The A to Z Identity System
The key to living in God’s presence is to meditate your covenant, experiencing yourself united with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection throughout the day. King David knew the importance of the Ark of God, representing God’s covenant with His children. It had been housed in the wilderness tabernacle’s Most Holy Place where the Shekinah glory of God dwelt during the old covenant.
Later in the Old Testament, David and his men rescued the Ark and “They brought the Ark of God and placed it inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to God.” He exhorted the people to “Remember His covenant forever — the commitment He made to a thousand generations” (1 Chronicles 16:1,15, NLT).
Meditating Your Covenant
Today, we are God’s special tent, His temple, with Jesus our Ark living in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” — Hebrews 13:15, NLT
Meditating our covenant helps us to understand and experience how generous God has been to us in Christ. As a result, our faith increases through hearing, meditating and even singing God’s Word (Colossians 3:16, 17).
This system is a useful tool to help us meditate, understand and experience our identity in Christ. I pray that you will pick up this simple technique to remind yourself of who you are in Christ. Let’s start with “A”, saying:
• I am accepted.
• I am anointed.
• I am the apple of God’s eye.
Now, we’ll move on to “B” and so on, saying:
• I am blessed.
• I am the beloved, so I be loved.
• I am blood bought.
• I am a child of God.
• I am delivered.
• I am eternally secure.
• I am forgiven, free, etc.
The Lord gave this fresh word while teaching a class in the prison chapel. The men and myself picked it up and ran with it. Before we knew it, we were at “Z”, saying, “I am zealous” and then we jumped around to all the letters having fun as the joy of the Lord filled our hearts to overflowing.
The brothers in the class along with myself saw one another afterwards reminding each other who we are in Christ by shouting out a letter, such as “R” with the response, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.”
Meditating the Promises
Meditation is a constant looking at one thing until that becomes an inner image and the inner image becomes so real that you begin to speak as though it is already in existence. For us, we’re...
“…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” — Hebrews 12:2).
Let your throne-room reality become so real that you see yourself sitting there in Him. Then, you speak of the reality of who you are in Christ’s finished works until you see yourself as He is in this world “…raised up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).
Now speak out loud your reality in Christ:
• I am crucified.
• I am buried.
• I am risen.
• I am seated.
• I am hidden.
• I am reigning.
This A to Z meditating tool helps to keep you covenant minded. As you read through the Bible, especially the New Testament Epistles, you bring to mind inner images of God’s promises from A to Z. For instance, when you hear a promise, meditate on it and then proclaim:
• 1 Peter 2:24 – “I am healed.”
• John 3:16 – “I am loved.”
• 1 Corinthians 12:27 – “I am a member of Christ’s body.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “I am a new creation.”
• Colossians 1:12 – “I am qualified.”
• 3 John 2 – “I am prosperous in the soul.”
As you find more and more words describing who you are in Christ, plug them into your A to Z system. You can write them down, but the idea is to plug them into your memory for meditation. You’ll be able to have several words for each letter, such as “I am saved, sound minded, sanctified, significant and secure in Christ.”
Challenging Every Thought
The enemy of our mind brings all sorts of thoughts contrary to the promises of God, saying “I’m sick and tired,” “I’m dying,” “I’m losing my mind,” “I’m worried,” “I’m scared to death,” “I’m fat,” “I’m ugly” and others. We are not to place faith in those lies, but instead,
“…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” — 2 Corinthians 10:5
As we recall our A to Z Identity System, we keep ourselves on track to the knowledge of God by bringing every thought captive to the knowledge of the truth.
“You [God] will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3, emphasis added).
Now confess what you have:
• I have the mind of Christ.
• I have a sound mind in Christ.
• I have perfect peace, because I trust in God.
We have a responsibility to be assertive in Christ against the thoughts of the enemy. Thank God, He has given us the grace [favor & ability] to respond through the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe when we confess the Word of God. He creates our reality (Matthew 12:35-37).
Projecting Christ
It is a proven fact even in Psychology that we project upon others what is in our hearts. The Apostle John wrote:
“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world” — 1 John 4:17, NLT
Our spirit is made perfect in love when we are born again, but our soul [mind, will and emotions] is always growing to become more perfect in love. As our thoughts line up with God’s thoughts of who we are in Christ, His love flows forth as fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23). As the apostle Paul wrote to Titus, “Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure…” (1:15a, NLT).
So you can say:
- I am loving.
- I am joyful.
- I am peaceful.
- I am patient.
- I am kind.
- I am friendly.
- I am faithful.
- I am gentle.
- I am temperate.
When you see yourself in Christ as God sees you, you’ll project your identity in Christ upon others. What you have in Christ, you’ll see others having too. What you can do in Christ, you’ll see others able to do as well. Your whole view of God, yourself and others will be changed, “…because as He is, so are we in this world.”
I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.
An Exhortation for you...
“Dear friends, you must build each other up in your most holy faith, praying in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into His glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to Him Who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are His before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time” — Jude 20, 21, 24, 25, NLT.