Originally Posted by SweetSurrender

Mark, you are too funny!

By the way, I can't remember who, but I see some poster has the book I'm reading as his profile pic. So at least one other person is familiar with it.

Dare I quote more of this book? I'm reading it all the time and have started re-reading it.

Understanding your identity in Christ is essential for living the Christian life. People cannot consistenly behave in ways that are inconsistent with the way they perceive themselves. Your perception of yourself changes by believing the truth. If you perceive yourself wrongly, you will live wrongly because what you are believing is not true. I had a problem with that early on and still struggle with the truth that God could love someone like me. But I'm getting there.

If you think you are a no-good bum, you will probably live like a no-good bum. If you were called certain names as a child, it is hard to get that outa' your head. If, however, you see yourself as a child of God who is spiritually alive in Christ and worthy of Him, you will begin to live accordingly. Next to a knowledge of God, a knowledge of who you are is by far the most important truth you can possess.

The major strategy of Satan is to distort the character of God and the truth of who we are. He can't change God and he can't do anything to change our identity and position in Christ. If, however, he can get us to believe a lie, we will live as though our identity in Christ isn't true. That's what satan did in the Garden, convinced Eve that God was lying.

One of the things I learned in today's session was that Adam was the ruler of the earth and it's creatures until he fell from grace. Then it was given to satan I guess. But when we give our lives over to Jesus, he no longer has power over us and can only try to trick us into believing otherwise. We step back into that state of grace. I'm so glad.