{"id":4261,"date":"2017-10-29T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-29T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4261"},"modified":"2017-07-25T22:30:56","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T03:30:56","slug":"choose-not-to-forget-who-you-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4261","title":{"rendered":"Choose Not to Forget Who You Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another Year of Choices<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

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Once Jesus asked His disciples, \u201cWhom do men say that I am?\u201d Some said he was John the Baptist, some said Elias, some said a prophet and so on. Jesus was no doubt curious.<\/p>\n

When Jesus asked Peter, he replied, \u201cYou are Christ, the son of the living God.\u201d (Matthew 16:13-17) It pleased Jesus that Peter realized this. After all, Christ knew who He was even if those He came in contact with weren\u2019t quite sure.<\/p>\n

How about us? Do we know who we are?<\/p>\n

Once we turn our lives over to God, we belong to Him. And from that very moment our identity changes and we become new people. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:24) Sometimes just knowing who we are can make a difference in how we live our lives. Here is just a sampling of who we are:<\/p>\n

We are God\u2019s children. (John 1:12, Galatians 4:7)<\/p>\n

We are loved. (John 3:16, Colossians 3:12)<\/p>\n

We are Jesus\u2019 friends. (John 15:15)<\/p>\n

We are accepted. (Romans 15:7)<\/p>\n

We are chosen. (Ephesians 1:4, Colossians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 1:4)<\/p>\n

We are redeemed. (Ephesians 1:7)<\/p>\n

We are justified. (Romans 3:24)<\/p>\n

We are saved, not condemned. (Romans 8:1)<\/p>\n

We are free, not slaves. (Romans 6:6, Romans 8:2, Galatians 4:7, Galatians 5:1)<\/p>\n

We are heirs. (Romans 8:17, Galatians 4:7, Ephesians 1:11)<\/p>\n

We are dwelling places for the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19)<\/p>\n

We are led by God. (2 Corinthians 2:14)<\/p>\n

We are righteous. (2 Corinthians 2:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21)<\/p>\n

We are blessed. (Ephesians 1:3)<\/p>\n

We are alive in Christ. (Ephesians 1:4-5)<\/p>\n

We are complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10)<\/p>\n

Our identity is in Christ. All these attributes are who we are in Christ, not earned by us, but freely given.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 The Bible says as a man thinks, so he is. (Proverbs 23:7) How we perceive ourselves makes a difference in how we act, how we react, and how we live.<\/p>\n

So who do you think you are? We can\u2019t afford to get caught up in who others might think we are. We have an abundant life and rich inheritance. After all, we are God\u2019s children!<\/p>\n

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Suggestions on practicing this choice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

What we say to ourselves (self-talk) has a major impact on how we view ourselves, how we function, and how we come across to others. Let\u2019s not bombard ourselves with negative put-downs like: Nobody loves me; I\u2019m stupid; I\u2019m fat; I\u2019m worthless; I\u2019m ugly; I can\u2019t do anything right; I\u2019m a jerk! Okay, we may be jerks at times, but we are probably not stupid, fat, worthless, ugly jerks who can\u2019t do anything right. Besides God always loves us \u2013 ALWAYS! Give yourself a break!<\/p>\n

Replace negative thoughts with positive, truthful thoughts like: Jesus accepts me; Jesus does not condemn me for my mistakes. Others may think we\u2019re jerks, but Jesus loves us. (Actually Jesus may think you\u2019re a jerk, but guess what? He still loves you and will definitely help you be less of a jerk if you ask Him.) Whatever is true and positive \u2013 think on these things. (Philippians 4:8)<\/p>\n

View God as a loving Father with open arms, always ready to embrace you.<\/p>\n

Focus on spiritual things. Fill your mind with prayer, God\u2019s Word, and meditation.<\/p>\n

Say to yourself often throughout the day: \u201cI am a child of God! My identity is in Christ.\u201d And pray to yourself often throughout the day: \u201cLord, help me to reflect this identity in the little things I do and say each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another Year of Choices By Barbara Dahlgren   Once Jesus asked His disciples, \u201cWhom do men say that I am?\u201d Some said he was John the Baptist, some said Elias, some said a prophet and so on. Jesus was no … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}