002 - The Art Of Being Dead

Do you remember the day you died?

Unless, you actually died physically, you might be wondering what I mean by this.

In a bit, I'll break it down for you, but first a quick story.

Before September of 2012, I was a mess.

By all outside appearances, I didn't "look" like too much of a mess. People may have even thought I was put together.

I had a weekly devotional I put on Youtube. I read through the Bible regularly. By all accounts, I was a "good" Christian man.

But, deep inside, I felt like an imposter.

You see, I was deeply depressed. With that depression, came an addiction to pornography.

It was my "getaway". Trying to be an answer to my misery.

A very bad one.

It only strengthened my reasons to be depressed.

On top of that, I was also deeply insecure. My confidence had buried itself in a deep hole, never to be recovered.

However, if you know me today, you'll know that I don't come across as insecure.

I like myself.

So much so that I don't even listen to music when I'm driving. I just sit in silence enjoying my own company.

Some think that's weird. And my brother even says it's the sign of a serial killer.

But, I know different. (It's more of a serial lover. )

It is this way because of the experiences I've had since September of 2012.

Especially from the revelation I received while at ministry school from 2013-2016. (And, let's be honest, continue to have...)

It's the revelation of having already died.

You see, as we grow in our revelation of Christ and the cross, we can start to realize something very profound.

We realize that on that cross, Christ didn't just die for me, He died AS ME!

Therefore, as it says in Romans 6:11, we can consider ourselves DEAD to sin.

So, in A.D. 33, when Christ died, the old you, that self of flesh, died with HIM.

That's the day you were saved... from yourself, the self that was distorted by sin.

The moment, I really saw this (and I continue to do so every day - that's why we die daily), everything shifted for me.

I became confident.

However, it wasn't my own confidence.

It was a confidence in Christ. He became my confidence.

And that confidence goes way beyond me.

I can't mess it up.

However, I can "miss" it... and if you read last week's issue, you'll see that there was a period of a couple years where I did.

To "miss" it is to forget about the reality that Christ really took care of the old, sinful you on the cross 2000 years ago.

This week I had a couple days where I kind of "missed" it as well.

I went back to feeling insecure.

Anxiety rose up and I had a couple nights where I didn't sleep well.

Tonight, right before writing this, God gently reminded me that everything I was dealing with had already died on the cross - that I can let go of it.

So, I did. I quit identifying as the self of flesh and started recognizing the new me, the one that rose again with Christ.

As it says in 2 Corinthians 5, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

I say all of this as an invitation to freedom.

You see, when you recognize your old sinful self as having died on the cross, and you see Christ making you completely new, you'll find that things you've dealt with for a long time tend to be replaced by better things.

This is God transforming you. Making you new.

Simply because you changed the way you saw yourself (ie. renewed your mind).

(Yes, there's a verse for that. Romans 12:2.)

This doesn't mean these things won't rear their ugly head sometimes.

But, it does mean that when they do, you can look them in the eye, fix your eyes on the truth (Jesus is the truth), and the truth (the intimate revelation of who you really are in Christ and who He really is in you) will set you free.

(John 8:32)

It did for me.

And He already did it all for you.

You simply need to let go of the identities that you may be holding on to and see them as having died on the cross.

And, with all this, give yourself MASSIVE grace.

This is a life-long journey of recognizing the fullness of Christ within us.

What identity(ies) are you choosing to let go of today so you can step into HIS confidence

You get to join me on the journey through this newsletter.