Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Is Your Identity Being Stolen From You?


There’s a lot of talk about identity theft. I can’t imagine it happening to me, can you? Years ago when my niece’s son went to rent an apartment they found out that someone was using his social security number. If I remember right, they had achieved bad credit and because he was trying to use his identity to secure an apartment, it came up suspicious. They got things worked out but it was scary for them to know someone else had taken what belonged to them.  We had a bogus bill that kept coming to us, so we took it to our lawyer. In the course of working it all out, we found out that our lawyer’s wife had her identity stolen when she was a child! When she grew up and tried to establish her own credit, she found someone else had left a bill unpaid in her name.  I had no idea, but someone can even get your identity and use it to get medical care. 

There are safeguards to protect your identity.  Even if you’ve had your identity stolen you can recover. It takes time. But it’s worth it. Often people work under the radar so it pays to check your own credit scores and make sure there’s nothing listed that doesn’t truly belong to you. 

Spiritually speaking there is an identity thief lurking in our lives. His desire is to steal our identity in Christ and make us live with the consequences. He wants to steal, kill and destroy every nuance of our faith. He wants to subvert the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and divert the assets of our faith so that we cannot use them in our walk.  He likes to replace the truth with half-truths so that we aren’t able to live freely in our faith.  His greatest desire is to kill all hope in us. He also loves to steal our hope and destroy our dreams.

Have you been a victim of identity theft? Are you living as though the Word is not available to you? Are you full of fear, dread, sorrow or disappointment? Do you believe that your credit report reads that you are unworthy, unfit, unlovely or unlovable?  Maybe you think you don’t have any rights left to live a free and productive life in Christ!

Oh beloved, run to the Lord of Heaven and Earth and open His Benefits book this morning! Look from the first chapter to the last and reclaim your identity! Every single promise is yours! Every single encouragement was written just for you. Don’t let the enemy of your soul continue to steal your identity for you were destined to live in the light of God’s Word and that’s where your true identity lies.  In and of yourself, there may be things that aren’t perfect, but your true identity is in Christ! He paid your bad debts off at the cross, He canceled all unworthy things that were credited to you at the empty tomb and He’s seated at the right hand of the Father now, making intercession for you so that your identity will stay secure.

Oh how He loves you! Oh how He protects you! Oh how He watches over you to perform the truth in your life.  Let go of those things that are not a part of your identity and begin living the Truth. For the Truth is your guardian, your watchman, your peace and your future! Let God rebuild your identity with the washing of the water of His Word and see how you will be able to live free and justified fully!

John 8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 2:9-10 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Ephesians 2:7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for His glory.

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