Our series “A New Me!” is to help you realize who you really are once you’ve been made new in Christ, what He’s called you to do, and who He’s called you to be. This message is “The Real Me.”

How can you live out who you are…the real you? So many times, we say, “Yes, God’s done this for me, but I don’t see how I can do it.” So, we sit back on the sidelines, thinking He can’t use us because we know everything we’ve done and how much we’ve messed up: “Thank you, God, for saving me; I’ll just pray and hope that’s enough.” But He believes in you. He’s saying, “Get up, get going and make a difference.”

Here’s our core scripture:

“So here I am dead and alive at the same time. I’m dead to the old me I was trying to be and alive to the real me which is Christ in me. Co-crucified, now co-alive. What a glorious entanglement. I was in Him in His death; now I discover that He is infused in me, in my life. For the first time, I’m free to be me in my skin, immersed in His faith in our joint-sonship. He loves me and believes in me. He is God’s gift to me.” – GALATIANS 2:20 (MIRROR)

Have you ever thought just how much God believes in you? He’s saying it’s a two-way street, not just us loving Him. He put His Spirit in you because He believes in you to operate and act out what He’s called you to do.

There’s nothing held back from us! He’s put the fullness of the Godhead – that resided bodily in Christ – in us. So, for instance, how can you not love someone who acts unlovable? It’s because the love of God lives in you! How can you pray for someone who acts horribly toward you? It’s because God’s love is in you.

The Spirit of God causes you to see them not for what they’ve done but how God sees them.

If they really understood God and what He put inside of them – the capacity they had in them – they would never do what they had done. So, we pray for revelation for them. Get over yourself being hurt by them! Get the focus off of you and put it on God and what He can do through you.

Your Real Identity

Your real identity has been crucified in Christ and no longer lives.

Here’s how the Passion translation puts it:

“My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me – we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God, Who loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His life into mine!” – GALATIANS 2:20 (TPT)

If you look at the life of Jesus, you say “Jesus always got His prayers answered. He healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, brought people into the Kingdom.” His life has been poured into us! So, what can we do? We can heal the sick, raise the dead, preach the good news, bring people into the Kingdom, cast out demons, AND love people who treated us in unlovable ways!

As I’m being crucified by someone, I can say, “Father, forgive them…they don’t know what they’re doing.” It’s the love of God in us enabling us to that. It’s not our ability to love; it’s God’s ability to love others through us.

Our old identity is dead, and our new identity is empowered by our union with Jesus. It should be a seamless union, where a person can’t see where Christ ends and we begin. That’s what one with Him looks like.

You may think you can’t be that way, but God says you can (so you can).

If the old me is dead (2 Corinthians 5:17), why do I act as though it’s alive? Our old spirit that was eternally dying is now eternally living. Our new nature is holy and righteous (Ephesians 4:24).  We’re holy and righteous in His sight in our spirit.

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” – ROMANS 12:1-2 (NLT)

It will happen when you change the way you think. Think about what is good and pleasing and perfect to God.

As we deal with the world and its challenges – the contradictions – the real me (spirit) is still one with God. As we change the way we think, getting into God’s Word, it starts coming into alignment with how God sees us…then our behavior starts acting differently.

Our soul – our mind, will and emotions – have been programmed by a doomed system, born into a fallen mindset because of Adam’s sin (not our sin). We have to reprogram it by the Word of God. It will change the way you think, the way you see and the way you believe. It will convince you that Christ has made you righteous.

The world will try to convince you by your actions that you’re not righteous…after all, seeing is believing, right? No. Actually, God’s Word says we believe and then we see.

“Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!” – ROMANS 4:25 (TPT)

Did Jesus die on the Cross? Yes. Then your sins are forgiven…move on. Is Jesus resurrected? Yes! Then you’re still righteous…live, act, believe like it and do it.

This world system is so set up on your performance because it wants you to realize that you aren’t good enough; it wants you to quit.

The law was put in place to point out that you weren’t good enough, so that you would say, “I need a savior.” Remember, don’t confuse position and behavior. Paul was trying to convince people throughout the book of Romans to change the way they think and how they see themselves. He wasn’t focused on “Do right and do this and that, and you’d better not mess up.” He was focused on “God loves you; you’ve been made righteous; His grace is enough for you and He pours out His mercy on you.”

What can separate you from His love? Nothing. So, let’s get our whole reprogramming started at a foundational level of really who we are and what God’s done for us.  When we do this, we start saying, “You know, this is what I’ve always done, but something inside says I shouldn’t do this anymore.” My mind, my soul, is being transformed by the renewing of the Word. The old behaviors that had a pull on me, all of a sudden don’t as much.

It’s good to be familiar with Romans 8:1-11. But here’s how verses 10-11 read in the Mirror Bible:

“10 The revelation of Christ in you declares that your body is as good as dead to sin’s demands; sin cannot find any expression in a corpse. You co-died together with Him. Yet your spirit is alive because of what righteousness reveals. 11 Our union with Christ further reveals that because the same Spirit who awakened the body of Jesus from the dead inhabits us, we equally participate in his resurrection. In this act of authority whereby God raised Jesus from the dead, he co-restores your body to life by His indwelling Spirit.” – ROMANS 8:10-11 (MIRROR)

Why do we equate our alive spirit with our dead body? We shouldn’t be influenced by a corpse, should we?

Watch the entire May 22, 2022 message on which this post is based by CLICKING HERE.