Team Talk
Who I am in Christ
God has a plan for your life – Chapter One
God has a plan for our lives. He has one for me. And He has one for you. One of my favourite verses has always been Jeremiah
29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you
hope and a future.”
Have you ever thought about how much God really loves you?
How much He values you? How much He wants to take care of you?
After all, You are His Child. His Creation and His Masterpiece. If you are ready this, it means you are still here. Still in the game.
Still standing. Still strong. It means that God has not given up on you or me. He never gives up on anyone of us.
You cannot change the past. You cannot undo the mistakes you have made. You cannot erase what others have said about who
you are. But this is the beauty of returning to God. There is a BC and AC life. Before Christ and After Christ.
Things change when we ask Jesus to step into our hearts and into our lives. He takes ownership of who you are. He changes
your thoughts. Your words and your actions.
Baptism symbolises two things to me. A funeral of the old me that I was brave enough to attend. I call it the “BC me”. Before
Christ. Then there was the awakening of the “AC me”. After Christ. This was the day I was truly born.
Once Jesus gives you a new heart, you start to change. The old thoughts about who you thought you were, change.
Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Isaiah 43:18-19 - Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it
springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has
come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in
Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message
of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God
Ezekiel 11:19-20 - And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone
from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My rules and obey them. And they
shall be My people, and I will be their God.
2 Peter 1:4 - By which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
2 Corinthians 3:18 - And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image
from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Titus 3:5 - He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Ephesians 4:22-24 - To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful
desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true
righteousness and holiness.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 - I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness’s, and from all your idols I
will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from
your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful
to obey my rules.
You have to believe and live out the fact that the old self is dead. You have to have the courage to let go of the old you. You
have to be brave enough to forget who you think you are. Being born into Christ is the starting point for growing wisdom and
love.
Once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, the old has passed away. The old thoughts and the old ways.
Every day when you wake up, it’s a new day because we are new creations in Christ Jesus.
Extract from Who I am in Christ
By Stella Ashworth
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