In our modern society, I.D is something we all carry around in our wallets and purses. But the same is true of our personal and spiritual identity which we carry in our hearts and in our minds. There are many situations in life that make us question our identity. We’ve all had thoughts like; “who am I?”. “Do I have the faith it takes to make it through?”. “Am I a failure?”.
Satan loves these opportunities to taunt believers and test them if they know who they are in Christ. As Spirit beings it is important for this Identity comes from the unchanging, unshakeable, Word of God!
The time Satan Checked Jesus’ I.D
Matthew 4:1-10 NKJV
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’
and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not [a]tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, [b]“Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
In our bibles it’s Titled Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness, or Satan Tempts Jesus. I’ve retitled it as “The Time Satan Checked Jesus’ ID” Satan wasn’t wanting to see if Jesus demonstrate ability, he was wondering if Jesus would compromise his identity.
But…Jesus Knew who He was!
Satan wasn’t asking Jesus to do a simple party trick, he was wanting Jesus to bow to his command.
State Your Name Please
Names are important to God. When God gives a name, He wants to pull out a divine purpose of that name. The name he gives holds within it a promise of what God intends to do. For example
Jesus – God Saves
God - the Name Changer
There are times when God has Issued a new name, to give a new purpose to a person. God Issued a new I.D
Israel and Jacob Isaiah 43:1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Jacob was the name he got from his mother father – meaning supplanter, deceiver, one who seizes or circumvents – (Find a way around the system)
Israel – one who wrestles with God
another meaning is – God Contends, God Fights, Abram – Abraham Abram - Exalted Father
Abraham - Father of many nations Romans 4:17 NKJV (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations” ) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Simon – Peter Simon – Reed Peter - Rock Matthew 16:17-18 NKJV
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Our I.D
There are some names we are given in life, that stick some good, many are bad and try to work against God’s divine purpose for our. The people who give us those names can be long gone, but the names themselves follow us for months years, even decades.
Rejected, Unlovable, Good-for-Nothing, Failure
But the Word of God, is powerful to obliterate those old outdated, identities that we inherited from the fall. The Word of God holds the truth about our new identity in Christ Jesus!
let’s look at our new I.D “Loved and Accepted” Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
“Child of God” - “Pure and Clean” 1 John 3: 1-3 NKJV Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of [a]God! Therefore, the world does not know [b]us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
“Righteous” Romans 5: 8-9 Common English Bible 8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
9 So, now that we have been made righteous by his blood, we can be even more certain that we will be saved from God's wrath through him.
“Royalty” 1 Peter 2:9 NKJV But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; This name “Royalty” makes sense to us now, when you consider our auditoriums filled with the comfiest chairs and the temperature control, and the cafés that serve us the best hot beverages. The local church in modern times goes to great lengths to cater to the comforts of the congregants and attendees, to make us feel, well… like Royalty. But can you imagine being part of the early church? The persecuted, inhumanely tortured, outlawed church of the first century, being called Royalty...? This was the work of someone who had his own name changed – Becoming a Name Changer! Instead of calling it, a “church on the run”, or “victimised group of believers”, Peter called it how God sees it, a Royal priesthood! Can you imagine if Peter called it as he saw it? We are living in what he dared to speak out! Be a Name Changer!
Name Changers are Game Changers! Homework – pick two people this week, maybe someone you’ve lost touch with, and encourage them, let them know who they are in Christ. Let us all be people who give those hurting around us a new I.D!
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