My friends had appended the word “scorpio” to my name. Each time I score a goal for instance, everybody shouts “scorpio”. Then I got saved and found my identity in God’s Word, but my friends were still calling me “scorpio”. The Bible says, I will “…trample upon serpents and scorpions and all the powers of the enemy…”. So, I had to stop my friends from calling me “scorpio”. I told them that if they must add anything to my name it should be lion because I am of the tribe of the Lion of the tribe of Judah! They did not like it but that was the end of that story.

Rom.8:⁵ “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. ⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature [say amen]. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”

The only way to consistently think and act from your identity in God is by allowing the Holy Spirit to control your mind. I want you to memorize 1 Peter 2:9, today’s scripture reference. When Babylon tries to pressure you to respond in a certain way or tries to give you a name that is not yours. When the systems of this world attempt to program you to behave in ways that are not consistent with your God. Your only response is from God’s Word. You say, “I am not like that. I belong to a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession made to declare the praises of Him who called me out of darkness into His wonderful light”.

Prayer: Father, in Jesus Name, I will not be trapped by Babylon. Let my identity in Jesus be strong and persevere. My world view will be of the Kingdom of heaven, in Jesus Name. Amen!