Who Do You Think You Are?

Zig Ziglar says: “You cannot consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”

The Bible says: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:7 NKJV).

If the way you see yourself is not the way God sees you, then you are wrong. Try as you may to act like Jesus, you cannot because it’s impossible. Only Jesus can act like Jesus. But Jesus will live His life in you, for you, through you, and as you if you will only allow Him to be your life.

Galatians 2:20 says: “I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

What is this verse saying? It is saying that I am dead. Crucified with Christ. I don’t live anymore. I did not resurrect from the dead, but Jesus did. Until He comes to live His life in me, I’m still dead. BUT when He becomes my life, what you see is Jesus in a Kenny Ashley earthsuit. You think it’s me, but it is really Jesus.

Now, what is Jesus like? Holy, righteous, good, loving, gentle, kind, patient, faithful, joyful, peaceful, meek, and self-controlled. Everything Jesus is, I am. Now I don’t rule the universe. That’s way over my pay grade, but I am a partaker of His divine nature. His character is my character. My life is really His life, because we have become united together as ONE. Nothing in the universe can ever separate us. His nature, thoughts, and desires are now mine, too.

If you do not believe that for you to live is Christ, then you will never consistently allow Jesus to live through you. Religion has lied to us about our relationship with Christ. Religion tells us that we can act like Jesus. It never tells us that we are little Christs as C.S. Lewis calls the children of God. Religion prods our flesh to try harder to be loving and kind. And that is an impossibility.

“For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5:17-18 NKJV).

Religion tells us that we do the best we can, and Jesus will help us when we need Him. Jesus tells us that “without Him, we can do nothing” (John 15:5). Nothing is a zero with the rim knocked off. Zip. Nada. Nothing. He lives His life for us, or we do it in our own strength and flesh. And the flesh leads to death. Jesus is Life.

If you do not believe that Jesus is living His life in and through you, you can never live like Jesus. Only Jesus can live like Jesus. You were created to live in union, harmony, fellowship, and in total dependence upon Jesus for everything you will ever need in life. That is your destiny.

Reminds me of a story:

Once upon a time, a farmer found an eagle’s egg and put it in a hen’s nest for it to hatch. The eaglet grew up believing he was a chicken. He would scratch the ground for worms, cluck and cackle, flutter a few feet and fall back to the earth.

Years passed and the eagle grew old. Looking up in the sky one day, he spotted a majestic eagle floating effortlessly among the clouds. “Who is that?” the eagle asked his barnyard mates.

“Why that’s an eagle, the king of birds,” a hen responded. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth. We are chickens.”

And the eagle believed it. He lived and died as a chicken, because that is what he thought he was.

Satan tried to deceive Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He is not stupid. He knows that “stinking thinking,” believing a lie, will wreck and ruin our lives. The eagle believed he was a chicken never realizing who he really was. He completely missed his destiny.

Think about this. God originally created us to be happy, to live carelessly in the care of God completely depending upon Him to provide everything we would need to enjoy life to the max. After Adam and Eve’s poor decision to trust themselves rather than God, we were all inherently influenced to swallow the lie that God is not good. The lie that says we need to look out for number one because God doesn’t care about us.

God created us to depend upon Him for all our needs. If we don’t trust Him, we have to find alternative sources in which to have our needs met. We have been programmed by our families, society, culture, religion and education that we cannot find happiness and fulfillment in God alone. We’ve been told that we need certain other things to make us happy, such things as money, fame, houses, cars, physical appearance, and relationships apart from God. That is a lie.

God gives us freedom to be who He created us to be. For me to be me requires no effort. To be what someone else wants me to be is exhausting. God created us to mount up with wings as eagles, not grovel in the dirt scratching out a meager existence.  We please God when we stretch our two wings called TRUST and OBEY. When we do, He becomes the wind beneath our wings, and we soar over all the little annoyances that would rob us of the joy of living life wide open.

Eagles fly. Chickens flutter. Are you gonna fly, or are you gonna mutter? You’re the only one choosing for you. Don’t miss out on your destiny, Beloved. Choose wisely.

Blessings,

Kenny